Barbra and Mohamed

Have bloggers gone too far? Have we become arrogant bunch of offensive wankers, keen to assault other people’s profoundly felt beliefs for a quick giggle or a snide jibe. I’ve said that most bloggers (including this blogger) are vanity publishers and should really be out doing something better than writing these sad lonely comments that nobody in their right mind will read…

Which brings me on to today’s subject… those depictions of the Islamic prophet Mohamed as a bomber, and that cartoon which has inspired so much violence and embassy burning:

It’s worth noting that nobody actually knows what the historical figure of Mohamed looked like. No illustrations of him survive, as he eschewed depiction. The cartoon resembles the historical figure in so much as any bearded, beturbaned man with a bomb in his headgear resembles any historical figure whose visage no living person can possibly recall.

The sensible response upon seeing this somewhat crude and provocative cartoon is to agree with the the message below the image – specifically that this is not Mohamed.

In this 16th Century illustration, Mohamed is shown riding one of those human-headed horsey things. His face is veiled.
Ironically, the mob who are busy tearing down embassies in various Arab countries right now are doing their best to confirm precisely the prejudices that gave inspiration to this cartoon in the first place. The small proportion of those mobs who have seen those drawings and felt offended, probably did so because it was intended to highlight a very real tendency in modern Islamic belief.

It’s also yet another example of failing to heed the Barbra Streisand Effect. I can forgive radical islamofascists for not knowing the anecdote about an American Jewish singer who sued a photographic company in an effort to have photos of her beach mansion removed from a public archive. Not only did she fail to have the photos removed, but she also drew attention to what would otherwise have been an annonymous photo of a big house.

By making such a fuss of an image a certain group found offensive, they have caused that image to be replicated a million times. And that is exactly why I have posted the image today in my blog. It is likely that enraged Islamicists will now seek to burn down my flat… I fear them not. In fact I am prepared to show them exactly where I live: