bear
April 22nd, 2010
It must be hot in that bear suit.
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Jesus & Mo (the characters) are absurd, blinkered, and oddly very sweet. J&M (the cartoon) is brilliant: sharp, delicious, irresistible.
Salman Rushdie
Jesus and Mo cartoons are wonderfully funny and true.
Richard Dawkins
Jesus and Mo make the world a better place, bless their little hearts.
Ophelia Benson
In a world defined by outrage and offence and liberal spinelessness, Jesus and Mo is a treasure, whose value we should never fail to recognize. Read them. Laugh. And think.
Kenan Malik
...a philosophical confrère.
Jerry Coyne
The brilliant, celebrated, freaking hilarious atheist comic strip ...
Greta Christina
...rays of sanity in a befuddled world.
Keri Hulme
The liveliest depictions of Muhammad currently available...
Malise Ruthven
J & Mo is the funniest and most consistently thought-provoking cartoon strip on the Net. In a saner world, it would run in a major newspaper.
Nelson Jones, Heresy Corner
Consistently amusing, frequently thought-provoking and often heart-warming.
New Humanist
Jesus & Mo is one of the most wonderful things on the internet..
JT Eberhard
Wittily captures much of the absurdity of religious apologetics.
Mano Singham
...wonderfully brilliant and witty.
Miranda Celeste Hale
Too good for words.
Maryam Namazie
The Eric and Ernie of monotheism.
Tom Holland
The most impious double act since Sodom and Gomorrah.
Andrew Copson, Chief Executive, BHA
I love jesusandmo.net cartoons - witty and sharp!
Katha Pollitt
Often hilarious, frequently wry, these cartoons do what all the best cartoons do: they tell the truth through humour.
Terry Sanderson, NSS President
...a wonderfully acid British cartoonist...
Nick Cohen
I love the scrappy mockery of Jesus and Mo. Freedom of speech includes the freedom to mock any person, any thing, any activity, and any belief -- and J&M stands up for this unflinchingly
Richard Stallman
...empowering, important and deeply progressive, not to mention hilarious...
Council of Ex-Muslims
Jesus & Mo is my go to example of how to do tasteful, beautiful religious satire.
Eiynah, Polite Conversations
...humor is humor and this cartoonist doesn't have it. Karl Giberson
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This one made me laugh out loud, but when I tried to vote I was told that my IP had already voted. Must be a glitch from my vote for the last strip. Please refresh your counter, Author.
@DH – sometimes it takes a few minutes for a new strip to get picked up by IIFT.
You hit satirical perfection today
nobody in the bear suit, nobody in the sky
no virtue in the notion of believing in a lie
nobody wants to stand up against
an oppressive muslim horde
a crime that those who create with pens
are threatened with the sword
thanks so much… this makes me happy… was brought up muslim, now i’m just apathetic. I just couldn’t deal with a bunch of people following the opinions of a hash smoking warlord who wrote a book.
Long Live Freedom of Speech.
OMG The Islamists killed Kenny !!
Matt and Trey are my heroes. They’re Libertarian wackos but, still on the side of angels (or something).
If there were an infinite number of cartoon bears filled by an infinite amount of nothing, would there be anything?
“One day we’re going to have to do something about the bear in you.”
John Irving, “The Hotel New Hampshire”
“IT’S JUST A CARTOON!” So that’s what someone’s cognition disconnecting sounds like…
I almost feel sorry for those who will take offense at this. They’re realizing that they can’t really separate what they want from the 21st century from what they don’t. They’re discovering that reality isn’t actually amenable to their delusion, despite what they’ve been told all their lives.
If only they would take their frustration out on the purveyors of the delusion, not the rest of us…
I’ve always wondered if/when the muslim wacko’s will realize this cartoon exists…or have you already gotten “feedback” from the muslim fundy crowd yourself? Delightful cartoon…always cracks me up.
The BBC report says that instead of Mohammad (peas be upon him), they put Santa Claus (sherry and mince pies be upon him) in a bear suit. Blasphemy! Matt and Trey needn’t bother hanging up their stockings this Xmas.
