Who is Lars Vilks and why is he so dangerous you say? Why, he's the man in the photo to the right and he has a $150,000 bounty on his head. What makes him dangerous? Well, he's an artist and sculptor. Despite what you might think, that, in and of itself, is not what makes him so dangerous. It's because this artist from Sweden drew a picture of...wait for it...Mohammed. You know, the Muslim prophet guy? Probably heard of him. Alot like Jesus but doesn't appreciate his likeness being portrayed? You know who I'm talking about.
Of course, it doesn't help that Lars drew Mohammed's head on the body of a dog. This sort of thing tends to upset Mohammed's followers so our friends at Al Qaeda, fun bunch that they are, put a $100,000 bounty on the artist's life, with a $50,000 bonus if someone slits his throat. That's some righteous coin, no pun intended.
Now Lars is having to be careful. He says he made the drawing because he thinks that you shouldn't be able to insult some religions but not others. I can't argue with him on that one. I was raised Catholic and though I don't believe in it anymore, I see Jesus being made fun of and Catholics being insulted all the time. Doesn't bother me. I think people need to be able to take a joke. I've been made fun of and I've made fun of others. It's just something humans do.
The truth is that I don't understand the prohibition about depicting Mohammed. First of all, if he existed, no one even knows what he looked like. So does the drawing really count if it looks nothing like him? I mean, normally people probably picture Mohammed looking like a younger Osama Bin Laden. But what if he was really a short, fat, balding guy? If you drew him wrong, would this still even be a problem? Maybe Mohammed would like being depicted as a taller, thinner guy.
Plus, it seems to me that the only reason Mohammed wasn't depicted was because he was born before people did that sort of thing. If he was alive now, people would be snapping his picture all over the place. There would probably be videos of him on YouTube, hanging with his peeps and getting busy with the ladies. At the very least, he'd probably be making those terrible videos like Bin Laden does, though I'd like to think that Mohammed has more charisma.
Even if he was born a few hundred years later than he was, his likeness probably would have been painted. So I think the only reason we don't have any likenesses of him is because they really didn't do that at the time of his life. We don't have any pictures of Jesus either, unless you count that crummy Shroud of Turin. And typical, he had his eyes closed on that one.
See, I don't understand why any of this stuff bothers Muslims or Christians or anyone else for that matter. Isn't God or Allah all powerful? Aren't they going to exact terrible revenge on people like Lars Vilks? Or me for that matter? Why do Muslim's on Earth feel the need to fight Allah's battles? Is it possible that they really don't believe he's going to do it? Are they just too impatient to wait for him to get around to it? Frankly, while I don't want to have my throat slit, I imagine that the most powerful being in the universe can do much worse to me. This should be good enough for Muslims. I believe Mr. Vilks is an atheist so I don't think he's too concerned about the imagined vengeance of Allah. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that he does have to fear the very real vengeance of the superstitious followers of this mythology.
3 comments:
Great post. The people who get all whipped up into a frenzy over things like this are simple zealots. They have no sense of humor, no lives at all really outside those activities and experiences that they believe will lead them to their salvation. Talk about a bunch of wet blankets.
Thanks for this great piece. No matter what, it seems artists of all kinds are at risk of offending someone, but I suppose artists and composers alike might feel that even a negative reaction is better than no reaction at all. Although, I doubt Stravinsky ever worried that he might have his throat cut for Rite of Spring.
Yeah, zealots have no sense of humor but that's the least of our problems. I can live next door to a fundamentalist Christian. We may not agree with each other but I don't think one of us would believe that the other needs to die. These people are frightening because they really place no value on life. Alot of people in America say they believe in God but they live pretty hypocritical lives. These people REALLY believe. The beliefs may be no less superstitious but the belief itself is real and incredibly frightening.
Muslims Against Sharia praise the courage of Lars Vilks, Ulf Johansson, Thorbjorn Larsson and the staff of Nerikes Allehanda and Dagens Nyheter and condemn threats issued by Abu Omar Al Baghdadi and the Islamic State of Iraq. Muslims Against Sharia will provide a payment of 100,000kr (about $15,000) for the information leading to capture or neutralization of Abu Omar Al Baghdadi.
Muslimer mot Sharia berömmer Lars Vilks, Ulf Johansson, Torbjörn Larsson och övriga anställda på Nerikes Allehanda och Dagens Nyheter för deras tapperhet och fördömer hotet från Abu Omar Al Baghdadi och Islamistiska Iraq. Muslimer mot Sharia betalar 100 000 SEK (ca 15 000$) för information som leder till gripande eller oskadligörande av Abu Omar Al Baghdadi.
Muslims Against Sharia
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