Mock the Casbah
It occurs to me that residents of the House of War and residents of the House of Nuts Islam have some very different reactions to some very similar situations. Observe (update: people with screen resolutions at settings below a certain size may have to scroll way down past a bunch of white space):
House of WarA beloved religious leader dies. Before his death, his followers gathered in the public square before the building he was in to quietly meditate, pray, and wait. When his death was announced, most of the people in the square began praying, many dropping to their knees in the street. During the long, elaborate funeral a train of worshippers and well-wishers from across the world filed slowly past the bier where the leader lay in state. Ceremonies were carried out in accordance with the ancient traditions of the leader’s faith. After the funeral, he was entombed under the building where he had lain in state, in a simple wooden coffin. |
House of IslamA beloved religious leader dies. The city he ruled from “fell into chaos.” His followers took to the streets, flagellating themselves, rioting, and committing general mayhem. The burial could not be carried out smoothly, as the beloved leaders’ followers, maddened by grief (or something), mobbed the first attempt at a funeral cortege, tore apart his first wooden coffin and attempted to tear away bits of his burial shroud and even body parts. Eventually he was buried in a steel coffin, under heavily-armed guard. |
| A secular leader, disliked by many in the intelligentsia but loved by many of the “common people,” dies. Crowds lined the streets and highways across the several miles of the funeral procession’s journey. Many people waved and called out their farewells as the car rolled past. After the long yet dignified funeral ceremonies, the leader was laid to rest in the library dedicated to him. | A secular leader, beloved by many in the intelligentsia but hated by many of the “common” people, dies. “Chaotic crowds” break into the funeral procession and ceremonies. “After the burial, armed mourners fired wildly into the air, and the crowd broke out with loud cheering and shouting.” |
| People see religious figures in common objects. As rumors break out about healing and religious visions, crowds of the curious and the faithful gather. Traffic is sometimes disrupted, and complaints are made to the media in the form of calls, letters, and televised interviews. Various reactions, from reverence to mockery, break out across the land. | People see religious inscriptions on a common object. The manufacturer of the object find themselves the recipient of complaints and threats about the need to remove this seeming religious inscription — which happens to be commonly found on buildings, banners, and other surfaces in those parts of the world where this particular religion is the dominant cultural force — immediately. There is, of course, no attempt to make the object the focus of any reverence. |
| A woman is attacked. She kills her attacker. She is congratulated and celebrated. | A girl is attacked, but she gets away. In doing so, she ends up killing her attacker. She is condemned to death. |
| A woman marries a man her family does not know. On television. That’s it. | A woman marries a man her family does not know. Her brothers and father track her down and murder her. |
| A work of art that mocks or seems to mock a beloved religious figure is put on public display. Complaints are made and many of the religious followers threaten to cease purchasing the products of advertisers who support the artist who created the work and the institution that is displaying it. Sometimes the boycott is successful and the work of art is removed from public display, but more often the threats simply garner the work more publicity as people are drawn to see what the fuss was all about, as well as firing up defenders of “artistic freedom,” who write lengthy essays in tony publications. | A work of art that mocks or seems to mock a beloved religious leader is put on public display. Followers of the religious leader react by making death threats against the artist or artists, rioting in other countries, destroying property, and attacking and killing people that had nothing to do with the cartoons or their country of origin. However, they were members of the House of War, and that was good enough reason for them to die. |
As I come upon more examples I’ll add them. I just think this is… interesting.
When soldiers from the House of War come across a major monument or shrine from a religious faith not their own, they carefully avoid causing damage to it unless they discover it is being used as a gun emplacement by enemy soldiers.
When soldiers from the House of Peace come across a major monument from a religious faith not their own, they declare it to be an idol and destroy it with artillery fire.
Comment by john - February 10, 2006 7:54 am
Brava, brava!
Comment by marc - February 10, 2006 1:45 pm
Yes, great!
Maybe you could add something to the “work of art” section about this NY Times article.
Something like “The same people who cited freedom of expression to print images offensive to one religion reprinted one of those images in the same article that cited ‘respect’ for not printing images offensive to another religion.”
Comment by Jim C. - February 10, 2006 9:36 pm
[Fe]And your point is…?[/Fe]*
He that has ears to hear…
*Because I just read something that said that people don’t catch on to the humorous intent of plain text 50% of the time, I’m going to be tagging things intended to be satirical, sarcastic, or ironic with the chemical symbol for iron: Fe. To beat it to death for the humor-impaired: Fe=iron=irony.
Comment by Roy - February 16, 2006 4:56 pm