Sharp Pencils Only, please

[Moonliner]

Given my artistic skills, it probably would be an offense worthy of death for me to attempt a drawing of any higher power.

Hell If I tried my hand at a prorate of Christ I'd probably get at least a beat down from the Quakers.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

I kind of have mixed feelings about this one, I'm definitely a free speech advocate but wonder if this is really about free speech, or an opportunity to insult Muslims. I would put it in the same category as "Burn an American Flag Day" or "Deny the Holocaust Day." Sure it's expressions of free speech, but that seems potentially a cover for something more sinister.

But is it an insult to Muslims or just certain ones who are kind of asking for it? This taking images of Mohammed as fatal insult is a relatively recent invention and has somehow morphed from drawing a figure without a face being enough to avoid insult to it being possible to offend by simply taking any image and saying it's Mohammed.

I have no desire to burn the flag but whenever there's a big push to prohibit burning the flag I want to do it to just make the point.

I have no particular desire to insult Islam, but if there are groups out there claiming that Islam has special protection against such insult afforded no other and are willing to enforce that through violence and intimidation then similarly I am strongly inclined to do so just show they don't have the power they claim.

So I see two factors of failure:

1. No group really has a right against being insulted. So they certainly don't get to kill people who insult them.
2. While you can't stop somebody from feeling insulted by whatever they find insulting, when whatever that is, is beyond reasonable accommodation the claim need not be respected any more than anybody would respect a claim that women wearing denim is a grave insult.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

If you read the comments on the many blogs and Facebook pages about this, a huge proportion of them involve hatred.

I love this idea but sadly, the impetus behind it immediately devolves into a level of prejudice that I can't get behind, no matter how much I dislike the religion's practices.

[Strangler Lewis]

In the book "Bread and Jam for Frances," the child who refuses to eat anything but bread and jam comes to feel left out when her family accedes to her wishes and gives her nothing but bread and jam. Then, she decides to try other foods.

So, just as the makers of 2012 left the destruction of Islamic icons out of their movie because who needs this headache, you need to have "Draw Every Religious Figure But Mohammed" day. When they see how much good natured fun can be had paying tribute or gently parodying other people's godheads, they'll come around.

[scaeagles]

I have to say I have mixed feelings about this.

First of all, why go out of the way to offend or make an organized movement to offend?

Conversely, I think this is quite brilliant, really, by in a very simple way drawing attention to the radical Islamic elements, showing that simply being offended is cause for violence and terrorism. It clearly demonstrates that terrorism isn't just about Israel or bombings in Pakistan or a US military presence in the Middle East or whatever demand is being made by a particualr terrorist at a particular time. It's about insane and violent people who do insane and violent things.

[Strangler Lewis]

We have lots of people in this country who think that simply being offended is a cause for violence. Most of them disappear anonymously into the prison system. Some of them are paid large amounts of money to pitch baseballs.

[Alex]

True, it isn't being offended and lashing out that I so much feel the need to protest (obviously I'm opposed to killing or hurting anybody for treating a topic with less than demanded respect; but so long as their irrationality is contained to them I'll probably avoid setting them off needlessly) it is more when society seems to be caving in to those demands that I have an issue.

There used to be a guy who'd sit on a bench at the California Street cable car terminus and verbally berate people who caught his attention by doing something he didn't like. So just to avoid the hassle when I walked by I'd avoid doing those things I learned might set him off.

But the moment that the city said "you can't shake hands on the corner of Drumm and Market because it will make the crazy guy yell a lot" I would have been down there shaking hands with every passer by.

(Eventually the benches were removed and crazy guy disappeared, I hope they were moved because of crazy guy.)

[innerSpaceman]

I don't have mixed feelings at all. I'm well-aware of my motivations - which are anti-censorship and intimidation - and I don't really care about the motivations of others. I am not part of any group effort; I am participating as an individual.

Furthermore, my participation will be pretty private, as I don't intend to share my drawings of Mohammed with anyone. I'm just doing it as a personal protest against people who will KILL over such absurdities as a drawing, and in solidarity with any others doing it for those same reasons on that same day.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Furthermore, my participation will be pretty private, as I don't intend to share my drawings of Mohammed with anyone. I'm just doing it as a personal protest against people who will KILL over such absurdities as a drawing, and in solidarity with any others doing it for those same reasons on that same day.

A personal protest....do you picket in your living room, too?

[Gemini Cricket]

At home, he waves his stick only there's no cardboard sign at the top.