Views & Reviews From Writer Steve Miller
Formerly Reviews and Stuff at Rotten Tomatoes, 2005 - 2009.

Currently Showing at Cinema Steve

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

May 20th is first annual
Everybody Draw Mohammad Day
(well... not really)

In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jylland's Posten undertook a project to support our cherished right of freedom of speech and expression by printing a series of cartoons that depicted not only the idol of Muslims everywhere--the Prophet Mohammed (may peas be upon him)--but also commented on the Muslim obsession with censorship and violence. The response was predictable, and Muslim crazies are STILL trying to murder cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.

In 2010, Seattle-based cartoonist Molly Norris drew THIS cartoon and posted it to her website:



She sent it around to several members of the media, she did radio interviews this past Friday, and she inspired others to contemplate the notion of a Draw Mohammad Day.A Facebook group was created. A Blogger blog was created. Despite the fact that Everybody Draw Mohammad Day was still three weeks away, people started submitting cartoons.

And somewhere, Muslim Maniacs started sharpening their knives.

Norris heard the sound of metal on grindstone and she saw the sparks flying. She swiftly came out and said, "I was only kidding! It was just a cartoon for gosh's sake!" (click here to visit her site), something the fact her "group" was named CACAH ("ca-ca") was a tip-off for. She even made a revised version of her cartoon in an attempt to stem the spread of the idea that May 20 is "Everybody Draw Mohammad Day":



It's not because people are gullible that they believed Norris was serious about her "event." It's because, like me, they are sick and tired of watching Western commentators, entertainers and media outlets cower in the face of savage lunatics.

Norris has disavowed any involvement in "Everybody Draw Mohammad Day." The Facebook page has been disavowed by its creator. There's still a Blogger blog (here,but I predict it will soon fade).

However, the idea is now out there. Will there be someone with real clout that will take on "Everybody Draw Mohammad Day" and make a reality? It sure would be nice, especially if the cartoons selected are of the intelligent and creative stripe like the original ones in Jylland's Posten, or even the so-heavily censored commentary on last week's "South Park."

For a consise history of the life and death of "Everybody Draw Mohammad Day," click here.

1 comment: