Islamic cartoon protest

Recently a Danish newspaper printed some political cartoons depicting Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. Immediately there were complaints from the international Islamic community, since any depiction of Mohammed is considered blasphemous in the first place, not to mention the obvious symbolism of violence. After the complaints, several other western European countries re-printed these cartoons, claiming "Freedom of Speech". The situation is spinning out of control, dominating world news for the better part of 2 weeks, at least.

Two weeks ago I had an argument, well, debate, about this with a friend of mine, someone with similar views on world politics and frame of mind, showing me how contentious a subject this really is.

I have some thoughts on the issue, co-inciding with my particular convictions and world-view. The way I see it, there are three ways this cartoon can be viewed:

1. To show the western world the truth about Islamic fundamentalism and its roots in violence and hatred.

2. To make fun of Islam (maybe even lightly)

3. To convict Muslims and show them that violence is not the answer,

Let it first be said that I think printing the cartoons was a stupid idea, and even stupider to re-print them after many complaints. What were they thinking? Trying to prove a point?
Lets say that the cartoon was meant to show a more accurate picture of Islam, which is true if you read the Quran. You read frequently of "Driving the infidels into the sea", annihilating Israel, and so forth. Even if that’s what the point was (which I don’t believe was), they picked the wrong format to do it anyways.

CNN headlines this morning report 11 dead in cartoon protest in Libya. Many people are dying in what seems to be a pig-headed publicity stunt by different newspapers for what? Ratings. That’s what media is all about, to sometimes be as controversial as possible to get noticed.

In my way of thinking, mocking an issue (or mocking the leader of a false religion), is counter-productive to the only valid point the papers could have had (but that wasn’t their point anyways), which is to accurately portray islam for the purpose of reaching out to them, to show them the futility of such a way of living. How many muslims woke up, poured their cup of coffee, grabbed the paper, and said "You know, they're right! I should convert to Judaism". I don’t think so.

In short, its not about proving a point, its not about "awakening the people", or some other moral stand, but its as cheap as getting more people to read their papers. Despicable.

So what do I do, and what have I done?

I am a computer technician by trade, and work at an office supply store, VanPelts Office Plus, in their computer department. I fix computers, sell computers, build computers, and everything related to them. I also handle all of our on-site service calls. If you've ever heard of Nerds-on-Site, I think that what I do is close to their line of work. I used to work at a Business & Career college, teaching both aspects of the business computer world: I taught the technical programs, from troubleshooting computer problems, to networking, to web design. On the other side, the application side, I taught Microsoft Office, Windows, Accounting packages (Simply Accounting, Quickbooks), and a few others. I should clarify for the sake of honesty that it wasn't really teaching in the traditional sense of the word. My official title was "Technical and Business Facilitator". Since the school used an Independant Learning System, I was kind of a back-up guy, who would explain concepts and ideas if the students didn't understand them. Before that I worked at our local newspaper office, maintaining the website. That sounds good, but all it really was was putting the days stories onto the website, well, daily.

You could say this all makes me look rather one-sided, but I do have other career interests as well, just no experience or education in them. I rather enjoy the idea of teaching english as a second language. That would be interesting indeed, to immerse into a different culture, eat wierd food, and get paid for it! I've looked into it previously from time to time, but I need to get the TESL certificate first, which costs quite a bit of money, which, shockingly, I don't have.

Well, I will sign off at this point.

Brian

Internet Movie downloading...

Here is a first topic which I hope to generate some discussion... What do the readers think of downloading movies off the Internet to watch them? There is, of course, the difference between physical property and intellectual property. If I steal, err, borrow, or take, something physical from "Joe", Joe does not have it anymore. The posession is transferred to me. With intellectual property, music, movies, etc., Joe would still have his own. Is this argument just trying to justify the issue, or does it have some merit. It is interesting to note that such a thing is illegal in the USA, but not in Canada.

What do you think???

My first blog

Here I am with my first post. I hope to include thoughts on life and what I do, and about my house when I get it. This will let all my over-seas friends see what I am up to : ).