Forum Viking wrote:But... raising your middle finger is considered offensive by probably more people than would be offended by a depiction of Muhammed. And as a bonus, flipping people off in a public park full of children is even more likely to get your ass kicked than drawing Muhammed is to spark a violent reaction.
Before even considering Aikanaro's point, that is patent nonsense. If you went to a public park and started flipping the bird, you'd just get some weird looks, and maybe some parents would ask you to leave (but if you refused, they would just take their kids elsewhere).
Steax wrote:One problem I see is that drawings are sort of targeted at all Muslims instead of specifically those issuing death threats. I know, I know, in normal cases most sane Muslims won't care about drawings. What I've recently found to be problematic is that such drawings are often delivered as 'insults' - not in the depiction, but in the way people make them: "I'm just going to keep drawing him until all you guys listen to me and stop giving death threats". It's like an act of superiority.
(A minor alteration of a point that's been done to death, but whatever.) Part of living in a global society of over 6 billion people is that you need to develop thicker skin. Hell, even hanging out with a group of five people will probably mean being offended from time to time. If we are to have a civilized society, we need to act like grown-ups, and the burden falls on the offended (for two reasons; first, because a drawing of Mohammad fucking a pig doesn't actually hurt anyone, and second, because sometimes
people will offend you by accident). Part of the problem, as has been alluded to, is putting anything on such a high pedestal that you get violently offended when someone says mean things about it. Personally, I hold nothing sacred—go on, draw a picture of me having a three-way with Hitler and my mom. I'll hang it on my fridge.
Steax wrote:I know, it's more complex than that. The problem I noticed is that young children don't understand the politics of this all, and most have no idea what South Park is and that there are death threats at all. All they know is that people online have started drawing something sacred in their religion, and they're bewildered. They stumble across it in blogs, news articles, and forums. What they see, in their eyes, is that people are poking fun at their religion. This in turn can cause one of many things. Some children outright hate the west for allowing people to do such a thing. Some children feel depressed or outraged. Some become ashamed of themselves. And these kids aren't the target of the campaign.
Sorry, I couldn't resist. But you don't honestly expect us to take that argument seriously, do you?