"Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" Now May 2oth

[The Witch]

"Postings on the Islamic website RevolutionMuslim.com led last week to Comedy Central's editing a "South Park" speech about fear and intimidation. That network censorship, however, has spawned another cartoon event: "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" -- a campaign that might not be so easily quieted.

The event, scheduled for May 20, is gathering momentum online.

A poster-like cartoon titled "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" has been posted on sites ranging from Dan Savage to Andrew Sullivan. But here's the rub: This is not at all what the cartoonist intended to occur.

"I made a cartoon that went viral but [this campaign] isn't really my thing," Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris tells Comic Riffs, characterizing her cartoon as merely a personal response to Comedy Central's censorship. "Other folks have taken it over" -- an unintended appropriation she clearly distances herself from.

That "takeover" now includes one Facebook page titled Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. As of Sunday morning (ET), the page had exceeded 2,000 "confirmed guests."

The creator of the page, Jon Wellington, tells Comic Riffs: "I created a Facebook event because that's an easy way to remind myself of upcoming events, and I thought it might serve that purpose for others too."

Adds Wellington: "I am not a cartoonist, and I loved [Norris's] creative approach to the whole thing -- whimsical and nonjudgmental." As for the event itself, Wellington calls it "a bit of a phenomenon" -- one, of course, that he himself has helped grow in popularity. (There is also a new "Ban Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" Facebook page in response.)

The text of the cartoon that's circulating says, in part, that an Everybody Draw Muhammad day would "water down the pool of targets" for Islamic terrorists. It also jokes that the day is "sponsored by Citizens Against Citizens Against Humor or CACAH (pronounced ca-ca)."

Some artists aren't waiting till May 20 to generate their own Muhammad images, which range from the straight-forward to the overtly scatalogical. Any depiction of Muhammad is considered blasphemous by some Islamic adherents.

Elsewhere, Gawker quotes Younus Abdullah Mohammed of Revolution Muslim as saying that he felt media coverage of the controversy has been unfair: "It was typical of the mainstream media. It was senseless -- they never cover any of the other crimes against Islam we write about."

The Revolution Muslim representative also tells Gawker that most Americans are "dumbed down, stupid and pathetic. They're worried more about missing their favourite TV show than they are about the world."

Regarding "South Park," specifically, the TV show created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, depicted Muhammad nearly a decade ago, sparking relatively little uproar. In the wake of the Danish "Muhammad cartoon" controversy that has simmered for five years, however, the show's depictions of Muhammad this month (the religious leader appears in a bear suit) have received far more attention -- particularly since Comedy Central last week bleeped a 35-second speech about intimidation and fear.

Norris's original cartoon is "dedicated" to Stone and Parker. She has called laughter a form of prayer.

As for the larger campaign, Norris -- whose work has included her "Everyone's a Critic" feature for Seattle's City Arts magazine -- says simply: "I just want to go back to my quiet life."

- Source -

Thoughts?

 

[SapphireStar]

Uh oh, someones gonna get pissed at this. I mean, what was done to the South Park creators is wrong. But I can see this either being banned or maybe even more threats made to other individuals. Funky idea, but somethings gonna give :/

 

[The Witch]

Someone's gotta stand for what they believe in. Freedom of speech.

 

[Æon Flux]

Oh I can see this being a good thing<-----Sarcasm
I understand why people want to do this but theres no real point to it besides to agrivate already pissed people...(and like I said people will use any excuse they can find when they wish to be violent)
Personaly I think its rather stupid.I understand the issue with the orriginal cartoon sencorship but this is just kinda moronic since even the creators dont want a part of it

 

[SapphireStar]

Someone's gotta stand for what they believe in. Freedom of speech.

Oh yeah, I agree. I can see where youre coming from, Im just worried about the aftermath as people werent happy with the episode. Just hope it doesnt get out of hand and people arent hurt. Im all for freedom of speech after reading and seeing what that burke said about South Park, just want people to be safe whislt doing this.

 

[The Witch]

Oh yeah, I agree. I can see where youre coming from, Im just worried about the aftermath as people werent happy with the episode. Just hope it doesnt get out of hand and people arent hurt. Im all for freedom of speech after reading and seeing what that burke said about South Park, just want people to be safe whislt doing this.

Yea, people getting hurt is a major deal. But, it's actually a good call. They're using the internet which is HUGE, focusing on people through the web is quite hard. So it's rather difficult for a Muslim extremist to hurt someone if they're not easily found.

Being on TV makes your living place, work space very known. But through the wed, it's another story.

 

[Ewan]

I don't think the actual point of this is to deliberately piss people off. It's more of an effort to say that nothing is immune to criticism, parody etc. The sort of abuse people get for making fun of the Prophet Muhammad is out of order... you can't just threaten people with violence like that. If I find people making fun of Scottish people offensive, should I make death threats? Should I campaign for all Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman jokes to be banned?

IMO, they have the right to freedom of expression so they can spread their message any way they see fit.

