What with all the noise about the US President selling Israel down the river due to a combination of naiveté, wrong-headedness, and a soupçon of anti-Israel sentiment, but apparently still not doing enough to please Hamas and Kim Ghattas, I missed out remembering that May 20 is the 1st anniversary of Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. Yes, I realize it’s officially over in the UK as I write this, but when I started there was still five minutes to go US EST. So there. The BBC is going to censor all of it because they bow to unjust demands of Islam on these things. Mark Thompson himself said that Islam gets special treatment.
I’m recognizing the day not out of any malice towards Islam itself, as I personally bear none (I’m aware that I’m in the minority here, but this blog is actually a pretty big tent). I do this in defense of individual religious freedom, something that is as relevant in the US as it is in Britain, even though my country doesn’t have an official state religion (If anyone tells me that Christianity is the official religion of the US, they’ll need to tell me which version before I start laughing).
The reason I say this is about individual religious freedom and not malice towards Islam is because I take the position that non-Muslims are not required to obey the rules of Mohammed. Why do I bother? Because of the continued pressure to avoid saying anything that offends Muslims. Except the real concern isn’t as obvious as having the freedom to burn a Koran (which is an act of malice towards the religion), but rather the freedom to do things that Muslims wouldn’t do without being told to stop because it’s offensive to their sensibilities. The vast majority of media outlets in the UK and US censored even the most innocent cartoons out of appeasement and fear. Freedom of speech was thus taken away from non-Muslims, who instead were forced to obey the law of a religion not their own.
I’m talking about things like preventing non-Muslims from having a plastic pig included with their childrens’ farm toy set, because pork is verboten in Islam. More food companies are shifting their products into halal compliance, in the US and in the UK, in spite of many non-Muslims’ objections to that particular method of butchering. It’s being forced on non-Muslim children by the school system as well. No option for both choices: only the Mohammedan option on offer, period. Then there’s telling non-Muslims they can’t eat in front of Muslims during Ramadan. Nobody’s going to ban eating a sandwich in any public sector workplace during Passover in order to avoid offending Jews who don’t eat leavened bread during that time, so there is a clear unjust double standard which cannot withstand the scrutiny of the laws of freemen. Nobody should be forced to obey the rules of a religion not their own, or even their own if they don’t want to.
Yes, the above examples are mostly a couple years old or more, but where’s the evidence that this no longer happens anywhere, all cases are solved and will never happen again?
I fully support offering halal or kosher or Klingon dietary options in an area where that’s what the majority wants, if it’s a commercial decision. If KFC or Domino’s want to have halal-only food in Mohammedan neighborhoods because that’s where the money is, it’s perfectly fine by me. But nobody should be forced by the government to obey the rules of another religion.
It’s in the spirit of continued religious freedom that I mark this first anniversary of Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. Muslims are forbidden from making graven images of people, most especially Mohammed, but non-Muslims can do whatever the hell they like in a free country. That is not an attack on Islam, but a defense of freedom against any form of fascism or oppression.
My contribution is below. Everyone is encouraged to add their own contribution or links to others. It’s not an attack on Islam, but rather a statement of individual freedom. Mohammedans are as free to make fun of me as celebrated artists are for such brave acts as dipping a crucifix in urine or producing a play featuring Jesus as a homosexual. I don’t care. Freedom, baby. Censorship is against the best interests of a free society.
The Koran, will it blend?
I bet Clint Eastwood could out-draw Mohammed, even on a bad day…
Oh, draw Mohammed – sorry.
(Fatwa No. 239 for the Old Goat)
Islam Not BBC (INBBC) contributes daily to the propaganda for Islam, and for the Islamisation of Britain and Europe, which continues apace.
‘Gates of Vienna’ has this:
“Everybody Draw Mohammed Day: One Year Later “
At a school a few years back I was told to get the kids to do a storyboard of Muhammads life-so he`d be compared to Jesus ,Buddha etc in the interests of “parity”.
The R.E teacher got to hear of it, so his birth had to show a black rectangle in the crib-his marriage showed a bride going down the aisle alone-etc,etc!
Think the multicultural lobby ended up making a clas of kids laugh out loud at Islam-which is as good a way as any to cut its bullying pretensions down to size!
No sense of humour though in Education-and even less in the BBC!
We received the email at work during Ramadan, suggesting that staff be sensitive to the health needs of our Muslim colleagues, and inviting us not to eat in front of them. The non-dhimmis amongst us looked at one another over the top of our screens in a ‘and-they-can-just-f**k-right-off’ kind of a way.
The Guardian-reading goons in the department ensured we all knew how ‘sensitive’ and ‘appropriate’ they were by sloping off elsewhere to eat. I hardly need add that I carried on eating copious amounts of food in front of them, as is usual. Later, a member of the headscarf-wearing community sent out an APB email inviting us to celebrate Eid with some sweets she’d bought.
The craven, right-on attitude of management urging empathy for self-inflicted health problems due to idiotic religious dietary laws that meant naff-all to the rational amongst us, got to many people.
