A Muslim cartoonist on "Draw Muhammad Day"
by G. Willow
Wilson
Washington
Post's On Faith blog July 15, 2010
When Seattle
cartoonist Molly Norris was put on an Al Qaeda hit list for her "Draw
Muhammad Day" project, my inbox started filling up.
Since I'm one
of the only practicing Muslims in the American comics industry, people assumed
I had some kind of profound insight into the reasons these cartoon incidents
keep flaring up. But the only explanation I have is too simple to satisfy
anyone: they happen because hate sells. It sells in the West, where anti-Muslim
hate groups feed on incidents of Muslim rage; it sells in the Muslim world,
where extremists are only too happy to use examples of Western intolerance to
win over new recruits. This is the reality we live in: any satirized depiction
of the Prophet Muhammad feeds into a global propaganda war, whether the artist
intends it or not. There is no longer any such thing as artistic immunity in
the battle of images, and to think otherwise is fatally naive.
For the rest of this article, please visit
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/07/by_g_willow_wilson_when.html
______________
Americans must
not be cowed by Muslim objections to cartoons
Sunday, July
18, 2010
When H.L.
Mencken said that Puritanism was "the haunting fear that someone,
somewhere, may be happy," he was barely grazing the iceberg of the titanic
fundamentalism to come.
Yes, those
pesky, humor-challenged jihadists are at it again. A group of radical Muslims,
whose promises to sacrifice their souls can't be kept soon enough, apparently
won't be satisfied until happy people everywhere are dead.
In yet another
sequel in the series, another cartoonist fatwa has been issued.
Stifling yawns
would be a natural response at this juncture of outrage fatigue, except that an
American woman's life is at stake. Molly Norris doodled, and now she must die,
says American-Yemeni Islamic cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, or Wacky-Doodle (WD) for
short.
For the rest of this article, please visit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/16/AR2010071604206.html