Graven
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Ok, the Mohammed cartoons. As Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter puts it, “probably the biggest international news story with cartoons at its center in the history of the medium” which makes the relative silence on the issue from comics nerds, who have over the last couple of decades been rabbiting on about the power of cartooning and the effectiveness of the medium in communicating ideas, somewhat ironic methinks. Here we are with half the world in uproar over a bunch of gag cartoons and everyone’s gone silent.
(At least I haven’t noticed anything, but granted I’m not exactly in the middle of the comics community at the moment, so maybe I missed Team Comix getting all vocal on this issue. Feel free to point me in that direction if I’m wrong.)
But still, this is the comics/cartooning medium, of which I’m on record as “caring a bit about”, and the world of religion, of which I’m on record as “thinking a bit stupid”, so it should be pretty clear cut where I stand on this.
Except it’s all a bit complicated. Unfortunately the cartoons (which if you haven’t seen them already are on this page about 2/3 down) are kinda shit. Not only that but they were published in what I understand to be a right-wing newspaper on a par with the Express in a country which doesn’t have a particularly good track record on dealing with its darker-skinned immigrant population. Parallels can be drawn with pre-war caricatures of Jews in Germany along with the depictions of orientals in 1940s American comics. There’s no place for this kind of thing and it deserves to be shouted down.
(Although it must be said that the “Stop! We’ve run out of virgins!” one is kinda funny.)
On the other hand, the argument that these cartoons shouldn’t have been printed soley because they depict Mohammed and for no other reason is… well…
Religion, eh?
I mean, you’ve got some seriously meaty issues here. Racism, tolerance, imperialism, terrorism, war, economics… But the thing that gets people out there setting fire to embassies (and let’s not forget the importance of an embassy in political terms - you might as well invade the country itself) is the visual representation of a man who some people believe to be a prophet.
I’d like to think these cartoons were just the spark that set off a powder keg that has been ignored for far too long. A handy scapegoat for both sides that avoids the bigger more complicated issues, rather like chat rooms being blamed for paedophilia and heavy metal for teenage suicide. I’d like to think that, but unfortunately I think this is a case of stupid bigotry meeting stupid religion and we’re just going to have to reap what has been sown.
Here’s a simplified example. If Muslims (or more accurately people living in the Middle East in countries that are predominantly populated by persons of the Muslim faith) were to object to these cartoons on the basis that they’re racist, inflammatory nonsense then they’d have to put their own house in order and stop printing the same about Israel but objecting on the graven images of Mohammed basis means they can avoid that. On the other hand the Europeans avoid the cancer of racism in their countries by citing freedom of expression, neglecting to remember that with freedom comes a shitload of responsibility and doesn’t include shouting fire in a crowded theatre.
Idiots, the lot of them…
[Update: Wikipedia on the controversy including the cartoons themselves. | The Comics Journal message board where comics luminaries swerve around the point a bit, only occasionally hitting it.]
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These things always seem to blow up in such a way that the offending art causing the controversy winds up being defended on principle by people who don’t actually rate it as being any good (the Lady Chatterley case being the most obvious example). These cartoons are pretty shitty and the editorial instincts that put them into print would seem to be even shittier. So, you know, saying they’re shitty and pointing out why would seem to be a reasonable reaction. Refusing to buy Lego any more, on the other hand…
Having worked in Muslim countries (Indonesia, Tunisia, Morocco, UAE) and therefore knowing a lot of Muslims personally I find this whole thing tragic. Islam is a peace loving religion that has been taken over completely by minorities who preach hatred. And the hatred seems to be spreading.
Having now seen the cartoons (thanks for the link) I can now agree that the whole thing appears to be a storm in a teacup that has been brewing for quite a while. Strange that so often it is an obscure event that tips off a major conflagration. Example: Sarajevo provided the tinder to start the First World War.
Personally I think the West is spending far too much time focusing on the extremist elements and not enough time encouraging and supporting the typical Muslim that the Prophet would/does recognize. The unfortunate cartoons just provided the evidence that the West doesn’t understand Islam.
I believe this more to be about right wing politics than anything in particular - the reason for all the clamour happens to be a cartoon - but any other dumb reason could still be used to justify this particular breed of hate politics by the protagonists concerned.
