There's an excellent documentary (Bloody Cartoons [Denmark, 2007]) on SBS right now about the insane overreaction to those BLASPHEMOUS and VERY FUNNY cartoons poking fun at Islam and Muslim terrorist bombers that were published in a Danish newspaper.
What these idiots got so upset about was the depiction of Mohammad. According to them, Mohammad must not be depicted in an illustration or drawing, but that's bullshit because this restriction doesn't even appear anywhere in the Koran. A mufti on this programme admitted as much. And this mufti also had a lame argument against freedom of speech. He said that the idea of absolute freedom is wrong because you have to have rules, like road rules so cars don't smash into one another, or shipping rules so ships don't plow into one another. By this weak logic, we would have rules like you can't poke fun at any religion, if if some of its members blow themselves up in big crowds; you can't poke fun because these men follow a very special leader who doesn't have a sense of humour, and throws a tantrum if you poke fun at him, so you mustn't say anything to upset them, hell no! Just let these dudes go about their business of blowing themselves and others up, and try to be understanding, OK?
What I believe is that cartoonists have a duty to make fun of these people. If you are so humourless and sensitive about your stupid so-fragile belief system, you deserve to be ridiculed and humiliated until you come to your damned senses and get some perspective (you idiots).
Let me tell you something which I've never told anybody: Back when I was publishing my comix anthology Sick Puppy Comix, I printed an excellent and very funny comic strip by Neale Blanden which had Jesus Christ on a cross in an Australian suburban backyard - he was making a racket and the next door neighbour was mowing his lawn and yelled out for Jesus to shut up and keep it down, and Jesus replies, "But it REALLY HURTS!!" Even when I had my born-again 'freakout' and got way overzealous and humourless myself (which ended, eventually, thank God), I never once regretted publishing that comic strip. I knew Jesus Christ was big enough to stand some comix dude poking fun at it all, and I knew even Jesus himself would find amusing. So I believe if Mohammad was half the dude these Muslims make him out to be, he would find those Dutch cartoons hilarious, too. And if you disagree with that, I must point out that you don't know shit. Go out into the desert and think deeper about it.
