Disinfotainment Today #181 - Part One

[Michael Dare]

Issue #181

(Part 1)

is brought to you by...

 

 

Don't Hate Me Because I'm a Cartoon

 

The most ridiculous story of the year so far is millions of Muslims rioting over a bunch of cartoons printed in a Danish newspaper five months ago. It would seem that somebody didn't know that raising a fuss about something that offends you only gets more people to see it.

 

    "In the span of two days, protesters have burned the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus, and the Danish embassy in Beirut. Kidnapping and burning embassies over a cartoon? How incredibly fucking stupid. Other developments: Hundreds of people rally in Afghanistan in protest at the cartoons. Jordanian authorities arrest two tabloid editors for printing the cartoons. Iran recalls its ambassador to Denmark. An Iraqi militant group in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi calls for attacks on Danish and non-Muslim targets in Iraq. Britain's main opposition Conservative Party says slogans by anti-Danish protesters in London amount to incitement to murder.

    "While only 12 cartoons were initially published, there are fakes circulating which are incredibly inflammatory. Extremists have taken advantage of the situation and have fueled the flames with fake cartoons and dangerous rhetoric. But I don't care how damn offensive you find a cartoon, violence is unacceptable. Period."

- georgia10 at dailykos -

 

I never would have accidentally found myself searching a Danish newspaper for cartoons about Muhammed unless radical Muslims had pointed them out to me by acting like lunatics. And I gotta ask, if Jews can handle this...

 

 

why can't Muslims handle this...

 

 

They say we've got to respect their religion. Bullshit. I have as much respect for Islam as I do for Christianity, Rush Limbaugh, the KKK, the Flat Earth Society, the Nazi Party, and everyone in the White House. Respect has got to be earned.

 

Anybody who says I have to respect the belief that the earth is flat is nuts. Same with anyone who says I have to respect Islam. What I respect is their right to believe any damn foolish thing as long as they respect my right to believe any damn foolish thing. Everybody's got the right to believe any damn foolish thing, and to say whatever they want about the damn foolish things that others believe. Cartoons are art. They are infinitely superior weapons than those purchased by the Department of Defense. Work is what you do for others. Art is what you do for yourself. It's a means of emotional expression. We all need it, and thank God there are people who express themselves with cartoons instead of bombs.

 

 

Or even cartoons of bombs. This is the one that set them off. Does nothing for me. Even if I thought all Muslims were suicidal, its too obvious, has no humor, and it doesn't reverberate like this one...

 

 

which makes the interesting point that if Muhammed can't be shown in any way, shape, or form, how are we supposed to recognize him? As a matter of fact, the claim can be made that NONE of these cartoons portray the real Muhammed since nobody knows what he looked like.

 

Why all the rioting now when the cartoons were published five months ago? As usual, the media has failed to untangle the puzzle. Here's the answer...

 

    "The issue has been framed by the traditional media as 'Free Expression/Speech' in contrast with 'Sensitivity to Religion.' Do newspapers in democratic societies have the right to publish offensive images? Well that's something definitely worth debating, but it's overlooking an important step.

    "12 cartoons were published in the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, which you can see here. Some were very bland, others seem to be unquestionably offensive. Yet these cartoons were published on September 30, 2005. What the traditional media has failed to explain is why the protests are occurring now...

    "What CNN and the other traditional media failed to tell you is that the thousand gallons of fuel added to the fire of outrage came from none other than our old pals Saudi Arabia.

    "While it was a minor side story in the western press, the most important of Muslim religious festivals recently took place in Saudi Arabia - called the Hajj. Every able-bodied Muslim is obligated to make a pilgrimage once in their lifetime to Mecca, which is in modern-day Saudi Arabia. This pilgrimage can be done at any time of the year but most pilgrims arrive during the Muslim month known as Dhu al-Hijjah, which follows a lunar calendar that does not exactly match the western Gregorian calendar.

    "The most recent Hajj occurred during the first half of January 2006, precisely when the 'outrage' over the Danish cartoons began in earnest. There were a number of stampedes, called 'tragedies' in the press, during the Hajj which killed several hundred pilgrims. I say 'tragedies' in quotation marks because there have been similar 'tragedies' during the Hajj and each time, the Saudi government promises to improve security and facilitation of movement to avoid these. Over 251 pilgrims were killed during the 2004 Hajj alone in the same area as the one that killed 350 pilgrims in 2006. These were not unavoidable accidents, they were the results of poor planning by the Saudi government.

    "And while the deaths of these pilgrims was a mere blip on the traditional western media's radar, it was a huge story in the Muslim world. Most of the pilgrims who were killed came from poorer countries such as Pakistan, where the Hajj is a very big story. Even the most objective news stories were suddenly casting Saudi Arabia in a very bad light and they decided to do something about it.

    "Their plan was to go on a major offensive against the Danish cartoons. The 350 pilgrims were killed on January 12 and soon after, Saudi newspapers (which are all controlled by the state) began running up to 4 articles per day condemning the Danish cartoons."

