By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
By now, most of you have heard of the infamous 200th episode of South Park depicting Mohammed in a bear suit. Comedy Central once again proved that yellow is their favored color and cowardice is their middle name by removing all references to Mohammed and censoring the hell out of the episode. Afraid literally for their own necks I would wager… This is the second time that South Park has tried to out the Islamic deity. Well, actually they succeeded once…
In response to this craven act of capitulation by Comedy Central, May 20th has officially been dubbed ‘Draw Mohammed Day’ by a Seattle cartoonist. I think this is a splendid idea! But before you sharpen up your drawing instruments, lay out your paper and carefully place implements around that will ward off Jihadists, I have good news!!
The Mohammed Image Archive displays every Mohammed portrait ever created and is brought to you by our very own Zombie. Read the article at Pajamas Media:
The Mohammed Image Archive was born in September of 2005 after the Danish cartoon incident – from Zombie:
Back in September of 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten started the recent wave of controversy by publishing 12 (mostly innocuous) Mohammed cartoons as a commentary on the absurd dilemma endured by a Danish author who was having difficulty finding any artist willing to illustrate his upcoming book about Mohammed. To everyone’s astonishment, the publication of the cartoons sparked worldwide outrage on the part of Muslims, who apparently thought that there were no images of Mohammed in existence, and thus these 12 Danish cartoons were breaking some kind of taboo.
You say you want to view Mohammed pics? Well, your wish is Zombie’s command:
Within a few months, the Archive had grown to become far and away the largest assemblage of Mohammed imagery anywhere in the world. And since that time, it has quadrupled in size, at least. I now find myself the curator of a global resource, mankind’s only repository of every known image of Mohammed, “the 7th-century founder of Islam” (as I carefully describe him with studious neutrality). This is the curse of perfectionism: once you start on a project like this, you can’t stop until you have every single Mohammed picture ever created, regardless of era, quality, style or intent. Several examples from the Archive’s massive collection are featured throughout this essay.
Why do I maintain the Archive? Do I hate Islam? Am I a Muslim? Am I trying to start a war? No, no, and no. The reason is simple: The Archive is an unambiguous declaration of my devotion to the principle of free speech, and free thought. No one can tell me what I can or cannot say. The very fact that millions of people are trying to impose a ban on something is motivation enough for me to shout it from the rooftops.
Yes, Zombie joins a growing number of bloggers who have had numerous death threats and fatwas declared against them (including this blog). Free speech trumps a fatwa guys… So you can pound sand! As long as this is still a free country (which may not be much longer I fear), we will keep speaking out, showing pictures and spreading the truth and we will not be silenced by threats or by thuggery.
So pour yourself a drink and sit down and browse the archive. It is fabulous…