It seems to me that this whole controversy has been well planned to portray Islam in a negative way. Look at the folks who are rioting, they are the poor oppressed muslims who have a lot of anger and just waiting for a reason to express it. The UK media is lapping this up, and yet again we don’t get to see the law abiding muslim who is probably a bit annoyed about the cartoons but aint gonna go a set fire to something.
It would be easy to produce a set of cartoons that would get a similar violent reaction from christians. jesus buggering a sheep. mary giving head. the pope molesting a child. Surely if we are going to go down the ‘freedom of speech’ road then it is only fair to insult ALL religions equally. But no, lets single out Islam, light the blue touch paper and step back and wait for the fireworks.
Of course this does not excuse the protesters in London who carried banners clearly making threats to kill. Quite how the police are going to identify the veiled women holding the placards god (or Allah) only knows. It just plays right into the hands of the fascist groups who claim that it is ‘one rule for us and one rule for them’.
Complicated issues at play here. Let us hope that tensions will cool and a rational discussion ensues.
The sheep-buggering comment pricked up my ears (well …) because in that talk thing the example they yanked out to use as a counter-example by Kate Evans was a cartoon by Steve Bell in the Guardian of George Bush buggering a camel (I think it was a bit more complicated than that, but that was the general gist).
The idea that emereged was that Steve Bell had created a critical space — both environmentally, as he’s in the Guardian, and literally, as in it’s known that his cartoons are used for making discussion-points, and his readers are expecting to be challenged, and therefore it’s not just *right* to be making inflammatory images in this context, it’s required — and if he’s not, he’s doing his job wrong.
This then, highlights the problem with the racist toons in the right wing zines — like chummy sexism in Loaded, or anti-poor drivel in The Mail, it’s presenting something that doesn’t challenge the reader, but confirms and reinforces existing prejudices.
I think the reason it’s wrongfooted many journos and lead to them getting very anxious about it is because they see in it a very crass example of something they do all the time — and shouldn’t.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/45104
Radio 4 programme on the subject, “Denmark: In the Eye of the Cartoon Storm”, is well worth a listen. Available, for a while at least, on Listen Again here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml
The silence from Team Comix has been bugging me on this and increasingly over the past years on all things neocon banker. I am drifting though, and as guilty of non-comment as those others. Surely now its more important than ever to make comment and investigation of this cruel world a priority for cartoonists and comic strip artists wishing their work relevance.
All I really want to say is, thanks for this post and the links included commenters. I’ll check back.
Do I dare? Insert an image in the comments, that is…
Hope it doesn’t mess with anything.
Cracked Magazine, the unbearably crappy MAD rip-off of our youth, has been reborn as a sharp humor site featuring such favorites as Neal Pollack and Jay Pinkerton. For starters, check out More Cartoons that Might Offend in the Middle East.
No offence intended to anyone with a sense of humour bypass.
attribution [ via]
Plus, there are cartoons over at http://www.Slate.com, but not so wickedly funny.
More cartoon madness, this time with attribution:
“We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!” said Sandy “No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!”
Israeli group announces anti-Semitic cartoons contest! (via)
If I come up with any more of these I’ll post them on my own blog. But for this one, I figure there’s a wider readership here, and that the story’s good enough to justify another comment here.
It’s an article in SGgate about Art Spiegleman, and his views on a few things.
http://tinyurl.com/lrg4s
Ace New York comics artist Art Spiegelman will speak publicly twice in the Bay Area this weekend.
Asked about the newspaper caricatures of the prophet Muhammad whose dissemination provoked protest across the Muslim world, Spiegelman joked that what interested him most is “that I didn’t do it.”
“I think it’s necessary to see the things to begin to have a real conversation. Instead, in the New York Times you’ve got a kind of pose of gentility and reason and as somebody on the word/picture divide, I’m offended. It’s all about who’s going to stop you [from showing the cartoons] and get away with it.”
That’s pretty well-said. Better than a lot of other commentator’s remarks.
Of the two talks he’s giving, the one is San Mateo is probably easier to get to…
To be honest, the best resource for keeping up with all of this is The Comics Reporter where Spurg has been posting lengthy daily updates.