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Everybody Draw Mohammed


What is freedom, if it is not the freedom to criticize, to ask questions and demand answers-- or to simply ridicule the high and mighty.

In the Dar Al Islam, for over a thousand years, that freedom has not existed. You could not question. Even today to question is to court a jail sentence, in even the "moderate" Muslim nations.

When Mohammed ordered the murders of poets and satirist who criticized him, he set the tone for over a millennium of bloodshed. The Muslim today who calls for the murder of cartoonists is not an extremists or a misrepresenter of Islam, he is following the conventional Islamic approach all the way back to the dawn of that faith under the guidance of its prophet.

And the media and Western defenders of Islam know it for the truth. If they truly believed that this was only the work of a tiny minority of extremists who could not tolerate free speech, why would they so aggressively censor it?

If it is only a tiny minority of extremists that are at fault, why did CNN and every major news organize refuse to show Mohammed cartoons, garbling them as if they were as offensive and unacceptable to them... as they are to Muslim believers?

When one examines actions and words, it is always the actions that tell the truth, not the words. When Comedy Central, which boasts of offending every religious group on earth, censors even the tamest and most disguised depictions of Mohammed, its actions speak or a deeper and more disturbing truth, than its words will reveal.
One does not fear this much or compromise this much in the face of a tiny minority of extremists. Not even if they are susceptible to bouts of hysterical violence. Violence after all comes with the territory.

How many media organizations are terrified of the tiny minorities of extremists that exist in most religions? The answer is very few. What is it that makes Islam special? Any honest foreign correspondent can answer that question easily enough.

Because it is not a tiny minority that they are dealing with. But a solid majority that is the product of a culture of religious indoctrination which is intolerant of free speech. And rather than confront this reality, they have chosen to run away and hide. Because confronting it would require addressing their own politics, which scapegoat national defense, while admiring Islamic radicalism. It is easier for them to silence themselves, than make the ideological sacrifices needed to deal with the threat to the underlying freedoms of the free world.

Everybody Draw Mohammed Day crowdsources free speech by confronting the challenge that the mass media runs away from. It defends a heritage of free speech by vigorously confronting those who would deny it.



Artist's Statement: I thought a good way to do my part for Everybody Draw Mohammed Day was to bring the original Kurt Westergaard, Mohammed cartoon to life.


My first depiction envisions the confrontation between modern cultural norms and those of Mohammed by showing Mohammed facing a Western style justice system for the rampage that he spawned.


My second depiction shows Mohammed pitching a Bacon Burger. This image merges Mohammed's dyed red hair with that of Ronald McDonald, to combine an icon of Western consumerism, with what has become an icon of free speech. Envisioning Mohammed playing pitchman in a global marketplace confronts Muslims with the reality that free speech, like fast food is also a global product that they cannot hope to escape. 


My third depiction satirizes Mohammed's Night Journey, a later addition to the Islamic mythology which was used to provide a narrative basis for stealing my land, and that today is used to promote calls of genocide against Jews worldwide. Challenging such a poisonous mythology is not only important for free speech, but for any hope of co-existence.

Comments

  1. Fantastic! I love it! My favorite is the Night Journey Mohammed. When pigs fly lol. That is a classic.

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  2. What the media needs to do is recognize that these over-reactions to cartoons and any form of satire is not the work of a small group of Muslims who have hijacked Islam. It IS Islam.

    (I get tired of the phrase hijacked Islam).

    It's so hard to believe that this is the same media--print and broadcast--that go wild if even a student newspaper at a high school faces even a hint of censorship.

    In terms of covering religious matters I wish they'd hammer Islam with the same community watchdog force they used with the sex scandal in the RC Church and the abuse allegations in the Mormon Church.

    In other words, hold Islam accountable just as any other religion in the US is held accountable.

    We can't reform their actions; we can control ours.


    Ugh. The media and just about every other liberal are trying to make Islam sacred by handling it with kid gloves.


    Liberals...they're supposed to be the separation of church and state champions. And yet...


