There might be howls of protest by Islamic hardliners against Naguib Sawiris for posting a bearded Mickey Mouse and a veiled Minnie Mouse on FaceBook, but I cannot for Goodness sake, find a copy of the image.
I am not going to go into the detail whether such images or a joke or an inalienable right under the freedom of expression. My personal view whether of bearded Mickey Mouse by Naguib Sawiris, nude Hindu Gods by M.F. Hussain, Jesus with an erection or Muhammad cartoons by Jyllands-Posten are ambivalent - on the question of drawing them versus their display.
One hand, I am all for unrestricted freedom of expression as it is the only way to improve ourselves and the society we live in. Thoughts and ideas however unorthodox, controversial, acrimonious, or even obnoxious should be given the chance to be aired and picked threadbare - and allowed to stand or fall on their own.
OTOH I am not sure whether such writings or depictions if created solely to engineer controversy and ill feelings should also be covered under such freedom of expression or artistic freedom. Perhaps they fall under the classification of 'hate speech'.
At the same time, I wish people and society had a more relaxed attitude towards such incidents and not get riled up so much - would be better if they and we learn to laugh at them. Of course, this wish will never work with the Wahabbi, Salafi, Taliban or right wing Hindu RSS fringe elements.
To get back to point, I have been searching for more than an hour and cannot yet locate the actual image of ‘the’ bearded Mickey Mouse. However, the veiled Minnie Mouse is online elsewhere - where else but in anti Islamic sites.
:-)
BTW I don’t want to display the image on this blog; though India doesn’t have blasphemy laws, there are other ways around that technicality - the Police are known to charge people with ‘disturbing peace’, ‘vitiating the atmosphere’ or ‘engineering enmity between groups or religion’ - so much for blasphemy.
PS: In case you are curious, here are the links to the controversial drawings: (unless you are really curious, I do not recommend your visit there)
I am not going to go into the detail whether such images or a joke or an inalienable right under the freedom of expression. My personal view whether of bearded Mickey Mouse by Naguib Sawiris, nude Hindu Gods by M.F. Hussain, Jesus with an erection or Muhammad cartoons by Jyllands-Posten are ambivalent - on the question of drawing them versus their display.
One hand, I am all for unrestricted freedom of expression as it is the only way to improve ourselves and the society we live in. Thoughts and ideas however unorthodox, controversial, acrimonious, or even obnoxious should be given the chance to be aired and picked threadbare - and allowed to stand or fall on their own.
OTOH I am not sure whether such writings or depictions if created solely to engineer controversy and ill feelings should also be covered under such freedom of expression or artistic freedom. Perhaps they fall under the classification of 'hate speech'.
At the same time, I wish people and society had a more relaxed attitude towards such incidents and not get riled up so much - would be better if they and we learn to laugh at them. Of course, this wish will never work with the Wahabbi, Salafi, Taliban or right wing Hindu RSS fringe elements.
To get back to point, I have been searching for more than an hour and cannot yet locate the actual image of ‘the’ bearded Mickey Mouse. However, the veiled Minnie Mouse is online elsewhere - where else but in anti Islamic sites.
:-)
BTW I don’t want to display the image on this blog; though India doesn’t have blasphemy laws, there are other ways around that technicality - the Police are known to charge people with ‘disturbing peace’, ‘vitiating the atmosphere’ or ‘engineering enmity between groups or religion’ - so much for blasphemy.
PS: In case you are curious, here are the links to the controversial drawings: (unless you are really curious, I do not recommend your visit there)
- the veiled Minnie Mouse [http://tundratabloids.com/2011/06/bearded-mickey-and-veiled-minnie-mouse-fail-to-make-egyptian-fundamustards-laugh.html],
- nude Hindu Gods (note: link at "http://www.hindujagruti.org/activities/campaigns/national/mfhussain-campaign/" has been blocked by ISP - October 2012),
- Jesus with an erection [http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1622150/posts], and
- Muhammad cartoons by Jyllands-Posten [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depictions_of_Muhammad]
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