Opinion
Mohammed drawing, environmental rhetoric similar
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Also by Bassey Etim:
- Politics only way in life's struggles (May 6, 2008)
- MPD miffs upstanding citizens (April 29, 2008)
- Media a mirror of public desire (April 22, 2008)
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Last week, influential leaders of the Christian right were presented with a perfect opportunity to prove they don't promote an agenda of intolerance aimed at dividing the American public and advancing a right-wing political philosophy. They failed.
Contrary to previous reports, the National Association of Evangelicals has decided not to take a stance on global warming, thus holding true to the ancient parable, "Love thy neighbor, especially thou who finances thy political agenda."
Last month dozens of Evangelical leaders signed a letter pressuring the NAE to lay off the Bush administration. The president asks God for advice every morning, so if he really cared I think it would have come up by now. Regardless, the NAE followed God's orders to take care of his planet by passing a strongly worded motion "recognizing the ongoing debate" about global warming.
Critics see this as further evidence that many Christian leaders have sacrificed their ideals to maintain a coalition with business interests. Thankfully, the letter's co-drafter, E. Calvin Beisner, faced down those critics with a proud declaration: if we can't prove it is a sin, how can there be a sin to be proven?
All sins may be equal in the eyes of God, but He never gave us a concrete ranking system for judging our own sins. Thankfully, our modern day prophet, er, political leaders, have come up with a principled set of values you can be proud to tell the Lord all about on the day of your judgment. See Table 1.1:
Sins warranting the eternal flames of hell:
- Abortion
- Being gay
- Weird monkey science
- Welfare
- Affirmative action
I'm sure He'll get back to us on these A.S.A.P.:
- Destroying the environment
- Executing the handicapped
- Developing 67,500 nuclear missiles capable of destroying the world hundreds of times over
- Refusing to ingest the divinely inspired Pat Robertson diet shake
Better move that last one to the first column
So the Bible tells us to be responsible stewards for the earth? I say it's irresponsible to let so much beautiful oil sit underground among the dinosaur bones God planted to confuse the weak-minded. And all that oil would go to waste if we didn't burn it off into the atmosphere. So if you think about it, we're not destroying the earth at all; it's recycling. Take that, hippies. So while I drive around in my truck 6 feet above you ground-level peasants, think of me as having the moral high ground as well.
If you think the worldwide rebirth of hypocritical religious fanaticism is a phenomenon exclusive to the United States, you might want to find a new hiding place for your stash of Mohammed doodles. (You know what I'm talking about, from the sock drawer to between the mattresses.)
That's right, in a region where foreign aid workers get their heads lopped off on live TV, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets, infuriated by Cartoongate — a successful test of the west's advanced scandal-naming technology — in which Danish and Norwegian newspapers published cartoons including one depicting Mohammed wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse.
Middle Eastern leaders call the cartoons an affront to Islam and are demanding the nations hold the perpetrators responsible. Weeks after decreeing the Holocaust a myth, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proved fully able to exploit the uproar, vowing to end economic relations with 12 nations whose press reprinted the drawings.
Meanwhile, protesters in Lebanon burned Danish flags bearing the image of a cross a day after rioters torched the Danish embassy in a failed attempt to uncover the cartoonists of mass dissemination (CMD).
If Cartoongate can teach us anything, it is not inherent incompatibility which drives conflict between western culture and the Muslim world. In this case it is the idealism of a free press evolving alongside democratic governments clashing with extremists exploiting resentment of the west for their own political gain.
If the National Association of Evangelicals can teach us anything, it is that the culture wars in this country may be a result of religious extremists exploiting resentment of liberal environmentalists for their own political gain.
Bassey Etim (etim@badgerherald.com) is a junior majoring in political science and journalism.
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Hey, Bassey, you think maybe Muslims could stop the cartoons they enjoy circulating of Christians, Hindus and Jews? Fair is fair, you know.
Compare the relatively mild reaction to the "Piss Christ" and "Elephant Dung Madonna" with the vilont riots over some very tame cartoons.
I want to see some artists exhibit real artistic freedom. I want to see a "Piss Muhammed".
ps. Doesn't their idea of "demanding the nations hold the perpetrators responsible" involve the death penalty? Murder is OK by them but cartoons - off with their heads.
This whole cartoon thing is just another part of the "submit or die" chant of Islam. Remember, Bin Laden wanted Spain back well before 9-11 and Afganastan and Iraq were invaded.
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Here's some other info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons
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This is an interesting site that archives historical Islamic paintings and drawings of Mohammed throughout history. Most are Persian, Turkish, Indian, Afghan and Mongolian. The webpage also covers European medieval depictions of Mohammed, and a few contemporary images in print, literature, art and media.
http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/
In this jihad over humor, tolerance is disdained by people who demand it of others. The authoritarian governments that claim to speak on behalf of Europe's supposedly oppressed Muslim minorities practice systematic repression against their own religious minorities. They have radicalized what was at first a difficult question. Now they are asking not for respect but for submission. They want non-Muslims in Europe to live by Muslim rules.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/06/AR2006020601258.html?sub=AR
It's too late for the Iranians to begin a contest for anti-semetic cartoons - it's been going on forever already.
***
Major Anti-Semitic Motifs in Arab Cartoons
http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-21.htm
dear Bassey Etim,
climate change is a natural phenomenon. And no amount of environmentalist scaremongering can make me believe otherwise. The climate has always changed and always will continue to do so, until this planet's lifespan runs out. Just because environmentalism and caring for the climate is a feel good issue doesn't mean the global warming alamists are right.
We have had at least a dozen ice ages so far, will the 'the climate must always stay the same or else we have a problem' kindly explain how those ice ages both came and went?
The truth is, they are after money! They want to be subsidized by gullible people and governments.
Kyoto is about shoveling billions of US taxdollars to other countries. Which government programs should be cut in order to pay for it? Welfare perhaps?
Marcel
Signed,
Mark
That's right. We all know that environmentalists,not oil companies are the ones that steal billions off the government.
What possible incentives do oil companies have to discredit climate change?
Now those environmentalists on the other hand, they are just selfish greedy money grubbing capitalists. Ever seen the mansions that environmnetalists live in? Ever seen the massive profit margins of Greenpeace and academic scientists?
I heard one environmentalist even had a solar powered car named after him! Imagine!
Not like those goodhearted oil executives who have everyone's best interests in mind.
(Moron)
we've had accurate measuring tools for about 40-50 years, and we've seen a minimal rise in global temperatures over that time. we know from ice ages and other physical evidence that the earth has natural heating and cooling cycles. who's to say that we're not simply on the way up in temperature right now? possible theory is that the temperature rises enough to melt the ice caps, releasing immense amounts of 32 degree water into the oceans, effectually bringing the temperature of the world between the poles down and starting a natural cooling of the earth...cycles...