The juvenile “draw Muhammad” day has generally been avoided by professional editorial cartoonists. One Islamophobic theme apparent in the writing on it is that Muslims are peculiar in their thin-skinned responses to such assaults on their religious sensibilities and that members of other religions never riot or protest. This assertion is not only bigoted but it is silly. So here are some other needlessly offensive cartoon-drawing days that could be adopted by the jerks bothering Muslims today, just to show that they are jerks toward other communities as well. All these subjects have produced vigorous protests or rioting and violence among members of other religious traditions. Me, I think when you know people have died in violence over some piece of thoughtlessness, it is the height of irresponsibility to repeat it for no good reason.
10. Cartoons of Hindu goddesses or of Mother India, nude.
9. Cartoon of a Haredi Jewish woman locked up in an insane asylum by secular Jewish authorities in Israel.
8. Buddha with girls in bikini: In Sri Lanka this spring “Buddhist extremists attacked the offices of Sirasa Media, who in cooperation with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau was organizing the tour for Akon . . . an American pop singer of Senegalese extraction. The protesters were offended by Akon’s latest video “Sexy Chick,” which shows bikini-clad women dancing at a pool party, while in the background stands a statue of the Buddha.”
7. Cartoon showing a rape in a Sikh temple.
6. Cartoon showing Moses as gay lover.
5. Cartoon of Christians shooting down a Hindu pandit in India.
4. Cartoon of Irish Catholic neighborhoods festooned with banners showing a crown on a bible– celebrating the victory on 12 July 1690 of Protestant King William of Orange over his Catholic rival as king, James II, at the Battle of the Boyne near Belfast. It was such provocations by Protestants that kicked off decades of Troubles in Northern Ireland that left nearly 4000 dead and led to several major bombings of London.
3. Cartoon of witch casting a spell on an African soccer match.
2. Cartoon of Hindu Goddess Lakshmi eating a Burger King Texas Whopper. (Hint: Hindus hold cows sacred and forbid the consuming of beef.)
1. Cartoons showing people parking cars in Jerusalem on Saturday.
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