freedom

we all need to sit down, admire some beauty, and search for tranquility...

there is another uproar between the arab-moslem world and the western christian-judeo world. as usual, it's a debate related to freedoms, cultural awareness and (in)sensitivity, preconceived notions, (in)tolerance, perceived (more than real) slights, and ignorance.

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i've thought alot over the past few days about how i feel about this, as a white non-arab most non-fundamental moslem from the judeo-christian world that so dominates this planet's wealth and government, and i've discussed it with various people with varying viewpoints and i've come to this conclusion (and humbly add to red forman's library of "dumbass" references):

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the world is full of incomprehensibly but astoundingly complete dumbasses.

*dumbass note: please see the full collection of "the 70's show", an american sitcom with my 2nd favourite all-time TV character, for red's complete repertoire of "dumbass" uses...

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this whole debate about the caricatures of the prophet mohammed (pbuh) appearing in some danish newspaper is just a waste of time and energy. more would be gained by spending the same energy just sitting and watching the sun set, or sending money to hurricane and/or earthquake victims, or telling your lover and/or friends how much you love and appreciate them, or excoriating the u.s. government for bombing a small pakistani village in order to eliminate members of a terrorist group, or taking time to feed a homeless person, or lambasting israel for continuing to oppress the palestinian people on the palestinians' land, or having body-bending, mind-blowing sex (or perhaps having sex-bending, body-minding blowjobs), or smiling at everyone you see instead of regarding them suspiciously...

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if you've not heard about the furor, then don't worry so much about it. if you have heard about it and followed it even a little, then you, too, don't worry about it so much. both sides are in their own ways culpable--the people associated with the drawing, colouring, and publishing of the cartoons and the people the world over so overreacting and violent protesting it.

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listen, the free speech to which so much of us in the west are so accustomed to enjoying--and to which we have been thus accustomed for so long--is not taken for granted in all parts of the world. change in societies and cultures where such freedoms have been non-existent for as long as they have been cannot be expected to take place at lightning speed. it cannot be expected that they are going to understand the basic premise of free speech or freedom of choice any more than we don't understand how they DON'T have these freedoms. depictions of mohammed (pbuh) are strongly disallowed in the tenets of islam and any attempt by anyone, anywhere to depict him (pbuh) in any shape, way, or form is going to draw ire and wrath from the arab-moslem street that will surprise the average (or even above-average and well-educated) westerner. the reactions by moslems the world over should not be such a surprise and makes one wonder objectively if there was some sort of intent, conscious or unconscious, to provoke unnecessarily.

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just because we have freedoms doesn't mean we can do whatever the hell we want, it only means that we have the CHOICE to do whatever the hell we want. and just because we are offended mightily because of a slight or act of disrespect or blasphemy doesn't give us the right to protest violently by ravaging embassies, consulates, and missions. respect, tolerance, and understanding of the other side's culture is completely missing on both sides of this issue.

(*author's note: feel free to nominate me to the nobel prize committe for a prize in the OBVIOUS STATEMENT OF 2006 category).

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as has been said in the past, dumbassness cannot be legislated, so any official condemnation of the danish publication or the artists themselves cannot be tolerated; equally, while silent protests or boycotting danish goods or burning danish flags are acceptable forms of protest, any demolition of buildings or people or vehicles in the name of islam also intolerable.

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that said, what bothers me is the double-standard: i think those in the west who are harshly reprimanding the protestors thronging the arab street should put themselves for a moment in the shoes of these people: if a series of cartoons depicting the virgin mary as a martini-toting whore dressed in leather mini-dress, mesh stockings, and fuck-me boots were circulated in a cairo newspaper, catholics the world over would be crying foul as loudly as they could; or if a paper in tokyo decided to run a series of cartoons depicting jesus as a pony-tailed dope-smoking abortionist with pierced nipples, the rest of christiandom would be rising as one to boycott toyota, nissan, and sushi; and if a web site from korea decided to run a series of drawings of abraham as an uncircumcised serial sheep rapist teacher of terrorism at a local yeshiva with lentil soup balls for genitals and a yarmulke on his ass, jews the universe over would be condemning the author of being anti-semitic and the wrath of hollywood and all forms of media and money would be descending upon a small city on the east coast of korea for vengeance. it's all a double-standard: the christian-judeo west prostitutes islam as it sees fit while the arab-moslem street crucifies western culture and religion without remorse, yet, both sides fly into fits of rage when the other side does it to them.

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it's a sick cycle and don't tell me that there is a difference in reactions, that the west reacts non-violently while only the arab street goes off into paroxyms of firebomb-throwing fits. every time an israeli gunship fires at a palestinian neighbourhood or an israeli soldier fires at a palestinian child playing in the street or a israeli bulldozer crushes a peace volunteer or countries are invaded on the pretext of pre-emption or abortion clinics are torched like marshmallows on a campfire or churches are burned in black america or ghetto paris just means that the two sides are playing a dangerous game of one-upmanship, a game where there is no winner--only losers--and no one is any better than the other.

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we all have just a short time (relatively speaking) before moving along this astral plane to the next one (or from this pub to the one next door), and wasting energy on tripe like this isn't going to help the perception of the west on the arab street nor is it going to help the image of moslems in the judeo-christian realm. we all drink from the same well, from the same pitcher, and if we don't learn to tolerate each other's methods of partaking, we're going to wake up one day to find that the pub is permanently closed.