Chris Rock, Kevin Smith, and Muslim Extremism
From the BBC:
Four people have died in violent protests against cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad, following more than a week of demonstrations.Three people died after police in Afghanistan fired on protesters when a police station came under attack, a government spokesman said.
In Somalia, a 14-year-old boy was shot dead and several others were injured after protesters attacked the police.
Further protests have been taking place from Gaza to India, Indonesia and Iran.
They follow attacks on Danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon over the weekend. The cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper.
Demonstrators shouted "death to Denmark" and "death to France", and called for diplomats and soldiers from both countries to be kicked out of Afghanistan.
"They want to test our feelings," protester Mawli Abdul Qahar Abu Israra told the BBC.
"They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and to their newspapers," he said.
Well, I guess that settles the question of whether or not "Muslims" are extremists. Or, rather, whether Mawli Abdul Qahar Abu Israra is. Were the circumstances not so tragic, Mr. Israra's comment would be funny.
This past weekend, my girlfriend and I watched Dogma together on Comedy Central. Despite Smith's film being linguistically neutered by the channel - watching a Kevin Smith film without the obscenities is a little like watching the Wizard of Oz with all the technicolor sucked from the screen - I was very entertained by it. It's a silly film, not a great one, and Smith's limitations as a director are widely documented; but what makes Dogma work are its ideas. The film is loaded with theological trivia, thoughtful musings on Catholicism and religion as a whole, and ultimately displays the sort of bedrock-solid faith that people like James Dobson like to pretend at.
What does any of this have to do with Muslim protests over cartoons?
Chris Rock, playing the forgotten 13th Apostle in the film, talks about the fundamental danger of embracing beliefs over ideas: "I just think it's better to have ideas. I mean, you can change an idea; changing a belief is trickier. People die for it; people kill for it." Like most of the 'Big Questions' Dogma asks, this one is surrounded by poop jokes and weed references. But the film's general irreverence masks a serious reverence for ideas, and a serious distaste for when those ideas harden and congeal into beliefs.
The riots here, provoked over a few cartoons that dared to mock or poke fun at the Muslim religion (and I haven't seen them - though they do sound in poor taste), are a perfect example of how belief in religion over a devotion to the idea of God causes far more harm than good.
posted by MMorse @ 9:15 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Given that the sort of things the Muslims (some Muslims) are doing is the exception rather than the rule I'm not sure how this state,t "a perfect example of how belief in religion over a devotion to the idea of God causes far more harm than good" is true. If you made it conditional then I might agree. Radicalism of any kind can be bad.
Well, it is conditional.
This particular event, with its bewildering violence and its savagery, is a perfect example of how dogged adherence to a religion, over a faith and love of the idea of God, can be harmful.
I'm not saying all Muslims are crazy, or that this is indicative of their religion. I'm saying that violence tends to erupt out of percieved offenses to one's given religion.
Muslim faith is traditionally a non-violent faith (much like Christianity). But Muslim RELIGION, and those extremists who interpret that religion, seems unaccountably super-violent (much like Christianity).
Essentially, my point is exactly what you say: Radicalism is bad. Radicalism fuled by intense, unwavering "belief" is especially bad.
Except that Christianity hasn't been superviolent in a couple of decades at least. Maybe centuries if you ignore the land hungry exapansionism/colonialism that has a cross loosely attached to it.
Well, ignoring that sort of colonialism (motivated by religion, yes, but arguably by other factors as well, I think you'd agree), there's still plenty of examples to pick from.
Certainly violence against blacks, gays, "abortionists," et al has been motivated by the Christian faith. Look no further than the KKK, an avowed "christian brotherhood."
They're no more indicative of the larger Christian population than these radical Muslims are indicative of Islam, but they are superviolent. And they are decidely "Christian" (in the self-described sense, at any rate).
I was thinking more along the lines of suicide bombers and inciting war in the name of religion, but you're right. Extremists are responsible in both religions for the violence done. I'd love to say "Those Christian wackjobs aren't reading the Bible right!", but likely they'd say the same about me and both sides of Islam are saying that about how the other side reads the Koran.
I sense a theme today. Is that purposeful?
Not purposeful, perse, but perhaps unconsciously motivated?
You probably know by now that religion is sort of a hobby of mine. I find it fascinating. I suppose I've been doing a lot of thinking about what motivates people - and how those motivations affect us all. As someone who considers himself Christian, I'm finding myself more and more dimayed by what I see as a fundamental disconnect between what we're taught by faith, and what we take away from it.
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