Today I’m participating in Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, albeit not without some reservations.

Originally conceived by cartoonist Molly Norris (who later disassociated herself from the event), Everybody Draw Mohammed Day began as protest against Comedy Central’s self-censorship of the South Park episode 201, which included depictions of and references to the prophet Mohammed. (Reportedly, the episode is not airing in reruns – which would explain why my DVR recorded the wrong episode at the 12:00 hour – nor is it available on Comedy Central’s website.) Nevertheless, the episode resulted in thinly veiled death threats against South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone on the website Revolution Muslim.

As envisioned by Norris, Everybody Draw Mohammed Day is a means of standing up for freedom of expression (and showing solidarity with Parker and Stone) by “watering down the pool of targets.” This is to say, it’s easier to silence one voice, or two or twenty; an international chorus, not so much. Rather than being anti-Muslim, Everybody Draw Mohammed Day is pro-free speech (ditto: pro-free though and pro-secularism, at least to me). And ethical consistency: “if you want to live in a Western society and use the system to protect your rights [attn: Revolution Muslim], you have to be willing to allow others to have theirs as well,” explained Mimi, one of many event organizers. All of which this heathen vegan feminist is totally down with.

Unfortunately (though unsurprisingly), many of the submissions I’ve seen on Facebook and elsewhere are not just anti-Muslim, but also virulently racist, as well as sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, sizeist, speciesist, and the like. Common themes include Mohammed’s head Photoshopped onto the body of a nude/semi-nude woman (women’s sexuality is gross!); Mohammed’s head Photoshopped onto an obese woman’s body (fat women are gross!); Mohammed engaged in various sexual acts with another man (dude, gay!); and Mohammed raping nonhuman animals (appropriating animal suffering, yay!), to name but a few.

Unoriginal and juvenile, yes, but even more so, these images manage to mock and ridicule people instead of ideas, and largely for irrelevant personal characteristics, at that. Just as I abhor this sort of behavior when it comes from those in the animal rights movement, neither do I condone racism, sexism, etc. when employed in defense of the First Amendment. You can poke fun at and criticize religion – even religious fundamentalists – without denigrating entire groups of people, particularly those who already bear the brunt of discrimination and prejudice. I sincerely hope that my eleven submissions (none of them actual drawings; I could hardly draw a stick figure to save my life, and anyhow, the stick figure thing is played out) are a decent enough illustration of this.

Finally, I invite all participants to join the Center for Constitutional Rights, the ACLU and Amnesty International in supporting the civil and human rights of the millions of Muslims, Middle Easterners and people of color who have been marginalized and oppressed by the “War on Terror.” Likewise, if you’re a member of the Facebook group Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!, please also join me in Time to Arrest the Pope.*

The bottom line? Don’t be a hater, mkay?

Now let the blasphemy commence!

First up is this riff on Dumb & Dumber, wherein Mohammed appears as Jim Carrey/Lloyd Christmas and Jesus manifests as Jeff Daniels/Harry Dunne (so chosen solely because of his hippie stoner haircut).

“I’m with Mohammed”:
Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, dressed as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne from the movie Dumb & Dumber, stand side by side, arms slung around one another’s shoulders. Their t-shirts read “I’m with Jesus” and “I’m with Mohammed,” respectively.
(Original image taken from the film’s soundtrack.)
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The message? Religious pissing matches are a waste of time; in the end, there are no winners, and all participants are equally dumb, yo! So just grab a doobie and let’s all just get along, kay? (For what it’s worth, I absolutely loathe this movie.)

“Mo Hammed, Mo Problems” is all about word association; “Mohammed” tends to remind me of this Notorious B.I.G. album. Plus, I like the artwork!

“Mo Hammed, Mo Problems”:
The Notorious B.I.G.’s face has been replaced by that of the prophet Mohammed on the the cover of the album Mo Money Mo Problems. Here, Mohammed is surrounded by paper bills, and the album title has been changed accordingly.
(Mohammed’s image courtesy the Mohammed Image Archive.)
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After the “Mo Hammed” album, I kind of veered in a retro/pop culture direction (with no small amount of help from fd’s flickr toys, which I experimented with ad nauseum). Take, for example, the Mohammed Pop Art Poster:

“Mohammed Pop”:
Using the Pop Art Poster tool from fd’s flickr toys, I created a montage of nine identical images of Mohammed’s face and torso, each colored a different hue. Voila!: Insta pop art!
(Mohammed’s image courtesy the Mohammed Image Archive.)
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Then there’s the Mohammed Puzzle, which takes us from the kitschy to the mundane:

