[Vision2020] More on the Cartoonophobes

[Ron Force]

Cristopher Hitchens  on "Cartoon Debate: the Case for Mocking Religion":

http://www.slate.com/id/2135499/nav/tap2/



",,,there is a strong case for saying that the Danish newspaper
Jyllands-Posten, and those who have reprinted its efforts out of solidarity,
are affirming the right to criticize not merely Islam but religion in
general. And the Bush administration has no business at all expressing an
opinion on that. If it is to say anything, it is constitutionally obliged to
uphold the right and no more. You can be sure that the relevant European
newspapers have also printed their share of cartoons making fun of nuns and
popes and messianic Israeli settlers, and taunting child-raping priests.
There was a time when this would not have been possible. But those taboos
have been broken.

Which is what taboos are for. Islam makes very large claims for itself. In
its art, there is a prejudice against representing the human form at all.
The prohibition on picturing the prophet—who was only another male mammal—is
apparently absolute. So is the prohibition on pork or alcohol or, in some
Muslim societies, music or dancing. Very well then, let a good Muslim
abstain rigorously from all these. But if he claims the right to make me
abstain as well, he offers the clearest possible warning and proof of an
aggressive intent. This current uneasy coexistence is only an interlude, he
seems to say. For the moment, all I can do is claim to possess absolute
truth and demand absolute immunity from criticism. But in the future, you
will do what I say and you will do it on pain of death..."

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Ron Force        Moscow ID USA

rforce at moscow,com
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