Safe trips to you all out there. I've noticed something lately, and I don't know if I'm the only one. But it seems that there's been a whole bunch of problems lately in one particular place. The place I'm talking about is the Middle East. Recently Iran has been acting up like a spoiled, irate little child and it's making everyone else's life hell. It's really getting to be a drag, and I want to use this opportunity to point out something: We live in such a golden age of "tolerance", but the downside of tolerance is that noone wants to offend anyone else. It's a real losing situation because people are going to be offended *no matter what*! If people want to be offended, they'll be offended dammit! And certain groups tend to be more offended than others. One of the most easily offended groups appears to be Muslims. Iran is full of Muslims and they're just *itching* to be offended. They want any excuse at all to claim they've been treated unjustly. Never mind that they have untold wealth due to their oil reserves. No, that's not enough. As long as there are other countries that have any semblance of freedom like America and the UK, they just will not rest. *We* offend them just by existing and so they want to get rid of us or make our lives miserable at the very least. You don't think Muslims are easily offended? Consider this. China and several other countries recently celebrated the Asian New Year. They have a twelve year cycle in which each year coincides with a different animal. Well this year just happens to coincide with the boar, or pig. Now China is a Communist country, right? But the ironic thing is that the Chinese Government realizes there are many Muslims within their borders. And since pigs are "offensive" to Muslims, the government of China issued guidelines suggesting that pictures of pigs should not be shown during the new year celebrations. Can you believe that??!! Do you realize that showing a picture of Porky Pig is offensive to Muslims? To me this seems extreme, but in the interest of "tolerance" I'll grant the Muslims their extremist attitudes for now. The truth is, they'll be offended no matter what we do. Terrorists want to be terrorists so that they can create terror. They don't want peace. They don't want solutions. They are just looking for any excuse to create terror. And this is precisely where Iran is coming from. One day our country will realize the truth of it all and not give in a single inch to the extremists! There will always be suicide bombers. The best thing we can do is to realize that we won't stop them and then go on to live our lives in as much freedom as we can. They covet our freedom and that's why they're trying to take it away from us. So Iran caught some Brittish prisoners and they're trying to rub it in our faces. Big deal! Oh sure, do whatever you want with them, Iran, and I guarantee you're going to pay for it some day. But you still can't take away our freedom. We will defend our freedom to the death! In fact here's one freedom I want to share with you right now. It's a freedom that is seriously lacking in many middle eastern countries. It is called freedom of expression. So here is my freedom of expression:
Now many people won't find this picture offensive. *I* certainly don't. I know it's my right in this country to display a picture like this without fear of retaliation. But there's a very important reason I chose this particular picture. This is a picture of the prophet Mohammed, painted by a Muslim artist. And devout Muslims are *offended* by any depiction of Mohammed, so I am confronted by a problem. Do I excercise my freedom of expression and possibly offend Muslims in the process? Or do I buckle under the threat of extremist violence and surrender my own freedoms in the process? To me the answer is clear. I am not a Muslim, and so I have the freedom to depict Mohammed any way I desire. And if it is offensive to Muslims, then they just don't have to look at it! Let them wear their turbans in this country. Let their women hide their faces behind veils. Let them build mosques. Let them bow down to mecca in prayer. They have that right in this country. And I have the right to express my own beliefs. I believe that it is perfectly acceptable to display a picture of Mohammed. If any Muslims are offended, then that is their right too. Many of them just want to be offended anyway. I'm just giving them the opportunity...
