The perpetual outrage never ends
Molly No More
Remember "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day"? Remember Molly Norris, the cartoonist first came up with and then disavowed the protest plan of drawing Mohammed when it went viral on the Web? Well unfortunately, disassociating herself from the idea didn't save her from the inventible death threats.
Because of the fatwa against her life, Molly had to quit her cartoonist job at the Seattle Weekly, move away, change her name, and toss her old identity and life away, all on the advice of the FBI (which shows how credibly dangerous those threats really are). The sad truth is of course, sometimes people pay a high price for free speech and this is an all too real example of that, especially when challenging the claimed privilege of immunity to criticism that religions often cites for their beliefs.
The stupid it burns!
In related news, a fella named Derek Fenton decided to torch a Qu'ran outside the proposed Islamic Center near Ground Zero after being inspired by self-serving transitory media daring and would be Qu'ran burner, pastor Terry Jones. That got Derek Fenton canned from his job with the New Jersey Transit agency after 11 years, this despite his actions occurring in New York, while off the clock, and not wearing any clothing associating him with his employer, which of course brings up all sorts of free speech issues. Should you ever get fired from a government job while expressing controversial speech on your own time away from your employer? If the answer is yes, that sets an extremely chilling precedent, as it essentially means your employer has de facto control what you can and cannot say or do outside of work and not related to your job, which makes you more of a bond servant to the state then a free citizen.
Of course even before Fenton decided to barbecue his own Qu'ran, just the notion of the book being burned by Terry Jones was enough to spark an ironic and predictably violent response in the Islamic world. Angry Muslims torched a Christian built school that has a 100% Muslim student population, in addition to a Catholic school and to Protestant schools in Jammu and Kashmir, and another church and school in Punjab, in response.
No doubt the hypocrisy was lost on those who decided an appropriate counter protest to a threat to burn their holy book is the setting of fire to religious buildings and schools. Well perhaps not the schools since they no doubt contain evil and heretical ideas of education.
Somehow I doubt they see the irony in this
Then there is this delicious irony on September 11th of Muslims commemorating that day in Britain by burning the American (and British) flags along with the US Constitution.
Remember "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day"? Remember Molly Norris, the cartoonist first came up with and then disavowed the protest plan of drawing Mohammed when it went viral on the Web? Well unfortunately, disassociating herself from the idea didn't save her from the inventible death threats.
Because of the fatwa against her life, Molly had to quit her cartoonist job at the Seattle Weekly, move away, change her name, and toss her old identity and life away, all on the advice of the FBI (which shows how credibly dangerous those threats really are). The sad truth is of course, sometimes people pay a high price for free speech and this is an all too real example of that, especially when challenging the claimed privilege of immunity to criticism that religions often cites for their beliefs.
The stupid it burns!
In related news, a fella named Derek Fenton decided to torch a Qu'ran outside the proposed Islamic Center near Ground Zero after being inspired by self-serving transitory media daring and would be Qu'ran burner, pastor Terry Jones. That got Derek Fenton canned from his job with the New Jersey Transit agency after 11 years, this despite his actions occurring in New York, while off the clock, and not wearing any clothing associating him with his employer, which of course brings up all sorts of free speech issues. Should you ever get fired from a government job while expressing controversial speech on your own time away from your employer? If the answer is yes, that sets an extremely chilling precedent, as it essentially means your employer has de facto control what you can and cannot say or do outside of work and not related to your job, which makes you more of a bond servant to the state then a free citizen.
Of course even before Fenton decided to barbecue his own Qu'ran, just the notion of the book being burned by Terry Jones was enough to spark an ironic and predictably violent response in the Islamic world. Angry Muslims torched a Christian built school that has a 100% Muslim student population, in addition to a Catholic school and to Protestant schools in Jammu and Kashmir, and another church and school in Punjab, in response.
No doubt the hypocrisy was lost on those who decided an appropriate counter protest to a threat to burn their holy book is the setting of fire to religious buildings and schools. Well perhaps not the schools since they no doubt contain evil and heretical ideas of education.
Somehow I doubt they see the irony in this
Then there is this delicious irony on September 11th of Muslims commemorating that day in Britain by burning the American (and British) flags along with the US Constitution.
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