Faith Works 2-25-06
Jeff Gill

Western Liberal Democracies Have More Fun

You have surely heard about those cartoons first published five months ago in Denmark, the result of an editor asking 25 illustrators to show how they saw the Prophet Muhammad. 12 responded, and the newspaper printed them as editorial comment on the challenges faced in Europe and around the world in responding to militant Islam. The man in charge admits that he knew the preference against images of the Prophet among Moslems, but said he wanted to make the point that mocking or humorous images of Christian figures were tolerated, but any slight against the Islamic community provoked harsh words and threats of violence, intimidating comics and politicians alike.
In other words, he was looking for a flap, and got a flapdoodle.
A number of Islamic leaders in Denmark put together a portfolio of the images, plus three whose sources have never been identified (and are the most offensive), and traveled to Cairo and other centers of the Moslem world to raise awareness of the affront to faithful adherents of Islam.
Suddenly Syria and Iraq and Pakistan found cause for offense, or at least radical Islamic groups were able to use them as provocations to assemble mass demonstrations against Western influences in general and the freedom to mock in particular. Deaths resulted, so far pretty much exclusively among the rioting protesters, especially young children caught up in the mobs.
Then Iran, whose new president is nothing if not consistent in his distaste for all things Western and therefore decadent, decided to follow up his public speeches (asking for Israel to be wiped from the map and declaring that the crimes attributed to the Nazis are largely fiction) with a declaration of a contest. Send us, he asked, your cartoons that deny the Holocaust.
Israel’s newspapers were swift to respond. They announced the next day a contest, asking readers to submit their favorite pieces of . . .
What do you think properly concludes that sentence? Another round of Mecca-bashing, or snideness about sultans? Nope. They asked for the best examples of anti-Semitic humor, saying "No one is going to outdo Israel in making fun of Jews!"
And they ran them.
I can’t use almost any of this is in a nice family paper like the Advocate, but it turns out Israelis know some pretty good shots at themselves, much of it ruder than I should be able to get the point of, actually.
One well worn joke was noted as needing to be officially retired (the one about the Volkswagen that seats 6,000,004 – think ash trays), and some submitted art was good enough to reprint, including a scene of Moses, Jesus, Buddha, and yes, Mohammed looking down in a group from heaven onto a scene of clashing rioters, with Big Mo saying "We didn’t teach them that!"
Some of my good conservative Christian friends worry about decadent modern Western culture as much as Osama bin Laden on a bad day, and who’s to say we don’t share a few concerns (noting stopped clocks twice a day, blind pigs finding the stray acorn, etc.). But what gives me a smile most days in Western Liberal Democracyland is that we have the social structure that allows us to make fun of ourselves, even mean spirited mocking at times (ask Bob Taft how he feels about capital punishment for cartoonists, or even columnists), and move on, possibly even conceding that we learned something in the exchange . . . but you’re still wrong!
Dr. Pangloss may be wrong about this being "the best of all possible worlds," but I give thanks that we can have a copy of "Candide" in some church libraries, "The Book of Mormon" in public libraries, "Brokeback Mountain" in theaters, and the "Qu’ran" in local bookstores, and no one need riot.
Actually, given that Westernized groups have shown a remarkable ability, even a preference, for taking terms of derision and embracing them as labels (Quakers, Shakers, Methodists, Mormons, or Holy Rollers to name a few), it would seem to be an essential part of our make up.
As Blake said and "Godspell" quoted, "Mock on, mock on!"

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and supply preacher around central Ohio; make fun of him at disciple@voyager.net.