“Mohammed Puzzle”:
Using the Jigsaw tool on fd’s flickr toys, I transformed a 17th century painting of Mohammed addressing his followers into a mass-produced tabletop puzzle – with a few pieces missing, natch.
(Mohammed’s image courtesy the Mohammed Image Archive and Wikipedia.)
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I also sent Mohammed on vacation, to – where else!? – Utah:

“Vacation Photos”:
Using the Hockneyizer tool on fd’s flickr toys, I made a Polaroid collage (“in the style of the artist David Hockney”!) comprised of different portions of a 1625 Parisian portrait of Mohammed. The photos bear various notations – only parts of which are legible – including the following: “Utah is awesome!”; “…she said!”; “Those Mormons crack me up.”; “He…”; “lol my…”; “…xoxo”; and “Wish u were here!”
(Mohammed’s image courtesy the Mohammed Image Archive.)
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Here’s the same piece of artwork, this time with a ’60s/’70s retro vibe (as opposed to the Polaroid’s late ’70s/early ’80s feel):

“Retro Bonus Mohammed”:
With a little help from the Framer at fd’s flickr toys, I also made the 1625 portrait of Mohammed into a ’70s retro-style ColorCraft Bonus Photo.
(Mohammed’s image courtesy the Mohammed Image Archive.)
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I also made Mohammed a nifty little badge for next year’s CPAC gathering, where he’ll have the chance to hobnob with like-minded conservative, misogynist, power-hungry religious fundamentalists (“conservatives,” as they’re called here in the U.S. of A.):

“Mohammed’s CPAC ID”:
Again with fd’s flickr toys! Using the site’s Badge Maker, I created a name tag that will help Mohammed gain admittance to next year’s CPAC convention. Red and white, the badge screams “HELLO!” and introduces the wearer as “Muhammed.” At the bottom, a tag line reads, “Ask me about my latest revelation!” The badge bears a black-and-white sketch of Mohammed preaching to his followers.
(Mohammed’s image courtesy the Mohammed Image Archive.)
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The next several images feature cartoon stills from South Park. Again, we’re back to the banal with a cheesy custom postage stamp:

“Wish You Were Here”:
A cartoon of the Super Best Friends – Buddha, Moses, Joseph Smith, Krishna, Lao Tzu, Muhammad and Sea Man – posing for the camera alongside Stan Marsh, while the Flying Spaghetti Monster hovers above. The “photo” has been made into a postage stamp with fd’s flickr toys.
(Cartoon via South Park / Comedy Central.)

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Also boring: vacation photos stuck haphazardly to a cork bulletin board:

“Super Awesome Memories”:
Another cartoon of the Super Best Friends (this time Joseph Smith, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed), tacked onto a faux cork billboard using the Framer tool on fd’s flickr toys.
(Cartoon via South Park / Comedy Central.)
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But wait! Mohammed doesn’t leave the house without his Super Best Friends badge:

“Super Best Friends Badge”:
Mohammed’s Super Best Friends badge. Top to bottom, the badge reads, “SUPER BEST FRIENDS | Muhammed* | Prophet/Messenger | Patriarch/Patriarchist | Pimp Daddy | Member Since: 610 | Expiration: Never | Birthdate: 570 | *Blessings and peace be upon him/me.” On the badge, Mohammed is shown in cartoon form, South Park style.
(Cartoon via South Park / Comedy Central.)
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(“Pimp daddy” because Mohammed’s patriarchal, multiple-wives-for-everyman vision of Islam most definitely transforms women into chattel to be exchanged at will – as do the more conservative branches of Christianity, Mormonism, etc.)

Last but not least is my favorite of the batch:

“On Notice”:
Using The Stephen Colbert “On Notice Board” Generator, I generated a special Islamic On Notice Board, replacing Stephen Colbert’s head with that of Mohammed. Top to bottom, the prophet has put the following phenomenon On Notice: Comedy central; Kahlua cupcakes; Harry Potter; “Business Casual”; Stephen Baldwin; Mondays; Bacon Bras; and Revolution Muslim.
(Mohammed cartoon via Kurt Westergaard.)
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a special, Islamic themed On Notice board, wherein a relatively moderate Mohammed expresses his anger at Revolution Islam for their extremist asshattery.

Also: Kahlua cupcakes. So yummy, but so very taboo. Damn you, beverage-foodstuff hybrids!

* Updated to add: It looks like, in the time it took me to finish this post, Facebook deleted the Everybody Draw Mohammed page. And yet.

Meh. IBTK.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 8:10 pm and is filed under godbags & infidels, holidays & observances, smite me!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.