“Freedom of expression is about being allowed to cause trouble, or create discomfort or offence, as long as your words or behaviour are not threatening.”
—Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean, Blackadder)
Last night, I watched news coverage of the insanely violent protests occurring all over the Muslim world, in response to the cartoon caricatures of Mohammed, published in a Danish newspaper.
I found it disgusting.
My friend James makes an excellent point in his blog about being careful not to mis-characterize all Muslims as being mindlessly reactionary. I know for a fact that there are innumerable moderate Muslims who are repulsed by the outrageous behaviour that has consumed the crowds surrounding embassies throughout the Islamic world. But, watching last night’s news, I only counted a pitiful few peaceful protests. The rest — from Iran to Indonesia, from Lebanon to India, from Afghanistan to Somalia, from Syria to Pakistan — were nothing more than violent mobs, committing acts of vandalism and violence in the name of religion — savagrey at its finest. I watched people mindlessly mouthing religious platitudes; any and all shred of reason consigned to the dustbin of civilization.
They were vowing to die over a poorly-drawn, bloody cartoon!!!
That’s when it hit me. This isn’t about the Islamic World vs. the Great Satan/Western World. This is the war against reason. Against thoughtfulness, compassion, and logic. This is an attempt by the forces of fundamentalist religion to destroy rational, civic society…and they’re succeeding!
The longer I live, the more firmly I have come to believe that religion is a negative force in the modern world. If teaching history has taught me anything, it is that virtually ALL political action, condoned in the name of religion, leads to nothing but body counts and damage estimates…most of which can be labelled as horrific. Six thousand years of Human civilization, and it remains as strong — and as hateful — as ever. Christians, Jews, Muslims…they (we!) are all equally guilty of mindless bouts of fanaticism…bouts that are transforming into powerful, mainstream forces of culture and law. Whether it be the Ayatollahs in Iran, or the anti-choice/anti-gay Bible thumping Christians of United States…there are days when it seems only a few countries, such as Canada, struggle to resist.
With each passing day, this collective gains more and more influence…more and more power…and civilization struggles not to rewind in its wake.
For the record: Do I believe that the Danish newspaper caricatures of Mohammed are tasteless?
From what I’ve gleaned (not having seen them)…I would say yes.
Do I believe that newspapers in a civil society — where religion has no legal power to prescribe how an individual lives his or her life — have a right to publish such things?
Absolutely, positively, yes! I read the Toronto Sun every day, and find it the most repulsive, bigoted, inflammatory collection of literary garbage to ever masquerade as journalism. But I would lay down my life to defend their right to publish the very same garbage.
Do I believe that other individuals in the same society have every right to protest the publication of these tasteless pieces of journalism? Write against it…march against it…speak against it…
Of course I do. It’s as sacred as the right of the publishers to publish garbage.
I didn’t see this in most of last night’s mayhem. So far, only Lebanon has shown any rational thought, by apologizing to the Danes for not protecting their embassy in Beirut. But before we happy-go-lucky Westerners get too high-and-mighty, we should look in our own backyard, where similar Christian forces continue to masquerade hatred and bigotry under the banner of religious piety. You can see it from the hierarchy of the Vatican, to Focus on the Family, all the way down to the gutter trash that is (the so-called) Rev. Fred Phelps.
I don’t feel I can write much more on this topic, other than to wonder if our modern civilization is teetering on the edge of a precipice…and if there are enough people in the world prepared to defend reason over mindless turmoil. We think we’ve come so far, so fast…but what I saw last night proves that we haven’t come far enough.
Frankly, I could use some assurance right about now. It doesn’t look good from where I’m sitting. Again, when I read my friend James’ blog, I try to take solace in his moderating wisdom. He has always taken a balanced view of life, and does so with remarkable clarity and fairness.
I can only hope there are millions of others out there like him…or else we’re in trouble.
