DRAW THIS

Today is "Everybody Draw Mohammed" Day. If you read words in a country with free speech guarantees, you may have heard about it. The fastest summary I can give you is this: devout Muslims are taught that producing an image of their prophet Mohammed, or any religious prophet, is a grave misdeed, whether or not you are Muslim. Within the last few years, people who have at all depicted or even alluded to depicting Mohammed -- political cartoonists to the creators of the TV series "South Park" -- have been threatened with death by radical Muslims. The nation of Pakistan today has blocked access to Facebook, YouTube, and other internet sites that they feel are hosting disrespectful images.

It's a very intriguing and disturbing little drama, really. We here in the U.S. have a great deal of difficulty comprehending a belief system where many many millions of its followers may think that the drawing of a picture should result in someone's righteous murder, even in countries where religion is not proscribed and the act is not illegal whatsoever. The devout cannot accept any laws above their own religion's set and feel any disrespect, from anyone from anywhere, is a threat that must be snuffed out or God will be angry. The two mindsets are so utterly at odds with each other, the hostilities so deeply felt, it is impossible to see any kind of resolution.

From CNN:

"But Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the idea behind the [Everybody Draw Mohammad Facebook] group was offensive.

"Islam discourages any visual representations of the prophets of God -- Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, anybody -- because we believe it can lead to a form of idol worship," he said."

So, here is my radical idea: how about World Think For Yourself Day And Worship Nothing Except Logic, Peace, And Respect? In that spirit, here is my drawing for for EDM Day. No gods, no idols, no blind hatred, no manipulation of the masses, no lies, no more violence.