59 thoughts on “More defense of antireligious cartoons”

    1. Indeed! We are all French now! The solidarity online and in press is the only consolation I have from this despicable act.

        1. Seems one suspect turned himself in. It’s only a matter of time now. I hope there was a lot of heat on these guys and they found it hard to hide.

    2. Unless of course you’re in front of someone with the real thing, then you might wish for more. This filthy religion of oppression and violence should be banned from all civilized countries.

      1. I can hardly wait to hear what little Benny
        “Religion of Peace” Affleck will have to say
        regarding this incident. Affleck should be required to watch the bastards shoot that wounded police officer in the head, right before he makes his pithy response.

        And let’s hear from all the critics of Maher,
        Harris and Pat Condell; should be interesting.

        Many of the readers here may remember Eric
        MacDonald’s last post at Choice In Dying:

        http://choiceindying.com/2014/08/18/yes-kenan-there-is-something-about-islam/

      2. Wars — and, make no mistake, this is a war — are won not by bombs and bullets but by people deciding to stop killing.

        Pens are far more effective at winning wars than guns.

        Why else do you think every war machine puts such huge efforts into propaganda?

        b&

      3. Just how would you go about banning Islam “from all civilized countries”?

        A very dangerous idea.

  3. No matter how hard I try, I can’t shake the feeling that maybe immigration from Moslem countries and cultures into Western societies should be limited until the persistent barbarian roots of Mahometanism are shaken off. It is a sexist culture with built in revenge governing social relations and society. Never thought I would have to wrestle with such illiberal tendencies.

    When we lived in France, Charlie Hebdo was an important source of social commentary.

    JE SUIS CHARLIE HEBDO

    1. More, it should be eliminated. No civilized, reasonable society should tolerate this intolerant violent and oppressive cult. It has no place in the modern world.

    2. Maybe?

      Moslem culture is beyond sexist It’s misogynistic. They fear women. They fear the sins of sex. They fear western culture for its liberalism regarding women and sex. In large segments of their society these fears turn to hatred and that hatred fosters violence. Why must we wring our hands worrying about betraying our liberal ideals because we act in our own enlightened self interest? Their long term goal is total world domination. And the so-called moderate Moslems are not speaking out in numbers against these atrocities. Until they do, western countries are insane not to restrict immigration from Moslem countries.

    3. I am thinking that every airport arrival area in every Western country should have a large cartoon of Mohammed (also Buddha, Jesus, Yahweh, etc.) with a caption “If you can’t handle this, go back where you came from.”

    4. Immigrants of 150 years ago tried to assimilate. It doesn’t seem like that happens any more.

    2. Heartening as all the tw**ts and retw**ts may be, we must remember that they can’t be a substitute for the meaningful steps undertaken by those in authority to tackle the raging threat of Islamism across the modern world.

  5. An appropriate cartoon could also be an alternate/ updated version of

    “Touche pas à mon pote”

    It’s not on to harm another person for any reason. Never mind their origin, their colour, their words and images written or spoken. It’s so sad this message isn’t winning the day.

  6. I hope this revolting act will help those who decry any criticism of Islam as Islamophobia recognize just what a problem it has the potential to be. Any belief system that includes an invocation to kill critics and unbelievers, and rejects all attempts at reform is likely to spawn such acts.

    Because of this, good people are dead, and many more are suffering. This cannot be accepted by any decent society, but millions will admire the actions of the murderers because of religion.

    I can’t work out whether I’m angry or sad or just disappointed in humanity.

  8. It’s hard to imagine how a culture which brought us Western astronomy doesn’t look to the stars anymore…it was still an Islamic culture when their astronomical pursuits were common, and when they were interested in the natural world and the universe. What happened to the curious and beneficial Islamic world-view and culture? It is a travesty to witness their regression into a craven and ignorant existence.

      1. For sure…I mean that early Islamic science (if you can call it that) had a relatively good trajectory, but never really got off the ground per se, or reach any enduring potential. I’m sure some Islamic faction had something to do with it.

    1. in Rennes – he corrected but the sentiment is heartening no matter where in France or the world for that matter.

  11. The pen is not the only thing mightier than the sword (or the machine gun.)

    Laughter is.

