UPDATE: The Godless Spellchecker, Stephen Knight, has a new post on the Pakistani-induced blasphemy policing of CafePress and WordPress, as well as some sharp words about how CafePress allows “blasphemous” images from every religion save Islam.
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This week’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “store”, came with a bit of sad and distressing news: the Easily Offended theocratic government of Pakistan has struck again, forcing CafePress to remove from sale any Jesus and Mo merchandise that depicts Mo. It’s blasphemy to show the Prophet, don’t you know? As you know, my own Jesus and Mo posts get censored by WordPress from time to time, with WordPress also acting as an arm of the Pakistani censors.
From the artist’s email:
The strip this week is a day early, in response to the following recent news.
After 15 years of selling J&M merchandise, CafePress got a notice from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority telling them to take down all store items featuring images of Mo. Which they did. We never made a lot of money from the CafePress store (a 2-figure sum paid out every year or two), but it was nice to offer t-shirts, mugs etc to people who wanted them. Currently, only the burka clad boys are available – presumably because you can’t see who it is under the cloth.
We will let you know if we find an suitable alternative outlet who won’t buckle at the first hint of protest from a censorious government.
In the meantime, if you’d like to support the comic by other means, please consider becoming a Patron. If you can spare a dollar or two a month, it really helps to keep us going:
The strip reflects the fact that CafePress, like WordPress, has taken it upon themselves to enforce Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. And today’s strip is even more blasphemous, showing Mo in a Borat-like mankini. That will really rile up the Pakistani government!
I tweeted a ticked-off response to CafePress (below), and maybe if you have a Twitter account you could also inform CafePress that they’re acting as the enforcer of Pakistan’s ridiculous blasphemy laws:
Hehe. Payback is such a bitch.
I tried to read the logo on the thong: eye heart W. I can’t figure out the last character, I guess it’s Arabic? Anyone else know what it says?
Allah. That symbol is quite common in Muslim art.
I (why ‘eye’ ?!) love Allah
My understanding was it is blasphemous to show any images of prophets in Islam, which would include Jesus. I have always wondered why they focus on the Last Prophet and not the ones that went before.
I couldn’t tell if I was closer to puking in my coffee cup at the end or snorting the coffee out my nose. Somehow I managed to do neither and just go “eww” (hee hee)
Pakistan is the poster boy for the endpoint of “faith based” living. Along with Afghanistan, Somalia and ISIS-land I use it in discussions and in my articles as an example just how successful religion based governments can delivery peace, freedom and prosperity to their citizens.
D.A., NYC
To those who claim that Christianity is the solution to social ills, I sometimes point out that Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America are largely Christian.
“Pakistan is the poster boy for the endpoint of “faith based” living ”
—but with USA, or parts thereof, quickly catching up these days.
Clearly, for Cafepress, revenue generated from people in Pakistan is higher than “a two figure sum paid out every year or two”.
In 1912, the Saud king made a deal with a small tribe of Sunni extremists, the Wahhabis, in order to retain power. They are the ones who perpetrated the notion that displaying pics of Mohammed was blasphemy. Before that, pics of him were common in Arabian art. Much of that artwork is quite beautiful (imo) and can be found with an online search. The Wahhabis spread their version of Islam via the madrassas (schools) they built. They were particularly successful in Pakistan, which is why there is a strong extremist faction there.