The Dusty Dog

Appauling Hypocrisy

There was an article in the NYTimes a few days ago, called Iran Exhibits Anti-Jewish Art. They say it's to point out the hypocrisy of the west in its portrayal of Muslims. Bullshit. The thing that this exhibit really portrays and solidifies is the hatred of Muslims against Jews. It perpectuates this kind of hatred. It perpetuates an institutional hatred of of one religion over another.

I was really rather appauled, not by the article, but the premise of the exhibit, of course. Can you imagine the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Modern Museum of Art displaying such a racist pile of hooey? What would happen if one of these New York museums displayed an anti-Muslim exhibit? Talk about hypocrisy. And, to make it all worse, it's a goddamm contest. It's a contest about who can contribute the most creative anti-semetic image. I think the Tehran Museum wins that prize.

The cartoons are among more than 200 on display in the Palestinian Contemporary Art Museum in central Tehran in a show that opened this month and is to run until the middle of September.

The exhibition is intended to expose what some here see as Western hypocrisy for invoking freedom of expression regarding the publication of cartoons that lampooned the Prophet Muhammad while condemning President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran for questioning the Holocaust.

The cartoons of Muhammad, first published in September 2005 in a Danish newspaper, were widely condemned by Muslims as blasphemous. They prompted riots in many countries, which left some people dead and several European embassies burned by demonstrators.

But, there's a BIG difference between this Iranian exhibit and the cartoon that sparked all the riots. One was a cartoon. Period. Given the right of free speech, so what? It was a fucking cartoon published by a newspaper. Period. However, Muslims seemed to take such umbrage over it that people died from the riots. Goddamm, how stupid is that.

On the other hand, this museum exhibit, with over two hundred cartoons and other images, will NOT illicit any kind of riots by Jews around the world. Why is that, do you suppose? Maybe it's because Jews around the world (I'm not talking about the Israeli military) are not prone to rioting every time someone insults us. Miggod, if we did, and given the anti-Semitic prevalence around the world, Jews would never stop rioting.

I know it's tough to be hated. As a Jew, I know that lots of people hate me. They don't know me personally. They just hate me because I'm Jewish. That includes the white supremists, Muslims, Islamists, Christian evangelicals, and whoever else. Thing is, I don't hate people because of their religions. I really don't. I find that I hate people because they hate me first. That sounds kind of juvenile, but given the violent tendencies that those who hate me display, they scare me. It's a violent hatred, wherein, given the opportunity, I think they'd kill me just as soon as spit on me. I'm not talking about just a bit of racism. I'm talking about a systemic, institutional belief that Jews are vermin, or satanic, or Christ-killers. I reiterate... It's not about their religious beliefs. I could give a rat's ass how or what or who they worship. I hate them for hating Jews.
Does that mean I'm going to take up arms and start rioting in the streets, burning tires, smashing windows, killing people because Tehran Museum exhibits hate against me, as a Jew? Of course not. So, why do Muslims think it's OK to behave in such a manner when the Danes published a stupid cartoon? Goddamm, I don't get it. I never will. In fact, if they think the world is out to get them, then that kind of behavior does nothing but solidify animosity against them. Hello............ And, DOH!

posted by Dusty Dog at 8/26/2006