    These were satirical cartoons making light fun of the sacred. Nothing seems to terrorize the faithful — whether they be the militant extremists or the gentle ecumenicists — like laughter. Mockery. Ridicule. The idea that someone else thinks even you ought to recognize your implausible belief for what it is: not sacred, but a bit silly.

    If I believed what they believed I’d be afraid of laughter, too.

    The liberation of the human mind has never been furthered by such learned dunderheads; it has been furthered by gay fellows who heaved dead cats into sanctuaries and then went roistering down the highways of the world, proving to all men that doubt, after all, was safe–that the god in the sanctuary was finite in his power, and hence a fraud. One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective; it is also vastly more intelligent. — HL Mencken

  12. I am just listening to the UK’s Channel 4 News. After a verbal description of various cartoons the reporter declared: “It is Channel 4 policy not to show these cartoons”.

  13. Slate has reposted a Christopher Hitchens article, “The case for mocking religion.”:

    http://slate.me/14oxJJK

    “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.”

    Slate also has an article that reproduces at least some of the Hebdo covers.

    1. Hitchens is right about his point; religious prohibitions only extend to those who chose the faith in question. However, he makes a factual error in doing so that is important. Both Turkey and Iran (!) have a tradition of wine. For example, a colleague of mine at McGill said that in Iran even after Islamicization (but prior to the revolution), there was much booze. However, the passage in the Koran was interpreted to mean that one shouldn’t drink *to excess* (or to get drunk) rather than to be a teetotaler. This illustrates an important point – that Islamic or Islam-inspired traditions have changed over time, and moreover changed in the direction that us secularists would think is “backwards”.

      1. My first tenants in a rental house I owned c.20 years ago were Bosnian Muslims. That is, I knew they were Bosnian, I guessed they were probably Muslim but it wasn’t until my fourth visit when I spotted a Koran on top of the TV set that I could be sure. Catholics are much easier to spot! But anyway, they were very proud of their home-made wine and kept offering me a drink of it. It was quite good.

    1. I love the first sentence of the article: “La terreur“ bedeutet „der Schrecken“.

      When you see the two languages juxtaposed like that it cracks me up because Romance languages make everything seem so lovely and Germanic ones are the opposite.

      1. Yes,… but neither French nor English has an adjective like “kirchenfundamentalismuskritisch” (with an ending of e, er, en, or es) to describe a person who is critical of religious fundamentalism!

        Du bist eine kircenfundamentalismuskritische Frau.

        1. Yakaru, being half-German myself, my brain is giving me an error message, with a footnote about grammar that I can’t quite make out, as regards your word “kirchenfundamentalismuskritisch”. Bearing in mind that we can make up compound words, did you concoct it yourself? If not, where did you find it?

          1. Nope I didn’t concoct it myself, though I kinda wish I had! It’s from here–

            http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/der-streit-um-die-spaghettimonster-messen-in-templin-schild-dran-schild-ab-schild-dran/11054940.html

            Damit wäre es aber im Gegenzug für die Anhänger der kirchenfundamentalismuskritischen Satire-Religion mit der Nächstenliebe vorbei: „Dann gibt es eine Anzeige“, sagt der 63-jährige pensionierte Mitarbeiter in der freien Jugendarbeit, Rüdiger Weida, alias Bruder Spaghettus.

      1. Ach, excuse me, yes, they are condemning the attack.

        “President of the Munich Islamic Forum Imam Benjamin Idriz called the attack on Charlie Hebdo “the most serious form of blasphemy” whose perpetrators “don’t belong in Europe and don’t belong in Islam.
        The Prophet Mohammed would “distance himself from such barbaric acts and judge them most harshly”, he said, adding that freedom of expression should be as strongly protected as freedom of religion.”

        http://www.thelocal.de/20150107/merkel-condemns-despicable-paris-attack

        1. That’s a cheering statement, for it not only condemns the attacks, which is a low bar, but affirms support for freedom of expression, which is what is actually under attack.

  16. As someone who married into a family affected by Huntington Disease, I’m obligated to be a Woody Guthrie fan. So I’m particularly fond of the photoshopped pencil.

  17. Youtube’s hosting of the film ‘The Innocence of Muslims’ resulted in a 10,000 strong protest at Google’s London HQ. How many will gather to protest against todays barbarism?

