Seattle, April 27: Hatred against Islam has spread so much in the hearts of non-muslims that in protest and taking revenge of it, cartoonist around the world wants to make May 20th as the day of remembrance for the muslims in the world.
In light of the recent events surrounding South Park, Reason magazine has declared May 20th to be the First Annual Everybody Draw Mohammad Day. To summarize recent events, Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to show an image of Mohammad for their 200th episode.
After the episode aired, they received veiled death threats from a Muslim extremist group. As a result, Comedy Central censored part 2 of the episode without the creators’ permission.
If anyone questions Parker and Stone’s right to show Mohammad, you may be beyond hope. Muslims believe that showing an image of Mohammad is blasphemous. No matter how sacred this belief is to them, it imposes no obligations on others and is certainly not grounds for the use of force. On May 20th, however, it is my hope that millions of people will take this blasphemy one step further and display images of Mohammad, not as part of a story, but for the sole purpose of offending those who would violate our rights (as I did in a recent post).
If Muslims simply held their beliefs but did not attempt to impose them on others by force, I would oppose displaying pictures of Mohammad just for the sake of offensiveness. However, Muslim extremists have presented the free world with a choice: stop showing pictures of Mohammad, or die. There is only one proper way to answer this ultimatum: by boldly asserting our rights in the face of our adversary. This means displaying pictures of Mohammad and, as Ayn Rand might say, tearing the lid off hell itself and letting men see it.
Granted, the “legitimacy” of the extremist group (I won’t use its name because I prefer not to grant it any additional publicity) is very questionable. But we have seen these types of threats over and over again from more conservative factions of Islam. Also, an individual need not be a battle-hardened insurgent to pose a threat. Let us not forget the tragic events of Columbine, caused solely by two high school students. Terrorism is simply another form of rule by force, its source is ultimately irrelevant.
This is not about a TV show, this is not about Comedy Central’s contractual obligations this is about a direct assault on individual rights and a test of our nation’s honor. Will we stand up for Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s freedom, as we would the freedom of a Muslim to worship or the freedom of a political dissident to express his views? Freedom or fear? Honor or cowardice? We have a choice to make.
-Agencies