What's Up With Those Cartoons?
Not a day has gone by in recent memory without at least some sort of reference to the whole Muhammed caricature fiasco. To be frank, I consider much of the response to be complete and utter insanity. Here's my take.
Firstly, I have never been a fan in any way of political correctness. I can't stand it. In fact, I hate it with a passion. I find it absolutely ridiculous that there are some people who will stop at nothing to take offense at any word, phrase, or inclination so spoken or written by individuals and the public at large. Quite honestly I see nothing wrong with saying, "Oh, look... here comes the garbageman" or anything else to that effect. If someone wants to say I'm being gender exclusive, as an example, I don't really care. No harm is meant and none should be taken.
Of course, I'm not advocating or even suggesting that we can say or do whatever we want about other people. I think that a good majority of people on this planet have enough intelligence to be able to at least have some sort of respect for the differences around them. Free speech is a wonderful privilege and I try to make it a point not to go around calling people bad names. It's simply a common courtesy. We're all entitled to opinions and I would hope that most of us are mature and responsible enough to handle and appreciate open discussion when differences arise. To those who can't, really, you should try it sometime.
I find this whole issue involving these caricatures (which I haven't seen and have only read a few brief descriptions) is developing into something it should never have become. Being a religious person myself, I naturally hold my beliefs to be very important. They are the principles that guide my life and by and large, most people I run across respect who I am and the choices that I make. If I run into someone who says something negative about me or my faith, rest assured I won't be running off smashing any windows or burning embassies to the ground. I've learned to shrug it off and I try not to take it personally. I'm entitled to believe and feel what I so choose. Every living person around me is also entitled to the same privilege.
Those who are engaging in this reckless behavior we see on the news are following their passions and they are doing nothing to promote the kind of message they claim to be defending. It's plain and simple hypocrisy and shows an unwillingness to accept others around them. It was a cartoon, people! No one was brutally murdered in the streets, the rainforests weren't suddenly burned to the ground, and all cute kittens around the world were not tragically posioned. You wanna voice your discontent? Write a letter to the newspaper. Have a peaceful protest to voice your concerns. I really don't care what you do. Violence really isn't helping anything at all and only seems to be having the effect of further entrenching people in their already existing opinions.
Hopefully things will calm down over the next little while. If not, I will continue to shake my head... and no one can stop me.
Firstly, I have never been a fan in any way of political correctness. I can't stand it. In fact, I hate it with a passion. I find it absolutely ridiculous that there are some people who will stop at nothing to take offense at any word, phrase, or inclination so spoken or written by individuals and the public at large. Quite honestly I see nothing wrong with saying, "Oh, look... here comes the garbageman" or anything else to that effect. If someone wants to say I'm being gender exclusive, as an example, I don't really care. No harm is meant and none should be taken.
Of course, I'm not advocating or even suggesting that we can say or do whatever we want about other people. I think that a good majority of people on this planet have enough intelligence to be able to at least have some sort of respect for the differences around them. Free speech is a wonderful privilege and I try to make it a point not to go around calling people bad names. It's simply a common courtesy. We're all entitled to opinions and I would hope that most of us are mature and responsible enough to handle and appreciate open discussion when differences arise. To those who can't, really, you should try it sometime.
I find this whole issue involving these caricatures (which I haven't seen and have only read a few brief descriptions) is developing into something it should never have become. Being a religious person myself, I naturally hold my beliefs to be very important. They are the principles that guide my life and by and large, most people I run across respect who I am and the choices that I make. If I run into someone who says something negative about me or my faith, rest assured I won't be running off smashing any windows or burning embassies to the ground. I've learned to shrug it off and I try not to take it personally. I'm entitled to believe and feel what I so choose. Every living person around me is also entitled to the same privilege.
Those who are engaging in this reckless behavior we see on the news are following their passions and they are doing nothing to promote the kind of message they claim to be defending. It's plain and simple hypocrisy and shows an unwillingness to accept others around them. It was a cartoon, people! No one was brutally murdered in the streets, the rainforests weren't suddenly burned to the ground, and all cute kittens around the world were not tragically posioned. You wanna voice your discontent? Write a letter to the newspaper. Have a peaceful protest to voice your concerns. I really don't care what you do. Violence really isn't helping anything at all and only seems to be having the effect of further entrenching people in their already existing opinions.
Hopefully things will calm down over the next little while. If not, I will continue to shake my head... and no one can stop me.
posted by Jason at 9:48 p.m.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home