  19. There should be cartoons of the sun setting in a muddy spring like what the Coran says happens (Surah 18:86) This seems symbolic for what Islame stands for; reducing humanity to the dark ages.
    Mohimmad failed to predict the industrial revolution or computer revolution or 21st century technology. Look at all the medical advances that the Coran failed to tell the world.
    How can anyone respect a book which talks about eye for eye punishments but then can’t see that cutting off a persons hand is not equal to stealing a bag of carrots. Also sentencing anyone to an eternal infinite torture is not equal to any finite crime a human could do.
    Maybe there should be a cartoon where one half is in full colour with a rainbow of ideas and the other half is in black & white gloom = Islame ?
    What would life be like if all the women in dancing competitions like,
    “Strictly come dancing” were covered in a full burkha ?
    Maybe there should be a ‘March of progress’ cartoon showing a character wearing a turban coming just after the cave man ? I note that the ‘March of progress’ cartoon is a distortion of the theory of evolution by natural selection as the Youtube channel SciShow points out,video;”This is NOT What Evolution Looks Like” Which is the civilized way to educate and persuade rather than the Iron Age way of attempting to assert by intimidation using lethal force.
    Religious people talk of worshipping an omniscient god, well then maybe they should try to become omniscient by reading the whole spectrum of ideas, compare and contrast. Read the history of science & technology, the history of philosophy, the history of religion & a summary of what each religion thinks. For each of the ideas ask: real or not real ?
    In modern medicine each treatment is a repeatable experiment – make up the drug, administer and see the healing.
    In contrast facing east, kneeling & praying five times a day might make you ill.

  20. The censorship begins. CNN has pulled all images of the cartoons, AP has also removed ‘Piss Christ’ images.

    Howard Dean,’progressive heroo’ is insisting that on NBC we should not call these guys Muslims.

  23. Did Mohimmad fail to prophecy the invention of anything beyond the feather or reed quill pen ? Did Mohimmad offer any revelations about advances in technology ?

    Wikipedia has an interesting article on history of the pen: (cut down)
    In his book A History of Writing, Steven Roger Fischer suggests that on the basis of finds at Saqqara, the reed pen might well have been used for writing on parchment as long ago as the First Dynasty or about 3000 BC. Reed pens continued to be used until the Middle Ages although they were slowly replaced by quills from about the 7th century. The reed pen, generally made from bamboo, is still used in some parts of Pakistan by young students and is used to write on small boards made of timber.

    The reed pen survived until papyrus was replaced by animal skins, vellum and parchment, as a writing surface. The smoother surface of skin allowed finer, smaller writing by the quill pen, derived from the flight feather. The quill pen was used in Qumran, Judea to write some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date back to around 100 BC. The scrolls were written in Hebrew dialects with bird feathers or quills.

    After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europeans had difficulty in obtaining reeds and began to use quills. There is a specific reference to quills in the writings of St. Isidore of Seville in the 7th century. Quill pens were still widely used in the 18th century, and were used to write and sign the Constitution of the United States in 1787.

    A copper nib was found in the ruins of Pompeii showing that metal nibs were used in the year 79. There is also a reference to ‘a silver pen to carry ink in’, in Samuel Pepys’ diary for August 1663. ‘New invented’ metal pens are advertised in The Times in 1792.

    The earliest historical record of a pen employing a reservoir dates back to the 10th century. In 953, Ma’ād al-Mu’izz, the Fatimid Caliph of Egypt, demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir and delivered it to the nib.

    A later reservoir pen was developed in 1636. In his Deliciae Physico-Mathematicae (1636), German inventor Daniel Schwenter described a pen made from two quills. One quill served as a reservoir for ink inside the other quill. The ink was sealed inside the quill with cork. Ink was squeezed through a small hole to the writing point.

    While a student in Paris, Romanian Petrache Poenaru invented the fountain pen, which the French Government patented in May 1827. Fountain pen patents and production then increased in the 1850s, especially steel pens produced by John Mitchell.

    In 1938, László Bíró, a Hungarian newspaper editor, with the help of his brother George, a chemist, began to work on designing new types of pens including one with a tiny ball in its tip that was free to turn in a socket. As the pen moved along the paper, the ball rotated, picking up ink from the ink cartridge and leaving it on the paper. Bíró filed a British patent on June 15, 1938

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