How Free?

Hello Space Travelers, you're staring at possibly the most terrible offences to Islam: An image of the Prophet Muhammad. I drew it. Me. I'll tell you why.

Recently, the creators of South Park aired an episode which featured (kind of) Muhammad. On screen, he was a stick man, and later a black box that read "censored." The point was simple: Your beliefs can't dictate my life and my speech, or rather that of Matt and Trey. The creators and various staff received death threats for this. Eventually Viacom (parent company of comedy Central) said they would pull the episode. This displeased a lot of people. It wasn't because the episode was particularly good either (it was par for the course if you ask me), but simply the principle that people had successfully leveraged violence to get their way.

I'm not really the type to provoke, and certainly as a I drew this, I was concerned about the Muslims that have nothing to do with this issue. Would drawing this make incense them and send the wrong message? Would it marginalize a group further that has been struggling to fit in? In the end, I decided to draw it and let it be what it will. I admit that I'm not well schooled in the dogma surrounding the rule about recreating the image of Muhammad. Perhaps in the end, what comments will come will serve to open up the dialog that is so terribly absent. Either way, I know that if this is truly an offense, it is not worth my life (or anyone's). I get offended daily. I'm not going to hurt someone. If this is serious enough that people are being threatened, the Muslim world is going to have to do some honest introspection on how they find harmony with the rest of the world outside of their customs. There is one question: Do you value free speech over being offended? I do, even if my blood boils as I listen to cruel bigots like Pat Robertson use it to demoralize the entire gay population or even the people of Haiti.

I've never been a USA USA USA rah rah rah type, so when I say that I value the freedom of free speech, it's not some flag waving crap. Our ability to express ourselves without the fear of the government, and without fear of violent reproach is the foundation of all free societies. On May 20th, many artists (both professional and amateur) will partake in the drawing of the Prophet Muhammad to stand in solidarity with those who have already been threatened with violence. While it inspires a warm feeling inside, I hope it also serves to remind us how fortunate we are to be one of the free societies in the world that we can do this. Plenty cannot claim the same.

I won't use the line that if we don't use our right's we lose them. That's a Tea Party rationale for bringing guns to a protest. Instead, I'll keep it simple, don't do this because it's "cool," or "controversial," it isn't a funny. I'd be just as worried about our freedom of speech if it became nothing more than a punchline, even if it started with a joke.

Closing thoughts from Thunderfoot:

vLog Unspecial 04: Religious Entitlement & Irony Purists

Strange and Mysterious Bullshit.

Space Travelers, it's a story we all know. Tragedy strikes, be it natural or man made. Soon after, people flock in to weigh in what this "means."

People want to know why bad things happen in the world. They want to know why a god would either allow them to happen, or even perhaps make them happen. For me it's very clear: No god. For others, it's harder. They must reconcile so many conflicting concepts to protect the beliefs they hold dear. What torture.

No god did this. This tragedy is big enough without having to account for any gods that don't want to show up on gameday when humans are in REAL need.

But there are plenty of believers out there so wrought in cognitive dissonance that they think that a god lets us go through tragedy to make us stronger and so we survive. However, we don't all survive. Ask the Haitians. Many have already died. Many will die in the days to come, and they'll die hungry, alone, and scared.

There is no lesson from god here because there is no god. So while we wait looking for the lesson so we can feel better, it's ultimately just a means to advert our eyes from the real tragedy.

There is no lesson
There is no lesson
There is no spoon

The "strange and mysterious" line of reasoning used all to often by theist apologists.

In short: There is a reason a god holds out on us. It's for our good. If it doesn't make sense, it does to god, and that's what matters.

I say, weak sauce on that.

Holding out on us doesn't actually help us. We allow for this kind of illogical construction because we approximate it to our own experiences. You know... like falling off your bike when the training wheels come off, and dad lets it happen so you can pick yourself up? That's an analogy we like, but it's not fit with what we experience. If life is hard, like riding the bike and falling, then god isn't our father. Rather, gods are the training wheels, and we didn't learn to ride from our father, we learn from our neighbors who are trying to learn to ride their bike too.

Some theists resent the notion of blaming god, but accredit this to atheists. Only those who believe in a god can blame one. Similarly, there are those that see tragedies like Haiti, and blame... Haiti...

Watch at your own risk...

Sure Pat Robertson is just one guy, but he represents a focal point in the American religious landscape. His empire is built on supporters. That is the scary part. I struggle to separate his comments here the Westborogh Baptist Church's comments about the Tsunamis in the Thailand being a means of God to kill homosexuals. Am I the only one (surely not) to see that the only difference between the WBC and CBN is that CBN uses a powerful media platform to legitimize its bigotry?

When bad things happen, some blame god. It seems that there is another group of people, who sit on couches and write checks to CBN, who blame Haitians for the earthquake.

I think the idea that people blame god when things goes bad is a religiocentric concept. When things go wrong and people blame other things (or even themselves) they probably don't even get a blip on their radar, but when a god gets mentioned they spring to their feet and suddenly everyone is blaming god for everything...

Bless their heart Space Travelers, they only want to save me. But I'm still the heathen, who is a bobbin' and weavin'. Float like a butterfly effect, sting like the police (Rooooooxanne, you left the red light on, and our utility bills was high last month). I broke a stone, I bruised a brick, I'm so mean, I make medicine sick.


