Mohammed Blows
Having been off for the holiday, I missed the whole Bill Hobbs controversy, and am still reading up on it. However, it seems that Hobbs has lost his job for telling the truth. Oops, sorry, for being "insensitive" to Mohammed, and to the billion or so people who think he was a prophet. Well, tough. Hobbs has taken down the cartoon that started this, and I understand why, though I wish he hadn't. So I'm posting it here: 
Not particularly artistic or skillful; pretty crude, in fact. But so was Mohammed. Amid all the Voltairian "I disagree with what you say, but defend your right to say it", I think it's appropriate to point out that portrayals of Mohammed like this are actually right. I don't think there's any doubt that if Mohammed were alive today, he'd get on fine with Osama bin Laden, and have contempt for those "moderate" Moslems who think there's something wrong with blowing people up. He was a slimeball, and it's appropriate not to let that be forgotten.
Not particularly artistic or skillful; pretty crude, in fact. But so was Mohammed. Amid all the Voltairian "I disagree with what you say, but defend your right to say it", I think it's appropriate to point out that portrayals of Mohammed like this are actually right. I don't think there's any doubt that if Mohammed were alive today, he'd get on fine with Osama bin Laden, and have contempt for those "moderate" Moslems who think there's something wrong with blowing people up. He was a slimeball, and it's appropriate not to let that be forgotten.
posted by Milhouse at 7:00 PM
11 Comments:
Islam is a religion of peace in the sense of "Peace through superior firepower."
Hobbs owns the copyright on this work. I'd advise getting his permission before reposting it.
I am the copyright holder of the work reproduced above. I have not given permission for its reproduction here, or anywhere else.
Fair use. It's an object of public interest, being used to comment on.
In any case, since you're not selling access, my posting it does not deprive you of any income. The entire purpose of copyright is to "promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries". Neither I nor USAn law recognises any such thing as an artist's "moral rights" over his creation.
In particular, no artist has the right to use copyright law to keep his works out of print. If you disagree, please explain how such a right could possibly "promote the progress of science and useful arts".
For a more detailed explanation of my position, see this post.
I agree that milhouse' publication of the cartoon falls under "fair use" criteria, and would be seen that way by any court of law.
R.B. Esq.
Two thoughts. First, unless Bill Hobbs sent a copy of the drawing to the copyright office before it was of public interest it is not copyrighted in the first place so it is moot to invoke the fair use clause.
Second, I wish Bill Hobbs would not feel the need to hide this. Make fun of the enemy. If the enemy can make us afraid to poke fun at this or that, then they have control over us. Better not do this or that or we might offend the Muslims. Pretty soon we won't be able to have skimpy clad girls in beer commercials. Then we won't be able to drink beer at all because it offends the Muslims. You think I'm exagerating? I live in Utah and we have to deal with this all the time but instead of the Muslims it's the Mormons. I have heard similar stories in the south about the Baptists. We need to nip this in the bud. You should not be afraid to Post something like this. Let the lunatics riot. It will show them to be the fanatics that they are, and then point it out. This is a war about ideology about the freedom of speech even if that speech offends.
unless Bill Hobbs sent a copy of the drawing to the copyright office before it was of public interest it is not copyrighted in the first place
Nope. Anything a person writes is copyright. Registering it only serves to prove who wrote it, and when.
I support free speech. I am a theologically, socially, and politically conservative Christian American.
Billions of Muslims and the religion of Islam are not our enemy. Our enemy is radical jihadist Islamism and its handful of followers. Make the distinction.
I find the cartoons as offensive as "Piss Christ" and "Manure Madonna." The reaction to them in the Islamic world has been eye-opening, however.
Echoing the words of another rabbi (Y'shua ben Y'seph) a century earlier, the great rabbi Hillel once said, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to another. That is the sum of the Law and the Prophets. Now go and study."
Good advice.
First of all, Hillel was a generation or two before Jesus, not after. If anything, Jesus was echoing Hillel.
But this isn't about those hypothetical hundreds of millions of "moderate" Moslems. It's about Mohammed. Mohammed was a person – a dark, evil, bloodthirsty person – and denouncing him is not only an exercise in free speech like Piss Christ, it's a brave act of speaking truth to power. If Moslems choose to get offended by it, that's their lookout – and if they choose to get violent over it then they demonstrate just how "moderate" they were in the first place.
And don't kid yourself that "radical jihadist Islamism" has only a handful of followers, or doesn't represent Islam. At least 15-20% of Moslems believe in and support the jihad against us – that's hundreds of millions of people, and it is precisely those people who do represent the authentic Islam that Mohammed preached and practised.
Jesus may have spoken belligerently at times, but as far as I know he never killed anyone, never robbed anyone, never raped anyone, and never ordered a murder, robbery, or rape. Mohammed did all of these things, and never expressed a moment's regret. Depicting him as a bomb-throwing terrorist is nothing but the truth.
Our enemy is radical jihadist Islamism and its handful of followers. Make the distinction.
corrie,
it's true not all muslims are jihadist. but i bet out of the billion, more than a handful are jihadists.
A couple links for you from folks that live in muslim countries (if you already have these, im sorry)
sandmonkey.org
freedomforegyptians.blogspot.com
bigpharoah.com
For a fun read:
http://www.dansimmons.com/news/message.htm
Chuck
PS - Im not afraid of Muslims. But I do see the forest AND the trees.
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