Freedom of fooligion

Being so socially conscious and ethically aware I suppose I'll have to touch upon the touchy subject of the riots in the Arab world. 

I finally youtubed the Muhammad video. Judging by the headlines, news updates and all the internet forums boiling with disgust I was probably the last person in the world to do that. 

Though sometimes my retard-like slowness puzzles even me. While the rest of the world had already taken to Facebook and Twitter (no, I don't do that, even recreationally) and were busy making fun of the shamed footballer and the gagging order he had taken against English press in a bid to keep them quiet about the fact that he had been shagging his sister-in-law since, like, the creation of our planet, I was still oblivious and trying to figure out the identity of the "player famous for his wholesome, family man image". I just kept staring at the blanked out newspaper clippings about tweets going on about the attempts to "save ****'s privates". Yes, me. Famed for my quick wit and razor-sharp repartee. Me, a Manchester United fan.

Anywayyy... The video is poorly made and no doubt the story is equally poorly chosen. Yes, it portrays the Muslims as ignorant, bloodthirsty bullies, but I'm not sure if their attempt to prove it was wrong by taking to the streets, attacking Embassies and killing innocent people really is doing them or Muslims anywhere any favours...? 

And as far as ignorance goes, I must say I'm getting so tired of their antics. The video was made by (clearly mentally unstable) Egyptian Coptic Christian and the mob is attacking US Embassies? Carrying signs that blame Israel and/or Jews? Jesus (yes, blasphemy, right there. Come and get me, angry Christians)! When I was in Tunisia, France appointed a new Ambassador- a choice that proved to be very unpopular. And what did the people do? Started protesting, carrying signs blaming Israel. Erm... WTF? And now this? Erm... WTF?! 

Yes, Israel can be blamed for many things. But there are alarmingly many things that are actually not results of a Zionist conspiracy, no matter what the Iranian idiot Ahmadinejad tells the world. There's climate change, drought in Africa, starving children in the third world, political unrest in Caucasus, serious human rights violations in North Korea... the list just goes on. Then there are the honour killings, forced child marriages and wide-spread oppression in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Whoops.

Setting out to deliberately upset people is wrong. And not conducive to any kind of peaceful coexistence of different people, cultures and religions. Freedom of religion is every bit as fundamental part of human rights as is freedom of speech. The latter is something with which also comes responsibility to exercise it wisely. And this dude clearly isn't doing that (perhaps he should have stuck to amateur porn?).

But you can't demand your religion to be protected from criticism or insults, not when you're going out if your way to persecute and slander other religions. You simply can't keep your halal cake and eat it.