Of Cartoons and Floats

As Germans ready to celebrate Carnival once again, the topic of provocative floats about the topic of Islam came up again. Over at neocon-infested Pajamasmedia, I found a link to this Der Spiegel piece about the great Jacques Tilly, who is shepherding Dusseldorf to its place in the sun alongside Cologne in the carnival pantheon. After the cartoon scandal last year, apparently a float with a bunch of Muslim women in burqas was pulled out of sensitivity. This year, however, the organizing committee, in an act of Germanic courage, approved a float that was "right on the edge." It turns out that the float depicted two mullahs (see this piece), one carrying a sign saying "cliche" and the other saying "reality."

So, what to make of this? First, I have to say that I don't think that criticism of mullahs is criticism of "Islam" per se. As a Muslim, I welcome such criticism, given that mullahs are hate-mongering fanatics who have most of the Muslim world in their shackle. Second, I think that the debate is missing a fundamental point, namely the distinction between mocking the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)and making fun of burqas or mullahs (the former is univerally offensive to all Muslims and entirely lacking in any substantive goal besides causing such offense). Third, I wonder why Germans (and anti-Muslim Americans) are cheering this whole thing on. Have we forgotten that Germans have done some pretty nasty things to gypsies, Jehovah's witneses, gays,and yea, Jews? How about a depiction of an Israeli dressed in a SS uniform standing over a Palestinian child with two signs "cliche" and "reality"? Mabye Jacques Tilly could finally surpass Colgone next year.