Danish Cartoonist Kurt Westergaard at Yale University

The Old Man and the Cartoon

by J.P. Christiansen
(click Read More for full poem)

Once upon a time,
in a country small, up north,
near close to sea and fjord,
so peaceful and pleasantly agreeable,
there lived an innocent and friendly old man
who loved to draw cartoons to express his thought.
 

He looked out upon the great, wide, wonderful world,
and to his amazement found religious strife and killings
practiced by people called Muslims.

Living, as he did, among fellow, open-minded citizens
who valued human life and human values above all else,
he decided to draw the prophet of Islam in a cartoon.

The image which appeared, like magic, on his paper,
was of the prophet’s head wrapped in a turban,
and in the turban rested a round, black, lit bomb.

People first thought the prophet was about to commit suicide,
but, after contemplating the drawing for awhile,
it became apparent some other meaning might be hidden.

Some of the believers of the religion called Islam,
lived in the small country, up north,
and when they saw the cartoon of their beloved prophet
depicted in such a blasphemous manner,
thought it might be a good idea to show the cartoon
to other followers of their beloved, peaceful religion.

They set upon a journey to countries far away in the big world,
where they soon found other adherents of their religion.
Together they decided the cartoon might be of use
to incite hatred of the heathens, up north,
and so it came to pass,
dear children,
that masses of Muslims went out to burn and kill.

They wanted to show the small, peaceful country,
up north,
that people, of different faiths and opinions on life,
had better temper their freedom to think, talk, and act,
‘cause if they didn’t,
the prophet’s holy men and warriors would come after them.

The religious leaders of Islam pronounced that the old man
should die for having drawn their prophet in unflattering light,
and he had to go into hiding from the theistic thugs hot on his trail.

The old man survived for several years,
and one day he got an invitation to travel to a big country
on the other side of the ocean.

It appeared that certain folks, over there, in America ,
wished to hear the tale of the old man and his cartoon.
He learned that in America many different people and religions
co-existed mostly in peace,
and that America might be a safe place to show himself.

When he arrived,
he learned that many people were afraid of him and his cartoon,
and that only a very few newspapers and television-stations
had dared show the cartoon to their viewers.

He realized that many inhabitants of America
were somewhat immature in their intellectual convictions,
and had to be protected from their own mental habits
by not being exposed to certain images and words.

The old man thought it humorous that editors of print and image
would tow the line of a mentally unstable person and his believers;
after all, weren’t these moderns atheists, Christians, Jews, or Other?

He went on to be interviewed by reporters and T.V. personalities,
and soon found out that the believers of Christianity and Judaism,
in particular, showed support for the old man and his cartoon,
some even calling him a hero and fighter for freedom of expression.

Being an old and wise man, he knew they supported him
because various religions tend to dislike each other,
and by praising the old man, could gain support for their own religion.

This type of behavior of conversion, dear children,
has been playing-out for many, many centuries...
ever since the so-called prophets of religion
suffered their psychotic episodes of hallucinations and visions
to be imposed on the rest of the world.

Once upon a time,
in a country small, up north,
near close to sea and fjord,
an old man drew a cartoon of a prophet’s head with a lit bomb in his turban,
and guess what, children,
nobody knew that beneath the big, black, lit bomb,
there nested many little bomblets waiting to go out in the big, wide world
to spread the good words and news about Islam.

Good night, children, and sleep well.

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