Adding to the Muhammad furor

Since most of the Western media is to pathetic and/or sensible to reprint the cartoons that have the Islamic world up in arms, I’ll post them here:

(Muhammad with a bomb-shaped turban)

(Suicide bombers are told to stop becuase heaven is out of virgins)

Understand, reader, that I love Islam. As I understand it, Islam is a beautiful, peace-loving religion of brotherhood and reverence. It’s a privilege for me to live in a country where Islam is widely practiced: to have my days punctuated by the megaphoned calls to prayer, that find me, regardless of where, five times daily; to smile at burqa- wearing women; to be both intimidated and amused by them (he he– has anyone else noticed that burqa wearers look more like Lord of the Rings characters than religious devotees?); to bask in the architectural magnificence of Islam’s mosques… (aside: hell, if I wasn’t an atheist (er.. pantheist?), I’d convert!)

Note: Islam is consistently portrayed in a negative light by the sensationalist western media– a media that chooses to focus on the aberrant behaviors of a militant minority rather than the peaceful whole. Small wonder America tends to be Islamophobic: American ignorance coupled with the stupid sensationalism of Western media could turn Americans against Mother Theresa, if it would make newspapers sell and people afraid.

That being said, why have I reproduced these inflammatory and sacrilegious cartoons on my blog? Because, in this instance, I feel the Islamic community brings the fearful portrayal Western media upon itself. There doesn’t seem to be much protest on the behalf of the rest of the Muslim population who are content to live in a Western world, embrace freedom of speech, and oppose violence as a response to insulting sacrilege.

Or perhaps this segment of the Islamic population is being equally vocal, and is being largely ignored by the media. Who’s to say?

Or maybe I’m just reproducing these cartoons because I love sacrilege– as much, if not more than I love religions. Or maybe I love religions because without them, there would be no sacrilege. Without religions, how else could the whole world be whipped into a frenzied protest by the publication of a couple semi-witty cartoons? I mean, c’mon– how amusing is THAT?