What is Everybody Draw Mohammed Day?
If you've been living in a cave these past few weeks then you probably haven't heard about "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day." Well, let me amend that: unless that cave is near the Pakistani border, in which case you not only heard about it, but you smacked your goat in anger over the thought of infidels drawing images of your beloved prophet (PBUH).
Here's a good explanation:
NEWS JUNKIE POST, Draw Muhammad Day: Censorship, Sabotage, Threats & Murder
Draw Muhammad Day is not an assault on Islam or Muslims, and certainly not on Arab people of any nation. The protest is not racist or ethnocentric. The protest is not an attempt to infringe on the rights of others or curtail any individual’s religious freedom. The protest is in defense of individual freedom of expression. The protest is against one group forcing its religious doctrine on everyone, and censoring other’s rights of free speech and expression.
Here's the timeline:
14 Apr 2010: South Park airs episode 200 depicting Mohammed in a bear suit.
15 Apr 2010: Muslim idiot Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, aka Zachary A. Chesser (SFB) threatened Trey Parker and Matt Stone for mocking Mohammad (See my article South Park Bleeps Mohammed).
21 Apr 2010: South Park airs episode 201 where we witness Comedy Central censoring the episode and removing it from online distribution in fear of Muslim attacks.
22 Apr 2010: A clueless Seattle artist Molly Norris draws a cartoon (image above) to protest the threats against South Park not realizing that no one is allowed to offend Muslims with even the most seemingly harmless of jests. It would spawn the following:
25 Apr 2010: Jon Wellington creates Facebook page: Everybody Draw Mohammed Day! [no longer online] to memorialize the drawings. As I write this it has more than 80,000 fans.
Almost immediately a Facebook page appeared to counter the one above calling itself Against "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day - May 20 with Muslims and dhimmis asking the rest of us to pretty please not insult their prophet.
25 Apr 2010: Molly Norris apologizes on her website [she closed it down] after getting death threats from Muslims (1). Welcome, Molly, to a world infested with Muslims.
19 May 2010: Pakistan responds to the upcoming "Draw Muhammad Day" campaign on Facebook by blocking access to Facebook for the entire country lasting through the end of the month (2).
20 May 2010: Bare Naked Islam's Weblog is now accepting until midnight nasty, filthy, disgusting images of Mohammed. I recommend everyone to go see them and enjoy, and contribute if you have something truly disgusting.
[UPDATE] 21 May 2010: The Everybody Draw Mohammed Day Facebook Page is gone. Disgusting drawings of Mohammed can be sent to the website Everyone Draw Mohammed.
Here is a YouTube video titled "Muslims protest draw Mohammad Day; Slave Pakistan just uses Islam!!"
Update: YouTube terminated this video account
ENDNOTES
(1):
Molly Norris, Art Sculpture Criticism Lovelace Watkins English Bulldog
I did NOT 'declare' May 20 to be "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day." I made a cartoon about the television show South Park being censored. (I wish that was what our energies were going toward -- protesting revolutionmuslim.com's threat to Comedy Central, and Comedy Central's over reaction to it which set America on a slippery slope toward censorship!)
At any rate, my satirical poster, with a fake 'group' behind it (Citizens Against Citizens Against Humor) was taken seriously, hijacked and made viral.
I never started a facebook page; I never set up any place for pepole to send drawings to and I never recieved any drawings (I see that two European graduate students and another woman started the facebook pages).
My one-off cartoon does not work well as a long-term plan. The vitriol this 'day' has brought out, of people who only want to draw obscene images, is offensive to Muslims who did nothing to endanger our right to expression in the first place. Only Viacom and Revolution Muslim are to blame, so...draw them instead!
I apologize to people of Muslim faith and ask that this 'day' be called off.
Thank you to those who are turning this crazy thing into an opportunity for dialogue.
Oh, and screw all of you who are mad at me for not leading a 'movement'. My cartoon was the beginning and end of what I had to say about this creepy, historic censorship. (By the way, where is Cowardly Central now? Pretty dang quiet. Guess they can dish it out but can't take it.)
Sincerely,
MollyP.S. The nicest email I have received have been from Muslims.
(2):
ProPakistani, LHC Orders PTA to Ban Facebook in Pakistan
Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday ordered to block Facebook till May 31 which encourages members to draw Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) caricatures.
Justice Ejaz Chaudhry said that the government should record its protest at international level.
Hearing a petition regarding blasphemous page on Facebook, Chaudhry Zulfiqar Advocate said that Facebook hurt the emotions of Muslims with the publication of said page about blasphemous caricatures but the government became a silent spectator.
Deputy Attorney General Naveed Inayat Malim said that PTA has blocked the blasphemous link of Facebook. Director Telecom Mudassar Hussain said that there would be great loss after the complete closure of Facebook. Lawyers and civil society representatives protested the statement of Director Telecom.