A last note. If you plan to donate to relief funds, make sure they are legit. I've been hearing about scammers on the news. How disgusting. Make sure your charity is vetted first.

Chapter 5: Escape from LA

Another travel day Space... Travelers. On the road to San Fransisco. Look out Chi, you're being chased.

The funny thing about traffic is this, you always think you're out of it. The psychology involved is much like that of the drug addict or avid smoker. That change as it would be for the better doesn't happen now, but later. That and when things are at their best you are most fearful of relapse.

Traffic no this fine California day was peculiar. I felt like I was being followed. Perhaps I shouldn't have used the lord's name in vein. I think they sent a truck after me.
What they never tell you about the joy of driving a stick shift is that stop and god driving in Los Angeles will exercise your left leg more than doing power squats. Jesus Christ, My legs were sore by time I left. The above self shot "MySpace photo" is noticeably more centered than usual. This is mostly due to the fact that I'm driving zero miles per hour, which considerably reduces my Goddamn task list at the moment of driving.

Okay you get it: "he's swearing for the fun of it now." I'll quit for the time being, because I value all Space Travelers that read my blog. But I am left wondering why of all things this is taken as so offensive? With swear words such as "Fuck" and "Shit" and their usages like...

"You fucker!"

"Jane is a fucking idiot"

"This car is a piece of shit"

"These shitheads keep stealing my Sunday post"

differ greatly from the usages of "God" and "Jesus" as "swear words." These words are more commonly expressed as...

"God Damn car broke down again."

"Jesus Christ! Turn that music down!"

The first mentioned swear words are easily interjected into the holy swear words place, but the holy swear words are awkward in the place of normal swear words. For instance...

"You Goder!"

"Jane is a Jesusing idiot"

"This car is a piece of God!"

"These Jesuses keep stealing my Sunday post!"

In my personal analysis, I don't see the use of "God" and "Jesus" to be swearing or if you are nine years old: "Cussing." I do acknowledge that they have become popular expletives. Expletives however are not exclusively positive or negative. "Wow" is a popular expletive, yet if you were to see some amazing sight and instead say "Oh my God!" or "Jesus" this becomes a act of offense? What does "in vein" mean anyway? Is the trivial use of a deity's name so bad that you can't say it let alone hear someone else say it? "God" isn't even a name to begin with. People certainly aren't saying "Yahweh damn!" as someone cuts them off on the highway. Next, I don't even think the use is trivial to the believer. Saying the "God damn" car broke down again, is a statement on the car, not on god, and the person saying it is certainly not trivializing the relation between the car and God if they believe that god is responsible for everything. Anyways, it's beyond me to understand it.

Hell if you ask me, this is a great act in vein, and uses the word "Jesus." Which reminds me: This is a blog about my trip, and not about etymology. The Jesus sign did make me wonder if the truck had got a head of me and set up a religious checkpoint.The truth is, that L.A. is full of useless signs. This one, who knows what it's for? Windorphans? Sounds twisted in my opinion (I lack a humble opinion on this). I went to the site http://windorphins.ebay.com/special/index.html and as I expected, it was full of just fucking nonsense. Returning to the fact that this was on a sign that millions of hot and angry people pass in traffic, I am left asking myself "who other than a person, who travels and writes about the things he see is going to take the time to visit the site for some product that they don't know what it is just because they saw a sign for it?" I'm starting to believe it was placed there exclusively for me. They must have known I'd take a photo and then post about it. Ingenious!

In rare and fleeting moments when the car was moving over 10mph, I would find myself in new areas of the city. By the way, smog is real. I can't believe how much it cut down visibility in the city. Above is the only skyline shot I got with buildings. Ridiculous says me.

Plantiff: Alias Seiichi Tagami

Defendant: Los Angeles

Charge: Being a hot, polluted city with bad highways, worse drivers, and no foreseeable redeeming qualities.

Verdict: Guilty.

Once I escaped LA, I went into some mountains, about 4000ft above sea level at max, and then like a roller coaster I went down and into California's central valley. The Central valley is a giant expanse of land where I can only imagine countless orchards and crops are grown. It was incredibly flat, almost Nebraska-flat to the east. To the west, there were many rolling hills covered in a golden short grass.

A note to all Space Travelers: This is an area where you can speed your ass off. Every car was going at least 80mph. But be careful not to go over 88mph, if you do you may go back in time.

I spent many boring hours on the road in the valley, and it would have been intolerable if it had not been for my stand up comedy CDs my sister made before I left. Thank Go- goodness for David Cross. Had I not had something to laugh at I might have lost my mind. Amongst the static scenery, one thing to look at did change: JFK's check engine light cam on about 200 miles away from my destination.

The problem was later resolved. my 4th cylinder was misfiring and I had to change a spark plug. Normally a simple task, but it was not so easy on JFK's boxer flat H4 motor. It's honestly worth a whole post in itself, but frankly it was exhausting already once, I don't need to relive it. chances are I'll be changing the other three once I'm back in Springfield anyway. sigh.

As I left the central valley and headed west towards San Ramon, I was pleasantly surprised by Earth propellers! They were everywhere. California really does its part in making the world go around. I had heard that San Fransisco was a down to earth kind of place, it's time to test that.

Space Travelers, good night and here's to one for the lamest stretches of my trip thus far, may it go unchallenged. Being that I'm going to one of America's most crunchy granola cities, make sure that this week you eat as much bran as possible.

Hero out.