- Soj: Muslim Cartoon Controversy: What the Media Isn't Telling You -   

 

Sound ridiculous? Nope. Here's a memo from the Saudi Royal Press Secretary A. M. Al Shegri to His Majesty dated 1st February 2006, Subject: Cartoons:

 

"As Your Majesty requested recently, in order to divert public attention from the regrettable demise of a small number of pilgrims in Makkah during the last Hajj, Saudi newspapers were instructed to revive the four-month-old story of cartoons about the Prophet (PBUH) in a Danish newspaper, and turn it into an attack on Denmark, together with a 'spontaneous demand by the people' for a boycott of Danish goods."

 

I really like this one...

 

 

just because of the style, and not because it says anything, which it doesn't. Still, simply because it portrays someone supposed to be Muhammed, the rioting idiots don't like it any more than the rest.

 

"To summarize: you can be a confirmed Bushophobe and still acknowledge that the cartoon rioters are idiots. Likewise, you can be a fully paid-up member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy while realizing that just because you can do something like publish cartoons that offend Muslims, doesn't necessarily mean you should, especially when the lives of U.S troops might be at stake."

- lgfwatch -

 

Remember that episode of South Park where they made fun of Tom Cruise? He was hiding in a closet and Stan begged him to come out of the closet. You'll never see it again. Why? Tom has threatened to sue so the Comedy Channel has removed it from their repeat schedule.

 

What's the difference between a fundamentalist Muslim and a fundamentalist Scientologist?

 

Nobody said anything when Muhammed appeared on the Super Friends episode of South Park.

 

 

Might I point out that the cultural editor of Jyllands-Posten commissioned the cartoons to highlight the difficulty experienced by Danish writer Kåre Bluitgen in finding artists to illustrate his children's book about Muhammad. In other words the cartoonists were fulfilling AN ASSIGNMENT. As The Anchoress points out:

 

"They're currently highly pissed off about fake cartoons."

 

And lets dispose of that claim that any portrayal of Mohammed is sacrilege. There are thousands of depictions of Mohammed throughout history that haven't caused any rioting, including a sculpture in the north frieze of the Supreme Court Building in Washington DC.

 

 

That's him in the middle with the scimitar. I direct your attention to the gallery of the week, The Mohammed Image Archive, including many Islamic paintings and miniatures showing the mug of Mohammed in all its bearded glory.

 

"The socialist take is very clear on this. There should be no bans or censorship whatsoever. Censorship does not achieve what it sets out to stop and is never productive. It is a sign of the fragile nature of the religious mentality that humour or cartoons can be seen as such a threat to beliefs."

- Gray: Causing Offense -

 

    "Both sides are spoiling for a fight on this one and there is a fair amount of unattractive posturing. When push comes to shove, I have to say that I would take a lot more notice of the outrage in the Middle East if I had not come across dozens of anti-Semitic cartoons published in the Arab press.

    "The striking part of Arabic Jew-baiting is that it is as prevalent, nasty and dehumanizing as it ever was in Nazi Germany. Newspapers published in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Oman and UAE all use demonic images of stereotypical Jews (big nose, black coat and hat and laden with money bags) pulling the strings behind the scenes in US politics, buying political influence and spreading death, terror and disease. Josef Goebbels would have felt quite at home reading these newspapers.

    "They are unacceptable and would, if published here, cause an outrage equal to last week's, but this does not seem to have occurred to the Muslim spokesman or clerics that I have heard on the subject."

- Henry Porter: A few bad cartoons are no reason to fall out -

As usual, the Saudi's public relations coup has backfired. It has fueled a boycott of Danish goods that's doing them more harm than good...

 

    "To start with, an economic boycott would be economically futile because the majority of the products that featured on the leaflets or were mentioned in the text messages are part of Saudi-owned franchises. This means that those who will suffer the most are in fact the local franchise owners. For example, amongst the products that we are asked to boycott is a product that is being marketed by a Saudi businessman who employs possibly up to three thousand Saudi people in his firm.

    "A story should be recounted at this point. During the peak of the call for boycotting American products, I discovered that every part of a sandwich sold by a certain American fast food chain was 100% Saudi. This chain alone employed seven thousand Saudis all over the kingdom. Moreover, that chain in particular plays a role in humanitarian efforts such as organizing excursions for orphans."

- Mohammed Al-Jazairy: Do Not Boycott Danish Products -

 

Show your support for the Danes by buying Danish! Build a statue of Mohammed out of Legos. Switch to Argento Audio silver audio cables. Wake up in the morning with coffee made from a Bodum press and pass out at night with Denaka or Danzka Cranberryraz Vodka. Drown your sorrows with a case of Tuborg or Carlsberg beer. Pig out on Royal Dansk Butter Cookies. Forgo your standard cheddar and Monterey jack for some Tilsit, Havarti, Danbo, and Fontina. Danish blue cheese is killer. And don't miss this fabulous recipe for cheese Danish, even though it's got nothing to do with Denmark. Spice up everything with Knorr seasonings. For world wide delivery of Danish food, check out the Danish Food Shop. And most importantly, rent Kenneth Branagh's magnificent production of the full text of Hamlet.

 

That'll show 'em.

 

 

 

END OF PART ONE OF THIS WEEK'S ISSUE

 

SO MANY GRAPHICS I HAD TO CUT IT IN HALF

 

PART TWO IS ALREADY DONE SO EXPECT IT TOMORROW

 

 

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