Hey, how did they know it was Santa (sampbuh) instead of Mohammad (pbuh)?
I don’t want to start a holy war, but we need an International Draw a Picture of the Prophet Day, a day when everyone who cares about freedom of speech depicts the Prophet and makes the artwork public. Making fun of their religion is not a capital offence. It’s our right. Sooner or later we must stand up to these wacko bullies.
Was there a significant outcry when South Park portrayed Mohammed earlier (pre-September 11, I think)?
JiveKitty: Nope, none whatsoever. As was commented on in this episode, in fact. They also had an episode a couple of years ago which revolved around him being depicted (on Family Guy, maybe? I forget) which contained the lines “You can’t draw Mohammed!” “No, *Muslims* can’t draw Mohammed.”
I sometimes wonder if the islamists & the islamophobes have a secret deal to keep feeding each other real or imagined insults. They are grabbing far too much attention and media coverage for their importance, and sway far too many moderates towards their own extremes.
@Kristian,
There is no such thing as an islamophobe. This word was just made up to justify crying ‘racist’ every time someone (e.g. non-muslim) refused to obey the shari’ah law.
Mohammedans believe everyone should obey their religious laws, not our democratic laws.
Atheists don’t obey the shari’ah …. therefore atheists must be islamophobes.
The cartoon is not an insult at all, it is the failure to bow to shari’ah and recognisize that it applies to everyone that they find so insulting.
Image a slave in Southern USA 1780 being told he is ‘blancophobic’ because he doesn’t want to sit at the back of the bus.
gsw – adding “phobe” to anything implies that the fear of the thing is irrational and baseless.
so, given the past 10 years, there’s nothing irrational or baseless to be afraid or or concerned about Islam and their lack of perspective and bronze age mentality
and to be fair, the same can be said about a lot of xtiandom – especially when they get into the halls of power enough to drive middle eastern foreign policy about after reading their “Left Behind” books.
gsw: very nice analogy (slight nitpick, slavery was abolished before buses were invented!)
Darwin Harmless: I think that’s a great idea. Any other takers for a day of pics of Mo? They should be as widely distributed as possible (and anything too extreme just gives the Islamists ammunition).
There is already International Blasphemy Day in September, but maybe we could have something else. What would be a good date? May 1st is traditionally associated with a different kind of liberty.
Lots of Muslims bear arms, unless they’re female, then they might be bare under their burkas. Muslim bears, bearing bombs, behind bare bottoms beneath burkas blast banal babbling blasphemers.
Nassar for the tie. He’s making at least as much sense as Mo.
Betcha Matt and Trey are gonna be hanging this one up in their office.
Three Muslim mums.
Mum 1: My son is 25 years old and he is a martyr.
Mum 2: My son is 21 years old and he is a martyr.
Mum 3: My son is 17 years old and he is a martyr.
Mum 1 and Mum 2: Children blow-up so quickly these days.
Is this joke politically incorrect or deeply politically correct?
NE
I vote for deeply politically correct
It was odd to me that the Muslim world has this put upon complex over the crusades, since they had won the last one.
It’s also sad to me that the culture stopped inventing and innovating.
religion really brain blocks people
Stephen Turner, thanks for endorsing the idea of an International Draw a Picture of the Prophet Day. The more I think about it, the more I like it. My vote for an appropriate day is April 2, the day after April Fools Day (Because we’re not fooling and it’s an easy date to remember.) That would give us a year to promote it. Let them feel the full force of the Streisand Effect.
“Everybody Draw Muhammed Day” has apparently been set for May 20. I don’t know why that date in particular. See, for example, http://thenextreporter.com/rj/draw-mohammed-day-snowballs-result-south-park-flap/086285/
@Necessary Evil: I’m so gonna steal your joke.
And in other news, a junior UK Diplomat has just insulted the Pope in a memo about his forthcoming UK visit. He suggested the Pope might use it to launch a range of ‘Benedict’ brand condoms, open an abortion clinic and bless a Gay marriage. The Vatican was most offended. But instead of sacking the perpetrator, the Foreign Office just moved him to other duties where he is free to offend other world / religious leaders.
