It is necessary to draw pictures of Mohammed to show Muslims that violence and terrorism are inappropriate responses. I think the logic here is that a few people drew pictures of Mohammed, some radicals sent out death threats and burned embassies, and now we need to draw more pictures of Mohammed to convince Muslims not to do this. But it sounds pretty stupid when you put it in exactly those words. Say a random Christian kicked a Muslim in the face, and a few other Muslims got really angry, blew the whole thing out of proportion, and killed him and his entire family. This would be an inappropriately strong response, and certainly you could be upset about it, but the proper response wouldn’t be to go kicking random Muslims in the face. They didn’t do it, and they probably don’t even approve. But drawing pictures of Mohammed offends many Muslims, not just the ones who send death threats.
There is another way to view this… And I think it would be fair to point out that the basic popular arguiment for “draw Mohammed day” is behind it. Suppose you are subject to a law you consider unfair. Suppose many other people are as well. If you have the possibility of public collective action that makes the consistent enforcement of such a law impossible. Why not take it?
You might quibble that drawing Mohamed isn’t illegal (though in some countries hate speech laws can be used to ban it, since Koran burnings have been punished), but this is a bit irrelevant. If there exist widely known formalized rules with organizations dedicated to punishing offenders, what difference does it make if the rules are formalized in a code of law or religious book? Indeed the distinction between the two is no where near universal to begin with. And what difference does it make if they are enforced for everyone not by my government but another state’s or perhaps by a non-governmental organization?
The organization enforcing the rule and the popular will to enforce it are likley to erode. If every week a cartoonist draws Mohamed will Muslims bother to riot every week? Humans are lazy. What was once outrages can simply through repetition become a unsightly “feature” of those accursed infidels, much smaller in emotional affect and its impact on punishing a specific offender. It might become part of a wider motivation to act against the West in a organized fashion … but the West has historically been pretty good at using organized violence.
Now you might ask why do they consider the law unjust and worth fighting?
Simple. Arguing for the enforcement of the law is enemy attire. Having the law upheld gives the other group a “privilege” (a form of protection we don’t have because we’ve given it up in the past) and indicates high status for them.
If every week a cartoonist draws Mohamed will Muslims bother to riot every week? Humans are lazy. What was once outrages can simply through repetition become a unsightly “feature” of those accursed infidels, much smaller in emotional affect and its impact on punishing a specific offender.
There are also more moderate (and westernized) Muslims whose feelings are hurt when they see a deliberate attempt to offend Muslims, even if they wouldn’t be particularly mind if they encountered a drawing of Mohammed in say a history book or even a cartoon also featuring Buddha, Jesus, Jehova etc. Many probably wouldn’t mind if drawing Mohammed and burning the Qur’an were forbidden, but wouldn’t go out of their way to make that happen.
There is another way to view this… And I think it would be fair to point out that the basic popular arguiment for “draw Mohammed day” is behind it. Suppose you are subject to a law you consider unfair. Suppose many other people are as well. If you have the possibility of public collective action that makes the consistent enforcement of such a law impossible. Why not take it?
You might quibble that drawing Mohamed isn’t illegal (though in some countries hate speech laws can be used to ban it, since Koran burnings have been punished), but this is a bit irrelevant. If there exist widely known formalized rules with organizations dedicated to punishing offenders, what difference does it make if the rules are formalized in a code of law or religious book? Indeed the distinction between the two is no where near universal to begin with. And what difference does it make if they are enforced for everyone not by my government but another state’s or perhaps by a non-governmental organization?
The organization enforcing the rule and the popular will to enforce it are likley to erode. If every week a cartoonist draws Mohamed will Muslims bother to riot every week? Humans are lazy. What was once outrages can simply through repetition become a unsightly “feature” of those accursed infidels, much smaller in emotional affect and its impact on punishing a specific offender. It might become part of a wider motivation to act against the West in a organized fashion … but the West has historically been pretty good at using organized violence.
Now you might ask why do they consider the law unjust and worth fighting?
Simple. Arguing for the enforcement of the law is enemy attire. Having the law upheld gives the other group a “privilege” (a form of protection we don’t have because we’ve given it up in the past) and indicates high status for them.
I agree. In essence, drawing Mohammed is civil disobedience.
There are also more moderate (and westernized) Muslims whose feelings are hurt when they see a deliberate attempt to offend Muslims, even if they wouldn’t be particularly mind if they encountered a drawing of Mohammed in say a history book or even a cartoon also featuring Buddha, Jesus, Jehova etc. Many probably wouldn’t mind if drawing Mohammed and burning the Qur’an were forbidden, but wouldn’t go out of their way to make that happen.