Mohammed Jihad

I hate to even admit this, but i went ahead and deleted a comical Mohammed picture from my art website that i posted way back in 2010.  It was just a copy of Mohammad as he appeared in the Super Best Friends episode of South Park?

I did this because several Muslim kids were harassing me about it, and raving that such insults to the prophet must not be allowed. I asked them all the usual questions -- why do you think your religious beliefs should take precedence over the freedom of speech of others? How would you feel if a Christian or a Jew or a Hindu tried to force you to abide by their beliefs?

All i got back were a bunch of programmed assertions that such questions are meaningless because Islam is TRUE and everything else is not. Christians shouldn't force others into Christianity because it's wrong, but Muslims should because it's right. End of story! This is of course ridiculous, and reminds me of everything wrong with the world.

Now, don't get me wrong. I have no respect for these people. Like every other religious fundamentalist, they need to chill out and realize that their little inherited belief system is a paper construction, an abstract collection of myth and legend, one of thousands of such belief systems on the planet....

....but i deleted the pic because i can't accept the SLIGHTEST possibility that my account might get deleted by an overzealous moderator. Unlikely, but possible. It's taken me ten years to build my audience there, and i won't put all this on the line for one snarky pic that was just an homage to someone else's work anyway. That fear kept wiggling like a worm in the back of my brain and was keeping me from concentrating.

It's this fear that keeps me from using much saltier language right now in describing these people.

I'm a sell-out. I'm overcautious. But it's for the best.

Now, let me pivot around 180 degrees and yell at the people that i was originally going to yell at -- those American conservatives who might read what i just wrote and say "See! Muslims are bad! We should tell them that if any more terrorism ever happens, we'll nuke Mecca and be done with it!"

You people are idiots. Evil idiots. Over and over again, they assert that the current violence in the Middle East is all because "they perceive us as weak" and are "emboldened by appeasement." That we should strike back brutally and indiscriminately because "that's what they respect in that part of the world."

Bullshit.

It never ends, does it? Both radical Muslims and American Teabaggers think that if they just apply enough force, all opposition to their wonderful truth will wither and vanish. People have tried this forever and it never works.

"Let's arrest everyone who smokes weed. Then, no one will smoke it."

"Let's make homosexuality a crime. If gay people think that they might be killed in a bar because they're gay, they'll stop being gay."

"Hey, if we just beat and arrest these civil rights protesters, black people will learn who's in charge here and give up."

"Hey, if we just kill and rape enough Viet Cong and burn down enough of their villages, we'll win this war."

"Hey, you want to get rid of these uppity Christians who don't respect the Emperor? Just drag that Christ guy out of his house and crucify his ass in front of everyone. Stab him in the side with a spear and let him bleed out slowly. That will solve all our problems."

It always works, right?

Both sides are vile. Nobody ever learns. If you have a functioning brain, it's like being an adult in a room of squalling and bickering children.

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