SPROING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is much to be delighted about in that memo affair. Note how the offender was treated almost exactly the same as so many priests have been, who were moved from parish to unsuspecting parish with nothing done to prevent their preying yet again on the children of the gullible.
I like the speculation that rather than a career-limiting-error by a junior, this is a manufactured excuse to save face for the government and/or the RCC. If they thought there was a risk that an arrest warrant might actually be issued or even that there would be loud demonstrations in front of news cameras, they would need an excuse to cancel the visit. I suspect it will go ahead, though. Where’s Henry VIII, when you need him?
On the other hand, many of the suggestions in the memo are actually things a decent person would do in the pope’s place. Says something about the RCC leadership’s much vaunted morals.
You might be pointing to the wrong religion this time: http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/the-radical-muslim-group-the-threatened-south-park-creators-was-run-by-joseph-cohen-a-former-israeli-radical-who-used-to-live-in-a-settlement-in-the-west-bank/
Brother Daniel, thanks for the link to the “Everybody Draw Muhammed Day†idea. Figures I’m not the first to think of it, and I didn’t harness the power of Facebook to promote the idea. So the date is set. Great.
It’s probably a good idea to follow Author’s example and publish anonymously, but I hope everybody does it. Except… new misgivings thanks to TimF who gives us the suggestion that the threat to South Park was simply provocation by fake Muslims
What’s the consensus on this forum? Is it best to ignore the threats to freedom of speech, or is it better to confront and contribute to polarization, possibly playing into the hands of those who want us to pick sides in their idiotic squabbles? I’m quite torn here.
Long time reader; first time poster. Just had to say that I LOVE the idea of an International Draw a Picture of the Prophet Day!
Sorry to be off topic but it appears that the notion of an exploding irony-meter is popping up everywhere on atheist comment threads, particularly with regard to the Catholic Church. Am I correct in assuming that this particular meme originated here?
Drawing day is nice – but I’m prepping for boobquake day
atheistexperience.blogspot.com/2010/04/boobquake-is-coming.html
Nassar – I support your right to arm bears.
@Stonyground: the first mention of irony meters I came across was here in this forum (Author could you elucidate?) To be certain of a genuine J&Mo brand irony meter – check for the characteristic “SPOING” sound when it goes
While there are many manufacturers of irony meters, only Jesus and Mo brand irony meters make the “SPOING!” noise.
Um…nevermind.
@nina – Be careful a science site I visit often talked about this. We only have 1-2 magnatude 8-9 quakes per year but hundreds of magnatude 6-7 and thousands of magnatude 3-5 per year. Might be proving the mad mullah right (technically) but I am all for the blessed day myself…..
@ John
Well, if enough visual cleavage destroys a whole country, then the godbots get to be smug about finally being right – and then women can take over the world with threats of their boobs of mass destruction – it’s almost a win-win
Not so certain I see the humor. People get offended at burning flags, or using flags to wipe the arse with. Nobody thinks they are actually burning the entire country the flag stands for, or that they literally shit on that country, just figuratively. It is not exactly odd for someone to be offended by, say, the decpiction of a supposed holy man in a silly costume, without having to believe that there was some actor in the costume. It is the image, not the way it was crated, that causes the offence, no? Or am I missing the punchline entirely?
And while I certainly do not want to support anybody’s presumed right to kill on grounds of satire, there are many images I can imagine that would offend me a lot, for example cartoons poking fun at the holocaust, or racist, or homophobic jokes. Just look at some 19th century cartoons involving black people, and tell me they wouldn’t be highly offensive nowadays. [They probably were, too, back then, only the offended were in no position to complain.] Images, just like words, can certainly offend. They can deeply hurt. Sticks and stones, right. That is why we do have laws against, say, mobbing.