And how many ordinary Mohammedans just trying to go about their daily lives really are offended and would care enough to force others to obey? Not many, I’d bet. No, these things are usually instigated by the same few angry troublemakers, who make enough noise to get memos like this sent out.
I’d suggest that the few problem children make things worse for their fellow Muslims by making people feel that all Muslims are trying to enforce Sharia on you. And the intellectual failure of the people in charge (and at the BBC) leads to appeasement and resentment and more divisiveness under the false rubric of multi-culturalism and tolerance.
This encapsulates what many of us thought; the last sentence is especially apposite.
You’re right, there were several gobshites, out-compassioning one another in their scramble to be seen as multi-culties, who instigated the whole business. They were also behind the production of a booklet about Muslims looking after their health during hajj.
The atmosphere felt a little like Stalin’s Soviet Union, where criticism had to be extremely guarded and emails were deleted immediately after reading. I don’t recognise the UK any more.
David P,
At the risk of being boring, I have lived in 2 muslim countries and have connections with a third. Whenever, I have been eating and drinking in public in daylight, which has been often, I have never had any comments from muslims. Their view is that, since I am not a muslim, fasting doesn’t apply to me. It seems it is only an issue in the UK.
It’s not just about Muslims and Jews. Christians who forgo certain foods, usually luxuries or treats such as sweets and cakes (or alcohol or cigarettes), during Lent, must be mightily offended and troubled when their colleagues start munching chocolate bars, biscuits, cream buns and crisps in front of them. One doesn’t hear a word about this, though, so I can only speculate as to their discomfort. Who cares, anyway, as they are merely Christians?
I expect many people (not all, as some oppose any religious beliefs or practices) would accept an exception to the laws on the treatment of animals, for the sake of religious ritual of Jews and Muslims. However this should not become a stealthy means of imposing one of those methods and rituals on the wider population who support the anti-cruelty laws in the first place, and if that were the case, then I suspect many more would prefer that the law didn’t allow that exception in the first place. It is simply an abuse.
PS: I was being sarcastic than when I said they must be mightily offended. I very much doubt it. It may bother them privately by making it tempting to break their Lenten abstinence but they accept it with stoicism and don’t make a fuss.
Typo: Oops…a redundant than there.
Quite. The shun-the-stun merchants were long ago permitted, as a small concession, to break our laws on humane slaughtering methods, and we have ended up, in the case of halal, with the haram parts of the animal being widely sold to, and consumed by, an unsuspecting general public, which retailers refuse to label.
No imagination is necessary to visualise what would happen if you tried this sort of thing in a Muslim country.
I just read that as the “harem” parts of the animal. :-[
Still, it must get lonely in the desert, hmmm?
And from what I’ve read, something to stand on is required.
Animal,
I would advise you to keep well clear of camels. I always do.
Actually unlike the Islamic prohibitions on:
Alcohol (And how many Muslims drink)
Pork (Eat Bacon Sarnies)
Which are found in the Koran, the banning of any pictures of Mohammed isnt’.
Which explains why, until 1500 pictures of Mohammed could be found in Islamic libraries.
So what happened and how and why did Muslims enact laws forbidding such pictures.
Well in order to do so, we have to return to the Koran, Mohammed the crafty old sod stated that the Koran could never be amended. Which is why it hasn’t changed much since its inception (Actually that may not be entirely true as in the way of the ancient Arabs, (And the novel; Fahrenheit 451) people were picked to remembered by rote the Islamic holy book.) The Koran wasn’t produced in book form until around 200 years after the death of Mohammed in Syria. A lot can change in 200 years when it comes to word of mouth.
Anyway I digress as Mohammed forbid any additions to the Koran, religious leaders needed to impress their followers (like politicians today) So they invented the Hadiths , (That codex of law which is the central theme of Sharia law) this entailed somebody saying : The prophet Mohammed said this ,that or the other.
At a stroke Muslims found they could circumnavigate the restrictions placed on them and which is why stupid edicts concerning: the Burka, Men wearing Silk, Gold and hundreds more. Which have no mention in the Koran are now part of Islamic law. Islamic artists of old had no problem depicting ‘Mohammed’ Interestingly early depictions of Mohammed had him wearing a halo, (copied from Christianity) but as is the way of the Muslim, this was soon extended around his whole body in which to promote his status. In time this glow became Mohammed or should I say Mohammed became the glow. People simply drew a glowing mass and said it was Mohammed and when people asked why, they said he was too holy. This ready beck glow in part contributed to Hadiths been issued that forbid any pictorial representations of Mohammed.
