Speaking of anniversaries (re: PZ’s 10 years), today is the second annual anniversary of Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.
From the Wikipedia entry, here’s a paragraph honoring people who live in some alternate universe in which the concept of freedom of expression is poorly understood:
Law professor and blogger Ann Althouse rejected the Everybody Draw Mohammed Day idea because “depictions of Muhammad offend millions of Muslims who are no part of the violent threats.” James Taranto, writing in the “Best of the Web Today” column at The Wall Street Journal, also objected to the idea, not only because depicting Mohammed “is inconsiderate of the sensibilities of others”, but also because “it defines those others—Muslims—as being outside of our culture, unworthy of the courtesy we readily accord to insiders.” Bill Walsh of Bedford Minuteman wrote critically of the initiative, which seemed “petulant and childish” to him: “It attempts to battle religious zealotry with rudeness and sacrilege, and we can only wait to see what happens, but I fear it won’t be good.” Janet Albrechtsen wrote in The Australian, “As a cartoon, it was mildly amusing. As a campaign, it’s crass and gratuitously offensive.”Writing for New York University’s Center for Religion and Media publication, The Revealer, Jeremy F. Walton called the event a “blasphemous faux holiday”, which would “only serve to reinforce broader American misunderstandings of Islam and Muslims”.
Anyway, if you’ve got something to contribute, I’m here for yuh. Send it!
Also, the end of the Wikipedia piece says the originator of the event, Molly Norris, “has since changed her name and gone into hiding.”
That REALLY just pisses me off.
If you’re in the biological sciences and expect at some point to get published, here’s someone you should know: Carl Buell.