 

[The Witch]

I don't think the actual point of this is to deliberately piss people off. It's more of an effort to say that nothing is immune to criticism, parody etc. The sort of abuse people get for making fun of the Prophet Muhammad is out of order... you can't just threaten people with violence like that. If I find people making fun of Scottish people offensive, should I make death threats to people? Should I campaign for all Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman jokes to be banned?

IMO, they have the right to freedom of expression so they can spread their message any way they see fit.

I couldn't agree more. And that's why I support this type of issues. It's showing people that nobody has a right to threaten anyone for any reason.

And that's what people like extremists need to remember before they attack us or anyone ever again.

 

[West]

I don't know about this. I could probably be persuaded otherwise, but I don't think I support this event.

Let's suppose someone starts organizing an event where people agree to go to their local churches next Sunday for the sole purpose of collectively exclaiming "Fuck this noise" and leaving halfway into the service. Is there a law against it? No. Could it be argued that it's a practice of freedom of speech? Sure. Does that mean we should do it simply because we can? Certainly not. People are better than that; they're more civilized and respectful. At least, the last time I checked, a lot of people would like to be seen that way. Maybe that's changed when I wasn't paying attention?

What happened to people trying to be tolerant of other peoples' beliefs? Yeah, if someone wants to draw Mohammed for some reason, do it to it. But organizing an event for everyone to do it is just obnoxious. There's a difference between having a right and abusing it.

 

[Linnaete]

I actually welcome something like this as well. I mean, the anger from Islamist extremists evoked because of one little scene of a cartoon Muhammed in a bear suit (for crying out loud, it wasn't even him in the bear suit!) is completely out of hand. In a democratic nation, the people should have the freedom to able to do or say what they want without fears of being killed by a bunch of fanatic nutters in their own country - their own soil.

However, I see the potential danger in this. It will look like a deliberate way to piss the extremists off. One theory of the Times Square attempted car bomb was that the South Park creators were the targets. If that is true, imagine the mass murder attempts that could be possible in the near future. This move is brave, but definitely not without its huge risks. I hope it doesn't turn out to be fatal.

 

[The Witch]

Well, I think they're making it an "event" because if it's only one person, it's easier for extremists to single them out. Come at them as a group and we'll be fine. It's like the Ant or Bee attach, ye know.

Come together as one and we'll win.

I actually welcome something like this as well. I mean, the anger from Islamist extremists evoked because of one little scene of a cartoon Muhammed in a bear suit (for crying out loud, it wasn't even him in the bear suit!) is completely out of hand. In a democratic nation, the people should have the freedom to able to do or say what they want without fears of being killed by a bunch of fanatic nutters in their own country - their own soil.

Exactly.

However, I see the potential danger in this. It will look like a deliberate way to piss the extremists off. One theory of the Times Square attempted car bomb was that the South Park creators were the targets. If that is true, imagine the mass murder attempts that could be possible in the near future. This move is brave, but definitely not without its huge risks. I hope it doesn't turn out to be fatal.

There'd be way too many people on the net doing it. The net makes it hard to find someone already. I don't see anything to worry about really >.<

Although, I feel bad for the kind Muslims that realize it's freedom of speech here.

 

[Rydia]

I don't know abou this. Yeah some Muslims were upset about a South Park episode being aired and acted accordingly but is this really fair to the Muslims that had nothing to do with what happened with the whole South Park nonsense? And those that would get pissed at this, would if they just riot randomly in the streets and make everyone they see a target? And innocent people that had no idea that it was "Draw Muhammad day" are hurt as a result? Sure it would raise awareness of radical islam (Like it really needs to be shown) but it's really not fair to make them voluntary maryters. Also, this just seems intolerant of other's beliefs. I mean, do we really have to target all Muslims because of a couple of idiots from their religion?

I just feel this cold all be resolved in a better way . I honestly do not see what drawing Muhammad is going to solve. It's only going to make them more pissed off, not suddenly tolerate images of Muhammad. And it's possible that this could make radical Muslims worse than they alread are.

 

[West]

Well, I think they're making it an "event" because if it's only one person, it's easier for extremists to single them out. Come at them as a group and we'll be fine. It's like the Ant or Bee attach, ye know.

Come together as one and we'll win.

And what, pray tell, are we winning? Our lives because they can't kill all of us if we draw Mohammed together?

Last time I heard, killing people for pretty much any reason is both wrong and insane, and those responsible aren't going to get off lightly. And if we want to talk about our soil and such, then it's doubly true. An American court system isn't going to let murderers off the hook because someone violated their religious beliefs. Those are far from adequate grounds of a justified killing.

Basically, this whole thing sounds like a big "LOLOLOL we're gonna make u mad & there's nothing u can do about it!!!!!11!!onelolol!" It's a terribly juvenile way to "solve" a problem that shouldn't even exist amongst rational people.

 

[Linnaete]

There'd be way too many people on the net doing it. The net makes it hard to find someone already. I don't see anything to worry about really >.<

I hope so. However, that probably wouldn't stop extremists from trying to kill thousands of innocents regardless. They probably don't care who exactly who they kill, as long as they are not Muslims in order to give out a powerful message. >_>

Also, this just seems intolerant of other's beliefs. I mean, do we really have to target all Muslims because of a couple of idiots from their religion?

