get REAL, people...

In light of recent turmoil over these cartoons, I give you history's cruelest joke:





from Reuters, via commondreams.org

New Protests Erupt in Cartoon Row, Restraint Urged
by Kerstin Gehmlich

Speaking from Beirut, Omar Bakri Mohammad, leader of the
Islamist group al Muhajiroon which is banned in Britain, called for the execution of those involved with the cartoons.

"In Islam, God said, and the messenger Mohammad said, whoever insults a prophet, he must be punished and executed," he told BBC radio by telephone.

Britain issued a stern warning after protesters carried inflammatory placards. "The attacks on the citizens of Denmark and the people of other European countries are completely unacceptable as is the behavior of some of the demonstrators in London over the last few days," it said in a statement.

Moderate Moslem groups as well as Western leaders condemned the weekend violence and calls to arms and called for calm.

"With growing concern, we are witnessing the escalation in disturbing tensions...," the prime ministers of Turkey and Spain said in the International Herald Tribune.

"We shall all be the losers if we fail to immediately defuse this situation, which can only leave a trail of mistrust and misunderstanding between both sides in its wake," Tayyip Erdogan and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said in the joint article.

But Iran responded angrily, saying the cartoons "launched an anti-Islamic and Islamophobic current which will be answered."

"It was an ugly measure. The Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to sacrifice its life for its belief in Islam and the honor of the holy Prophet," Iran's government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham told a news conference on Monday.

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In my opinion, some people just need to chill out about the whole "sanctity of icon" thing. It's not like strapping on a bomb and demolishing a busy cafe is any less sacreligious.

I especially like the cartoon with the "Stop Stop, we ran out of virgins!" Hilarious stuff, really.

I once drew a crude picture of Jesus Christ wearing a shiny white pair of Nikes, and toting a shopping bag in one hand with an M-16 in the other. In place of a crown of thorns, Jesus wore a baseball cap with an American flag patched on the front. Behind him, the Cross was leaning in silhouette with black oil squirting out of its base. I believe I also drew a path of gold winding from the base of the Cross to the feet of Jesus. I'm not quite sure of this because I've since trashed the picture, but the cartoon as a whole sticks in my mind as a reminder that I shouldn't take symbols all that seriously. I don't want social illusion to distact me from the significance of life itself. It would be heavenly if everyone else felt the same way.