And therein lies a lot of the problem. You make a perfectly valid criticism, satire (in the case of south park), or insightful documentary (theo van gogh) and all of a sudden you're some sort of infidel who hates Islam.
I don't hate Islam any more than I hate any other religion, and I do have friends that are Muslim.
But you can be damn sure I hate these fundamentalist wackjobs that take everything written in their precious book so fucking literally, and don't stop to think that logically, none of it is even relevant to modern society. Those people can go fuck themselves.
personally, i think you're have a vendetta against all forms of religion, and you're naturally inclined to be very committed to your own point of view, to the point where you only see things from your own perspective.
this is something i copied from the Islam vs South Park thread which addresses the issue of the limits of satire, humour, etc, when it is blurred with just being offensive.
they knew it would generate controversey. they knew the extremists would be threatening. though most muslims aren't, but still have to accept this sort of ridicule.
i agree with jurhum's video. Some radio jockey in Australia said that some fat b-grade celebrity here would have more chance of losing weight "in a concentration camp" or some shit. i dont have the exact quote, but EVERYONE got angry with him because his comments were considered "anti - semitic" and "insensitive". yet, it's those SAME people who go on and on and on and on about "freedom of expression" bla fucking bla when it comes to ridiculing Islam. absolute hypocrisy to the point that it makes me sick. give me a break.
another example - on some "variety" show here in Australia recently, a group of 5 dudes painted themselves black because they were doing an impersonation of the jackson 5 as part of a 'talent show' peice. harry connick jnr was a guest judge, and he labelled the act disgusting because it was "racist" and how "that type of stuff wouldnt be accepted back home (america)", and there was this whole controversey. but when it comes to ridiculing islam, ohhhhh it's a matter of freedom of speech and we could do what the fuck we wanna do. how about some parity here.
my point is - some things should just not be joked about. it's not about freedom of expression - it's solely about respect. do we make jokes about the holocaust? do we make jokes about blacks being lynched? do we make jokes about jews which could be seen as "anti-semitic"? When prime minister Berlusconi from Italy said that Obama had "a nice tan" as a 'joke' there was an uproar because it was deemed racially insensitive. But waiiiiiiit, what about freedom of expression? Where's the freedom of speech there? But we can take a giant dump on a religion followed by 1.2 billion people, and that comes under our freedom to express ourselves, right? "How dare you stop me from insulting you like that, I have a RIGHT to do this!". Give me a fucking break man.
this shit is very upsetting to read, how lopsided peoples viewpoints are. the only rational response i've seen has been from Preach, who at least has shown an UNDERSTANDING of the issue from the Muslim point of view instead of blocking his ears and yelling "i have freedom of speech i can say whatever i want and if you dont like it then go away!!". what kind of a childish reasoning is that.