Thursday, 2nd February 2006

Jehovah!

First Amendment Art (click on image to view full size)

Oooh, he said Jehovah!! Stone him!!

Anyone over a certain age will no doubt remember the furoar that erupted when Monty Python released their "Life of Brian" movie back in 1979, but I'm glad to see that the House of Lords have dismissed the governments flawed 'Incitement to Religious Hatred' bill - although it now looks like the Danish have somehow upset those wacky Islamist fundamentalists by publishing some 'cartoons' in a national newspaper. Of couse, having viewed the cartoons, I can't see what all the fuss is about. Most of them aren't even that funny - but like all stories such as this, there's no such thing as bad publicity, so even mediocre drawings are now one of the hot search items on the internet.

There have been religious cartoons and jokes all through the ages and I think that any religion must be built on pretty shaky foundations if its fans can't take a few harmless jokes. It's just a sad pity that people can't laugh at each other instead of shoot each other. Laughter is a good release valve for built-up resentment and anger. If free speech is restricted, there'll always be a simmering resentment beneath the surface which could explode at any time.

Perhaps it's time to load Life of Brian into the video, and leave the Satanic Verses lying on the coffee table?

By the way, the camel comes courtesy of First Amendment Art Blog

Paul

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