So you would charge an artist who makes a particular image with reckless endangerment? Of course. And as I have already stated, that is a two-way street. How about the responsibility of the thug who would justify murder because somebody hurt his feelings by drawing a picture? I'd like to suggest that that might be a better candidate for "reckless endangerment" than drawing a picture. Because it is not, as Catch suggested, "honoring a request," but it is rather kneeling to a threat--expressed, not implied.
This is Mohammed. Isn't he a nice looking chap? Why anyone would consider this offensive is beyond me.
You aren't kneeling to a threat... You are creating a threat. Why is it important to draw insulting images of Mohammed when Islam doesn't depict humans in art because they perceive it as idolatry.
Fallacy: No one said anything about drawing insulting images of Muhammad. And when they next tell us we're not allowed to draw humans either, should we listen to that, too? Time to draw a line in the sand.
Heavens.. they don't object to your drawing humans. I wouldn't hit anyone because they burned a bible ... or a torah or a koran.. But Afghanistan is desperately poor, illiterate after two decades of war and foreign occupation. Its a rotten situation. They have to put up with armed foreign soldiers who don't speak their language everyday. It wouldn't take much to send those people into a mob hysteria.
You used it as an example, so I asked you a question about it, "And when they next tell us we're not allowed to draw humans either, should we listen to that, too?" I'm not really sure what any of that has to do with my freedoms as an artist, a non-muslim, a United States citizen, and a human being. Further, you still haven't explained how my desire to draw should be halted because someone doesn't like it. As I asked earlier, if a group of muslims told you you're not allowed to draw pictures of Yahweh, Elohim, Jehovah, Jesus, or Mother Mary, would you listen?
The ironic thing is, there's nothing at all in the Qu'ran which prohibits depictions of Mohammad - in fact Muslims have been drawing & painting him for centuries. As in for example: (Taken from the book described here.) The only people who object to that are some specific (Sunni?) sects, and of course people seeking to stir up trouble for entirely political reasons - Islamist groups pursuing particularly strict versions of Islam & tying these into a political agenda. So by censoring ourselves (as with the South Park episode), we're actually pandering to an extreme and not particularly representative political ideology, which doesn't seem very intelligent really, does it? (That said I suppose you could always argue that Draw Mohammad Days pour fuel on the fire and reinforce those kind of extremist ideologies, while also pandering - in the West - to xenophobic/racist people who couldn't actually care less about freedom of expression and just want to mindlessly attack something, but anyway. Life is messy isn't it....)
Only in some twisted alternate universe. Back here in the rational world, we hold the actor accountable for his actions. Or at least we should. Those who do not choose to belong the Muslim faith are not subject to its dictates--for the second time.
The whole thing is immature and is given more attention than it deserves. People in the west should have better things to do than draw pictures with the purpose of aggravating people in a different part of the world. People in the east should shut up about it. If you tell someone to not do something they will do the opposite rather than obey you. Human psychology 101. If you want people to stop doing something u have to ignore them.
Islam is not peaceful. It's violent and evil. Period. It functions and survives on threats and fear. Sharia Law anyone???
Actually it wouldn't be racist, it would be "talentist" Not at all, whatever you can draw will be fine, it doesn't have to be "great." I'm a pretty bad artist also, but I still like to express myself through drawing, though I'm more partial to tinkering in Photoshop. Which reminds me, if anyone would like to render a computer-based drawing, or even a 3D rendering of Muhammad, please let me know. I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.
The truth is that the civilised world is much more scared of right wing American wackjobs than they are of Muslims, and rightfully so.
It's very important to be able to speak openly about anything in general in order for the truth to be fully explored. Free speech is how old ideas that we were so sure were correct became exposed and analyzed for all to see, so that we can continually improve our understanding of the world. This includes allowing speech that couldn't possibly be correct in our minds. Even if we're not wrong, it's still important for all views to be expressable so they can be challenged, examined, and understood. Drawing Muhammad as a political cartoon absolutely can have a sophisticated purpose, by pointing out the hypocrisy of people who claim to be Islamic today compared to their religion's founder. Yes, but pointing out what the law is is not a real argument, particularly when it's not clear the charge would be applicable to the situation. Because killing somebody for making a mean drawing makes them thugs, and allowing people to intimidate somebody who draws something, even in poor taste, is rolling over for a thug.
I have the best way to bring this all to an end. We put it out on the world wide media, al jazeera, etc.. that every time CNN shows a flag burning, or Uncle Sam or Obama burned in effigy. We are going to drop a hellfire missle from a drone right down on to the offenders. Then the first idiots that enter the streets and start burning flags, drop a hellfire on a few of them. If they can kill us for our expressions. We can kill them for theirs.
I think it's more like eating pork in front of a Jew or putting mustard on your hotdog in front of a 7th Day Adventist. Such taboos are totally ridiculous. In the western world, we should focus more on insulting Christianty's silly taboos as it's local and topical. Islamophobia is a reality in the "Christian" world and things like Draw Mohammed Day are too easily seen as coming from it or exacerbating it.
But their murders are "good" and ours are "evil." Our religious nuts suffer from the same delusions of superiority.