    Finally, since I have no artistic ability, here's how I would draw Mohammed if I could:

    As a common street thug or bang banger--wearing quarter length jeans, the waist down to his hips so low his underwear show. Green Hamas hoody over his head. Hoody unzipped revealing a suicide bomb belt around his waist. Very sullen look on his face.

    Caption--Mohammed 2010.

    Or perhaps: Assimilated Terrorist.

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  3. Good piece, Daniel! I'm glad you're publicly supporting the M-artists and publish new works. Every newspaper & magazine in the West should do this -- out of pure selfish self-defense! I made a little M-illustration of sorts myself, which can be seen here: http://www.klausnordby.com/repository/Muhammed_in_Mecca_by_Klaus_Nordby.jpg

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  4. Yet another point, which
    (like all of yours) would do better if heard by a national audience. For now, only those already in agreement hear you. It frustrates me that you are "preaching to the choir".
    Sure, us individuals can display mowhamudd cartoons.. but as to the actual reason, none of the brainwashed will Get It.
    Re: your statement "the Islamic mythology which was used to provide a narrative basis for stealing my land, and that today is used to promote calls of genocide against Jews worldwide." True. but never UnderState this: Christian persecution & genocide runs a close
    2nd, as in the Holocaust when some tried to help Jews. Even now, Christians also suffer at the hand of islam.
    However, even broader than the Christain issue, it is urgent that ALL people realize how ultimately erasable that thin line is, between THEM becoming the targeted Infidels!
    It is human nature to cherish & protect ones' own life & family above all. The general population has to realize that THEY are next. As long as it is Jews or Christian Zionists, the Radical Right, or any "other" group- why worry?
    As the worm, satan, said to G-d about Job: "...skin for skin, all that a man has will he give for his life". We know that he underestimated Jobs' love for G-d. but, would not the average American cave in long before that- in satans' attack against merely his possessions & family? Yes. and that is satanic islams' tactic.

    America has already been robbed of sanity, by the delusion of separating islam from 9/11.
    Deluded enough to tolerate a muslim as pResident (I stole that spelling), who has paid over 2 million dollars in legal fees to prevent our citizens from seeing his original birth certificate. You don't do that if the document supports you.
    This whole Administration is operating illegally, and to fundamentally destroy America.
    Which, BTW, God blessed and raised up in prosperity for the purpose of backing Israel. Every move our leaders have made against that, our nation has sufferred some form of judgement for.
    Now we have arrived at the point where our "presidential" family name is pronounced OhBombUs.

    Obama tells us publicly that he does not intend to pursue any legislation (in the United States) that will lead to new gun control laws, while cloaked in secrecy, Hillary Clinton is committing the US to international treaties and foreign gun control laws. What that means is that there will be no publicized gun control debates in the media or votes in Congress.
    Article here:

    http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE59E0Q920091015

    They have to de-arm most citizens before they can march us off to the awaiting FEMA camps.

    Pray every day that G-d removes this whole Admin.

    I apologize for digressing, but one subject does tend to lead to another. I would appreciate Knish's input on such matters, as well.

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  5. I was talking about my reason for specifically mocking The Night Journey which depicted Mohammed's journey to Jerusalem on a flying beast.

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  6. OK, Knish, I now better understand that exact depictment, and the specificity of your reference to it. Thank you.
    I don't, however, let you off the hook for not at least trying to acquire a more nationally "in our face" platform. ;-)

    The title of your article being "Everybody Draw Mohammed", I did sort of take off from there.
    Then there were all your good tie-ins about freedom of speech & cowardly mainline news outlets in your article.

    I hope the rest of my digression speaks for itself.
    I thought it better than throwing chairs & building barricades... sort of.

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  7. I've written many times about the wider threat that Islam poses to all of us, this was specifically about this third picture and this element of Islamic mythology

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  8. I know you have written about the wider threat that islam poses to all... didn't mean to imply otherwise.
    *BUT! "....this element of Islamic mythology" just could not stand-alone in my mind, for each piece builds upon another & all are tools for the same purpose.

    Thank you for speaking out.

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  9. I love discovering new images of Mahound. I hope you don't mind if I link to some of the ones here on my blog.

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  10. sure gary, it's what they're there for

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  11. Thank you, Danial.

    They are in the last comment on this page.

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