It isn’t that it’s silly that anyone would be offended, even mortally offended, by an image or a joke. We all would be, given the right content. It’s that we all agree that religion is not essential enough to a persons dignity that its protection is worth more than the right of free speech. But that is as arbitrary a cultural norm as having it the other way around and burning people at the stake for satire.
Hey congrats, the April 2 Jesus & Mo comic got a link today from a Telegraph blog:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tomchivers/100007974/religious-beliefs-should-not-trump-the-laws-of-the-land/
Hmm… any reason my comment was deleted? While it did not only express unmitigated enthusiasm for this comic, I was not aware that it was of a racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise offensive nature. O.o
Now it’s back… hmm… *scratch head*… ah, forget I said anything… ^_^’
Yeah but think about it you non believers…virgins…lots of em…all for you…in an exclusive club called Paradise..probably got a VIP lounge…Yeah lack of alcohol a bit of a pisser…but hey ho..back to the Virgins….whose laughing now!
Get on your knees boys…you know you wanna!
Sandwalk (http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2009/05/is-your-irony-meter-working.html) claims that the “irony meter” idea goes back to talk.origins, “back in the days of newsgroups (last century)”. So it could easily be 20 years old by now.
I like this cartoon a lot more than most of the recent ones! Nicely done.
@GSW (April 23, 2010 at 12:39 pm): Uh, dude. Back of the “bus” in 1790?
There is something that goes wrong here: the home page http://www.jesusandmo.net displays only that page but sometimes it show pages later.
Is it just me seeing things or wasn’t there already a new strip up? Can’t see one now.
May 20th is “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day”:
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=313170
Reminds me of a death threat hurled my way on FB. After I quoted the “eye for an eye” verse an islamists replied; “The Quran never says cartoon for cartoon. It says death for cartoon.” (Taimoor Alam is owed the credit for that mild threat at me)
u people have no shame insulting our religion. Sure some of us do bad stuff but at the end of the day not every Muslim is bad! I say we muslims take refuge against the draw prophet day as this is haram and one day God will perish all unbelievers bcoz we have not lost hope!
[…] Other Club was also instrumental in these two finds: The Mohammed Image Archive and the Jesus and Mo online comic […]
@ Rehan Irfan Iqbal: you’re right we have no shame in insulting ALL religions. They deserve it. Flip open to any page of your “holy” texts, and ye shall surely find something sexist, homophobic, wrong, ignorant, unproven, laughable, cryable, or just plain stupid.
These primitive texts should not stand unchallenged if they contain disgusting and regressive attitudes and edicts. Insults and mockery are our weapons of choice, unlike the faithful who seem to prefer stones, bombs, knives, C4, and whatnot to defend their puny gods who can no more wreak vengeance to fight their own battles than they can prove their existence.
No one is saying every Muslim is bad, but we can’t help noticing that you are identifying yourself with a credo that says some horrible things, says these things are good, and use this “Muslim” banner as justification for exceptions to local laws and customs.
It’s not your fault in a way: all religions are divisive, and you were probably indoctrinated as a child, and would face severe repercussions in your community if you chose freely your conscious and your creed to abandon Bronze Age ignorance and spiritual slavery.
But, if you are in a free society, then you have more choices. You also have freedoms, which can include those of expression and the press. That’s fine if your god is going to punish we infidels for free speech, as long as you and your special club don’t.
@Stephen Turner and GSW– regarding “bus”, when I had been reading “Little Women” which is set during the Civil War, I was taken aback by the use of “‘bus”… which I assumed was short for “omnibus”, which might have existed in horse-drawn form in the general time period you describe.
Fenchurch, the verb ‘bus’ simply means to carry or transport, hence ‘bus-boys’ carry luggage and messages, etc., and so an omnibus supposedly carries everything.
AoS, perhaps you are joking here, but in case you’re not, as a member of UPOTWA I have to point out that the “bus” part of “omnibus” is the Latin ending signifying “for”, so “omnibus” means “for all”. I suspect the verb “to bus” came later, and derives from the shortened form of omnibus, and not the other way around, as you suggest.
See you again in 2013!