In the wake of the disgusting and senseless deaths yesterday
at Charlie Hebdo, the message sent loud and clear is that the barbarism and
fear that characterized 2014 will extend seamlessly into 2015. This all started because a bunch of
cartoonists did the daring act of drawing the Prophet Mohammed (yes that was
their crime). I don’t see why in the 21st
century (or really any century), drawing Mohammed is an act worthy of
death. These terrorists should take a
page from the most popular religious leader of late; Pope Francis. The Pope has sent a message of acceptance,
tolerance, and peace rather than the traditional Catholic decrees of
intolerance and hate and in return has become beloved. He has taken great steps to softening the
Catholic Church and has displayed great kindness to the poor, the downtrodden,
and the underdog with his attacks on our out of control capitalist system and
his famous statement “of who am I to judge”.
Ergo, this man has brought people like me, a strict Jewish agonist/atheist
to his side along with people like Bill Maher (an even stricter atheist). This guy is the way to lead a religion into
the 21st century. Killing
people over crude cartoon images of your Prophet isn’t going to make much
headway.
In my mind, Islam is in need of a reformation akin to what
happened to Christianity in the 1500’s.
The religion is about 1400 years old and is in need of a Martin Luther
to step up and nail a set of 95 Thesis to the wall of a Mosque. Hell I would settle for a Vatican II or
something of the sort to help modernize parts of the religion (yes I do realize
that Islam isn’t as centralized as the Catholic Church but still a meeting of
high clerics couldn’t hurt). It’s just infuriating
to continually hear about people living in fear or dying for what they have
drawn or who they have insulted. Salmon
Rushdie is still on the list of Al Qaeda’s most wanted and all he did was write
a book (on Friday he will be on Real Time
with Bill Maher so we know that will be a great show).
But in reality, what more is there to say that hasn’t already
been said? This topic of people dying
because they dared “insult the Prophet Mohammed” has become so much a part of our
cultural dialogue that it is almost expected when somebody draws their pen to paper. I’ve seen plenty of Anti-Semetic drawings and
writings but today you’ll just see the JDL rather than cold blooded assassins. I didn’t see a gang of militant Jews gunning
down the producers and actors of the Death of Kilnghoffer over the fall. You fight art with art, not with bullets and
death threats. What does that do? How does that help what Jon Stewart would
call “Team Civilization”? We as a
civilization need to move past the need to threaten people, especially comedians
and satirists, with death because they discussed a sacred item or hold a
dissenting opinion. There are no sacred
or untouchable items in society today and that’s fine. Everything is up for mockery and I wouldn’t
have it any other way. Hopefully, we can
get some of the crazies on board or else who knows anymore. Who knows?
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