The beauty about Islam is that the Mullah (well actually the Caliphs) forbade anybody but Islamic scholars from researching the history of Islam. (This was done to combat the rise of Sufism) which is why 99% of Muslims are pig ignorant of their religious background. Look everything I written up, its plain fact, the irony here while Muslims say they wear their religion on their sleeves, so many of them break the rules they try to chain the rest of us with. Be it drinking alcohol., wearing silk and gold, eating pork, having sex out of marriage or even owning pictures of Mohammed. The simple fact remains, no matter how they try to sell Islam to us, Muslims are just as susceptible to vices like anybody else. In other words they are human. Unfortunately the problem in the west is that Liberals place Muslims on a higher pedestal than everybody else. The irony being the people who do so , usually make a huge song and dance about religion being the opiate of the masses. But not ‘Islam’.
It is deeply ironic that the views and lifestyle choices of Liberals are the antithesis of everything that Islam teaches, and come the Caliphate, they’d be the first to swing from the cranes.
Animal you hit the nail on the head. I know I’ve aired this anecdote a number of times. But I believe it requires repeating in which to expose the stupidity and fascism of liberalism.
A few years back I undertook a degree course and as nobody else put their hand up I became a student rep. Anyway as one you had to attend the odd student/tutor meeting and one lunch time we had one such meeting. Of course as the catering department was on the same floor we were regaled to a table full of bountiful goodies. Now unlike everybody else when they see a freebee (gimee , gimee,gimme) I sat down away from the food and started getting my notes to order. While doing so, I heard a familiar voice exclaim somewhat loudly:
Bloody well ask him?”
On turning around I noted the chair of the meeting (The head of the library) walking across and politely inquired why I wasn’t eating. I replied:
“I’m not hungry, I had breakfast ”
To which she replied:
“Oh! You’re not a Muslim.”
Knowing where this was heading I retorted that I was actually Church of England. At that,that loud voice exclaimed
“Bloody told you so”
What, had transpired when I had sat down, she had automatically presumed that I was a Muslim and had made everybody in the meeting put down their food and drinks in case it offended me. Until she came to George a friend of mine who refused and explained why. His was the lone voice of protestation. The thing here is if nobody had complained, everybody would have been pissed off with me for having been the reason for them not tucking in. That is why equate Liberalism with Fascism.
pounce,
It just shows how ignorant some people can be. Amazing !
I was so busy laughing my face off at Compost Awareness Week, that I completely forgot about Everybody Draw Muhammad day. Sheeeeit.
“Sheeeit.”
No, I think you’ll that’s manure, moi dearie-O, not compost.
Every Day is Compost awareness day if you start it by listening to Today and finish off with Question Time…how much of the stuff do we take?
“Make way for the mushrooms” went the old advert slogan-that is surely our clarion call by now!
Every Day is Compost awareness day if you start it by listening to Today and finish off with Question Time…how much of the stuff do we take?
I’ve a filthy cold, and laughed so hard at that, I’ve convulsed into a fit of coughing.
How about an Art Attack contest to do the best drawing of the old roue? Blue Peter badge on offer perhaps-or at least a display on the wall at the back?
Or-if the Beeb worry-we could draw that nice teddy bear of the same name from Sudan that became our cuddliets Muslim for a while in 2006
Andrew Marr was concerned about how his interview with the President went, as they were pressed for time, and he had to change some questions in a hurry to keep it fresh and so relied on notes more than he likes. So afterwards he ran it by a couple of pros to see what they thought:
I showed the interview to Mary Jordan of the Washington Post and Jamie Rubin, who served at the State Department under President Clinton. What did they think? They were both impressed by what he’d said about the Taliban, and about Israel. Phew.
That’s the Washington Post which was so far in the tank for Him that the paper had to apologize, then the publisher had to apologize for trying to set up events at her own home to channel special access to White House figures, and then had to apologize yet again for hiring a far-Left Journolista to pose as a conservative blogger. Marr’s other source of comfort was a former Clinton minion.
These two Democrat operatives liked the answers the Democrat President gave, so Marr feels that his interview was a success after all. Not that they felt he gave a tough but fair interview, mind, but what Marr is pleased about is that they liked the President’s answers. How much more of an enabler can he be?
Below is a representation, my own view of this false prophet 😀 any movement on this earth that provokes its adherents to murder in the name of that false prophet is by my reckoning a death cult spreading misery and death. It aint and never was a religion, its a cult of the darkest regions of the human soul, an invention of the the chappy below.
I`m collecting dirty washing and various items from the bins at home and hope to leg it over to Margate where our Da Vinci-Tracey Emin-holds court before fawning mliberal media types.
I am hoping that-being an artist-she will do me a picture of Muhammad in return for my bin bag full of goodies.
Who says that the arts are not well-funded? I am resourcing our Tracey to the hilt by this commission and hope one day that the world will live as one…being an Ononist of course!
Will there be a “Draw a Hook-nosed Shylock” day? Everyone can use the same defense of “freedom”, right?
I think you’ll find that just about every day is “Draw a Hook-nosed Shylock day” in the Arab press.
Are you that same “Angry Young Alex” that used to pollute this blog? You’re certainly having fun seeking out old posts to contaminate.
Allow me to wish you whatever you wish Jews for the New Year, or as the Arabs say, “may your ear holes turn into arseholes so that you shit all over your shoulders.”