That tattoo on Jesus's pert little butt reads, "I love blasphemy." It was done in 2013 by Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Catherine Meurisse, who happened to be late for work yesterday and is alive today because of it while 10 of her co-workers and two police officers were horrifically gunned down by deranged zealots.
The Rude Pundit loves this little panel, which was also used for a conference on secularism. It's biting, damn funny, and confrontational. And, in the context of most of Charlie Hebdo's blasphemous cartoons, it's subtle. No, really - most of the cartoons are like getting bludgeoned with a frying pan. This one is more like a croquet mallet. That lack of subtlety goes for the Mohammed images, too. But not all of them.
One image of Mohammed that works well is this cover, which is an attack on Islamic extremism and the tactics of the Islamic State (or whatever the hell we're calling them now):
To take that as a degradation of Mohammed or Islam is to completely miss the not-even-hidden point (putting aside the opinions of those who believe Mohammed should never be shown in pictures). Hell, it says, "If Mohammed Returned" right there. Indeed, if anything, it is supportive of the vast majority of Muslims by saying that the faith is not represented by the murderers yelling for the deaths of infidels.
Jesus's ass is right. Comic blasphemy is fun as hell. The Rude Pundit constantly attacks Christianity, especially of the evangelical variety, because those are the people oppressing us in this country more than any Islamic extremists.
Next week, Charlie Hebdo will publish, on schedule. Said columnist Patrick Pelloux, "[W]e will do it anyway because stupidity will not win." Hopefully, Catherine Meurisse will not be too traumatized to join in what will no doubt be a sad and savage and in-your-face issue. Probably with lots of images of Mohammed, which will be seen by millions more people than would have ever seen it.
Due to that reason alone, you could argue that the three murderers did more to defile Mohammed and Islam than a dirty cartoon ever could.
