Letters to the Editor
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Completely missing the point
I'm a little disappointed at how many of Salon's supposedly smart readers are completely missing the point by bitching about Muslims in relation to this cartoon.
No Muslims asked that the cartoon be self-censored. No Muslims (to date) have complained about the Opus cartoon. The American Muslim is running an op-ed in favor of it. American Muslims - who didn't even express much outrage over the Danish cartoons, which were created specifically to provoke Muslims, and advertised and promoted as such - are completely innocent of any fault in this ridiculous self-censorship. Yet many of you place the blame squarely at the feet of "Islam".
As for those making sarcastic references about the "Religion of Peace", I hope your S'mores aren't getting too hard, since nobody is lighting any fires, thus showing you for the ignorant fools you are.
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@elfraed
So what's your point?
Jews think Christians have got it wrong (and say so).
Christians think Jews have got it wrong (and say so).
Jews and Christians think Muslims have got it wrong (and say so).
Yet Muslims think Christians have got it wrong (and say so), and they're somehow worse?
Why don't you also post the scriptures about Lot sending his daughter out to be gang-raped all night, or God sending a bear to eat children alive because they mocked Elijah? If you want examples of hatred and intolerance I can find you plenty in Christian scripture.
Quoting one religion's hate as if it was unique is the flimsiest argument against it there is.
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Dumb beyond belief
"I just read where our soldiers had to apologize for writing Allah on a soccer ball."
Duh. They goddamned well should have. You can't be ignorant enough to not see that as offensive.
I suppose if they'd written "Jesus Christ" on the soccer ball you wouldn't have wanted them to apologize? Why do you expect a Muslim to feel different? What an ignorant and disrespectful thing for people representing our country overseas to do. I'm ashamed of them.
Way to "win hearts and minds", boys.
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"HI"jab cartoon
The Opus cartoon itself does not make much sense. The woman's Hijab or head cover appears to be very unconventional and from the state of H.I., the flower might represent that "Fatima" is married or engaged, because of the "pua" flower above her left ear, if over the right ear she would be "free."
The reason Muslims were upset over the Prophet Muhammeds cartoons last year is becaue Muslims believe it is an important part of their faith that All Prophets must be revered and are above any type of ridicule. ( Abraham, Moses, Noah, Jesus etc)The mother of Jesus, Mary, also is highly revered and should never have a negative term applied against her.
The reverence of Prophets, this is why there was outrage last year over the prophets cartoon; this cartoon with the H.I. Hijab may be considered just "jabbing" at Islamic cover not much more than that. Definitely not as grievous a concern as putting down a Prophet.
The offensive statement I see is "God Willing" or (InshaAllah, in Arabic) in reply from the cartoon character Fatima as to if she would not be offering anything else. This is inferring somewhat( inadvertantly) that Muslim women may be more than ladies, or that the charcter was inquiring into this possible unacceptable behaviour from her.
A Seattle Muslim
Janice Tufte Seattle, WA
(Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 11:07 AM)
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Opus comic strip
it is satirical humor. this is AMERICA where you are free to write or say what you want. i am SICK TO DEATH of this political correctness that has overtaken and paralized this country. yes, there is a need for respect; however, it is a comic strip for heaven sake. if you don't like it, don't read it. free will, free choice, free AMERICA
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religious
@ Anonymous
If i were to go to a street corner in America, and tell you not to trust "those white people" or "those black people", i would be considered a bigot and largely ignored. Someone, however, might consider me a racist, and I would be arrested for hate speech because "the insult is in the ear of the hearer". However, if i should tell people to not make friends of Christians and Jews, they're all wrong, may God destroy them, that's not bigotry? Of course not, it is gospel to Muslims !
The point I am really trying to make is that before 9-11, nobody was worried about what Muslims might think. Remember, the threat back then had been homegrown terrorists like Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma, Randy Weaver in Idaho, and David Koresh in Texas. Is the news media keeping the ignorant, ignorant; so that they do not get riled up and attack Muslims?
Remember, too , that the USA used to be a place of lynchings and riots. The Japanese in WWII were interned, and though it was a great injustice, they might have suffered hate crimes at the hands of racist Americans if they hadn't been in concentration camps.
There is nothing in the Christian bible which tells me whom to make friends with, or that i should tax those who are not of my faith and to make them submit, and that everybody else is wrong, "may God destroy them".
Yes, there are religious groups which feel themelves to be quite exclusive; Calvinists, and the power-elite WASP's for instance. But in the scripture, there is nonesuch. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you shall not find the hatred of a believer there. I pray that others may have a change of heart and not: "may Allah destroy them".
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Hey! How'd you know?!
"Anybody who things you are controversial watches Lawrence Welk reruns on PBS and has a bookshelf full of Reader's Digests."
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Regarding the headress
I worked in Malaysia where many women wore very colorful headresses, some much more colorful and flower-y than depicted in this cartoon. I asked some of the Muslim women I worked with about this, and they said the all black ones were boring.
And thanks lots for printing this. I enjoyed it very much. To have Opus censored is a travesty. MSM gutlessness shows me that the terrorists (meaning both Al Qaeda and the GOP) are winning.