That is a good point raised there. As this event does violate an Islamic religious principle, I can't imagine it will make many moderate Muslims happy either.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more unsure I am now. If one depiction of Muhammed sparked fury, I can't imagine what it would be like to have many Muhammeds (with quite a few unflattering most likely) depicted. It's really not the best method for the cause in my opinion.

 

[The Witch]

Well, yes. It is childish. And it is unfair to the level headed Muslims, but we can't really stop people from doing this can we? No.

 

[der Astronom]

I agree with utilizing free speech. And to make yourself even more annonymous--use proxy.

For the level headed Muslims, they'd be the same as all the other nice Christians; turn the other cheek if they see Jesus being portrayed by others. And if they're so worried about their religion, they should probably do something about their own mess.

I don't think the whole point of this is to piss people off; granted, that's probably an inevitable consequence of it, but the whole point of this is to say that we have fought for centuries to get free speech, we'll utilize it as we see fit, and it's not going away. We don't care if you're going to get violent over it, and we don't care if you don't like it; you don't live here, and you don't have the same privileges we do. But we're not going to let you step all over us; we don't want all that effort over the centuries that went towards freedom of speech to be for nothing. Instead of stooping to your level, and reacting violently, we're going to fight with our own tools. The very same freedom of speech.

And people should remember: freedom of ignorance has existed long, long before freedom of speech.

 

[West]

We don't care if you're going to get violent over it, and we don't care if you don't like it; you don't live here, and you don't have the same privileges we do.

Are you suggesting that there aren't Islamic groups in North America? Because you'd be wrong.

And while I whole-heartedly agree that they have no right to kill people just for depicting Mohamed, it's pretty lame that people are going out of their way to offend an entire religion's beliefs.

 

[SaShman]

This is quite a tricky subject for me. On one hand you could say that these people are fighting the noble cause for free speech by standing up to intimidation. But to be honest I don't think any good will come from this. I think this runs the risk of singling out Muslims in general (even though this is contrary to the original point that Matt Stone and Trey Parker had). Naturally this will only make a very sensitive matter worse.

While the creators of South Park were making a point of how Islam is the only religion which can't be criticized. I think this event more or less serves the purpose of just pissing people off.
If 4chan has taught us a thing or two about how raids work, I think it is inevitable that Muslim sites (extremist or not) will be spammed with images of Muhammad. In my opinion, that goes beyond the level of criticism and becomes downright intolerance.

Western Civilization has already been threatened by extremists, for example the FIFA World Cup has received threats. Really this internet campaign is only fanning the flames of hatred and it sure as hell isn't making anything better.

I don't think the whole point of this is to piss people off; granted, that's probably an inevitable consequence of it, but the whole point of this is to say that we have fought for centuries to get free speech, we'll utilize it as we see fit, and it's not going away

I'm sure a lot of people would agree with you. But I'm willing to bet that plenty of people will get carried away by the mob mentality and merely be jumping on the bandwagon 'for the lulz'. It is these people who will overshadow your 'noble cause'.

There'd be way too many people on the net doing it. The net makes it hard to find someone already. I don't see anything to worry about really >.<

I highly doubt that extremists would seek out every participant individually but that is not the point. Extremists would most likely see this as an attack from Western society in general and I believe they would retaliate as such by attacking Western society in general.

In my opinion the whole issue between Islamic and Western culture comes down to misunderstanding. I believe that Extremists are not familiar with the typical Western attitude that nothing is immune from criticism/parody. Likewise I believe that most Westerners probably don't understand the real meaning or significance behind not showing Muhammad (I know I don't).

 

[der Astronom]

Are you suggesting that there aren't Islamic groups in North America? Because you'd be wrong.

And while I whole-heartedly agree that they have no right to kill people just for depicting Mohamed, it's pretty lame that people are going out of their way to offend an entire religion's beliefs.

Well, it should be a given that when you enter a country with different laws and regulations, you should know what they are and abide by them. If you don't, then what the heck are you doing here? If you're not going to follow the rules, then you shouldn't be living here. Nobody's going to give you special treatment just because you have a religion, and if you don't like our rules, and have no intention of abiding by them, then get the hell out.

As I explained, we're not doing this for the sake of offending people's religions, we're doing this for free speech. Because free speech may involve offending other people; it may involve appreciating other people or things, or it can be neither; whatever it is, free speech means I can say whatever I wish, and not be punished for it. That's the whole point.

 

[West]

True, but to me, it seems like an abuse of the right as I stated earlier. Just because we CAN do something doesn't mean that we necessarily SHOULD. And the "whole point" of this is--the way I'm seeing it--twofold to begin with. Yes, it's to defend our freedom of speech, but the only reason we're defending it is because it makes certain people upset. In this case, everyone participating knows that it's going to upset a specific group of people, but they're going through with it anyways. That's some straight-up weaksauce right there.

This whole event is just promoting a wicked case of intolerance.