ok, so I saw this headline on the NYT - 3 More Die in Pakistan Cartoon Protests. It's sad that a small minority of people are making their countries look bad and furthering prejudice towards their religion.

Honestly though, you don't think they're really rioting and killing people because of the cartoon or anything associated with it do you? I think enough of them are aware that this is not the first depiction of Mohammad and so the issue isn't that some pasty a**ed Dane drew a cartoon of their prophet. I doubt the issue for most of them is that the cartoon was demeaning. People get upset when their religion is attacked but rioting and burning and killing because of a freakin' cartoon? ..Come on.... remember the uproar over piss Christ?? I mean, hello.. there's Jesus dunked in piss. That's pretty doggone offensive. Did we see people destroying buidlings and killing people over it? Nope.. Or... do you remember Chris Ofili's Virgin Mary collage in the Sensation show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art? I do.. I was there.. yeah, it was offensive.. I saw the Virgin Mary covered with elephant shizel.. but then I saw the shark that Hirst sliced in half.. that took my mind off of religion.. and then there was that head made from frozen blood and the thing was in a freezer and the cord to the freezer was plugged into the wall just tempting everyone to unplug it and make the head melt.. it made me wonder what would happen if somebody stuck their tongue on that frozen head. Would they get stuck to it? oh.. sorry.. so anyway, the riots aren't about this stupid cartoon. They're about Western influence that has slowly crept into the region. It's people stuck in the 14th century being outraged that the 21st century is encroaching on their way of life and religion. That is understandable to some extent. It's human nature to be afraid of massive change.

But.. what will those folks (and the radical Christian fundamentalists in the US) do when the Singularity is here? The radicals on both sides are totally incapable of seeing beyond their religions, so what is going to happen when the reality of the world contains things like:
* humans that live for 300+ years .. hmm.. who is "chosen" to live..
* humans that are enhanced with computer chips.. it's coming folks.. faster thinking, instant knowledge, more memory.. it's not IF, but WHEN
* artists and musicians that are totally computer based via artificial intelligence... hmm.. what if one of them draws a cartoon? Do we threaten to unplug it?
* spiritual machines.. yeah.. the Southern Baptist Convention has kicked churches out of their flock for baptizing gays.. just wait until a machine wants to be a member of Upper South Fork Full Gospel Missionary Baptist Church. W00t!
* massive technology changes (airplanes, cell phones, the Internet, skype, google, the clapper, etc) happen on a weekly or daily timeframe rather than decades or years. Your culture is having trouble adjusting to current technologies? And what happens when global technology changes daily?
* A clone of Pamela Anderson on every street corner.. and you thought genetics was all about making bigger pumpkins and chickens with all white meat? HA!

I'm not scared now.. but I'm scared of what the fruitcakes of the world are going to do when the world changes faster than they can adapt. Oh.. wait.. that's already happening and we're just seeing the beginnings of the technology train getting up to speed. It won't slow down. our cultures will not stay the same. Our religions will not stay the same. Information/news/data will move globally at an ever faster pace. Killing people wont slow down the changes (ask Ted K how much he's slowed down the advance of technology). So when that rapid delivery of information/news/data drops a burning sack of dog $hit on your doorstep in the form of an offensive cartoon.. don't step on it.

I normally don't post politically oriented stuff to my blog.. but it's just wrong for the world (and the media) to sit on it's hands and not speak up. We need to let radicals know that it is NOT ok to go around killing people because of a stupid cartoon. Now renaming "Danish pastries" that are made and sold in Iran to "Roses of the Prophet Mohammad".. that's cool.. because here in the US we eat "freedom fries" and "freedom toast". (wow.. I haven't heard those names since.. like two minutes after somebody came up with them).

I think I'll go buy some Danish cookies or something... poor little Denmark is always getting the shaft..