Today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “pithy“, might spawn a new phrase to supplement Stephen Fry’s saying:
“It’s now very common to hear people say, ‘I’m rather offended by that.’ As if that gives them certain rights. It’s actually nothing more… than a whine. ‘I find that offensive.’ It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. ‘I am offended by that.’ Well, so fucking what.”
The new one just replaces “I’m rather offended by that” with “You lack respect for my faith.” That’s not an argument, either.
Great comic! Unfortunately, I also see how the other sides can abuse it. (‘That’s inhumane!’ ‘And…?’). Similarly, lately I’ve been on the fence about the comment ‘haters gonna hate’; while it’s true that there are some people you can never win over, people also use the line to justify misbehavior in the face of all and any criticism.
This is a good one … still looking forward to Wednesdays.
Yo mama.
I chuckled that both boys finished their pints.
Yeah, that was their “response” and it is quite funny.
This is the funniest J&M I’ve seen for a while. Regarding the lack of respect for deeply held beliefs, in this discussion Cleese and Palin say that they did not ridicule Jesus in Life of Brian. It did not convince the two Christians and the matter was left unresolved. I suppose J&M is not lampooning Mo because Mo is only a body double of Mo 🙂
Whenever anyone hits me with that “you don’t respect my beliefs” nonsense, I respond by telling them that I have exactly as much respect for their beliefs as they have for mine, which is to say, none at all.
L
🙂
…and yet true believers seem unwilling, or unable, to grasp that there are any other beliefs beyond theirs. I suspect this is because their beliefs are inseparable from their worldview so an ‘attack’ on their worldview is seen as an attack on their very being.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (in Nomad) agrees:
I strongly believe that the Muslim mind can be opened. Yet when I have criticized the teachings of the Quran, as Enlightenment thinkers once challenged the revealed truths of the Bible, I have been accused of blasphemy. Muhammad says my husband can beat me and that I am worth half as much as a man. Is it I who am being disrespectful to Muhammad in criticizing his legacy, or is it he who is disrespectful to me?
And:
Free speech is the bedrock of liberty and a free society. And yes, it includes the right to blaspheme and offend.
I was in an online meeting/lecture recently where we were told that we should “respect people’s beliefs”.
No, we should respect people’s right to hold those beliefs, but we don’t have to respect the beliefs.
We’re a University, the last thing we should do is respect irrational beliefs.
To my shame, I didn’t say or type any of this, as it was an online meeting run by admin/HR, so I just wanted to get away as soon as I could.