Cartoon violence

I'm sure the world is grateful to Mawli Abdul Qahar Abu Israra, who was kind enough to speak to the BBC whilst protesting in Afghanistan against a cartoon which he almost certainly hadn't seen:

"They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and to their newspapers."

Well that should do it, right enough.

It is an essential part of many organised religions to embrace and extend the faith of their followers, so that their unthinking acquiescence encompasses not only articles of faith, such as the existence of a god, but also simple, human rules, such as what can be eaten, or indeed what can be drawn. That books like the Bible and the Koran can be used as the basis for such massive systems of control is testament to the great ingenuity of the human, in the part of the preacher, and the sheer stupidity of the human, in the part of the follower.