Variations on the Theme of Fundamentalism (In Two Movements)

[tealin]

I. Allegro furioso

A Little Background to the 'Cartoon Row' ... it's always nice to have the background information.

II. Dolce

Evangelical Environmentalists ... surely the Apocalypse is nigh.

Comments

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

Ah - finally some more background on those infamous cartoons! And those "EE's" - that is unexpected!
My view of the cartoons can be summed up thus:
-Wanting and working for a society in which one can be creative and expressive and critical (especially in a humorous way),instigating reasoned dialogue about hot-button issues without fear of violent reprisal is a very good thing. Pretending that everybody is already there and throwing a lit match (however tiny) into a giant, seething powder keg, and then expressing surprise, acting like it isn't FAIR that the powder keg overreacted, that it shouldn't be there in the first place (which is true) is naive and irresponbible at best. It reminds me (I realize this isn't a PERFECT analogy) of a bunch of kids who decided to TP and "egg" the house and yard of a neighbor who was an anal neat-freak, and they went ballistic and called the cops! Of course they overreacted and blew it out of proportion. What did they THINK would happen?? All the logical excuses of why the newspaper had every right to publish the strips, and why they shouldn't have offended anybody doesn't mean it was a very good idea.
-That said, certain muslims around the word seem bent on proving they are all a million times worse than the most offensive caricature anyone's ever seen, instead of doing the obvious and directing their outrage at the people who have truly insulted and profaned Mohamed, Islam, and faithful muslims everywhere: the violent, radical warmongers, the amoral mercenaries, their idiot suicide-bomber pawns who do it all in Mohamed's name (I've only heard of one instance in the news so far where somebody pointed this out).
So my point is, everybody is being stupid. And some are violent. So try not to cheese off the violent, stupid people if you don't have to.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

100% ditto. Hear hear.