I'm not sure how many of you have been following the 'cartoon affair.' It's pretty strange stuff. There's a pretty good article about it here, with a good history of the whole thing and an update on some of the more recent developments.

The other day, I heard on an NPR radio spot that a bestselling newspaper in Iran is now running a contest to find the best cartoon about the holocaust. It's a sort of 'retaliation' to the European newspapers. They say they're running the contest to 'test the boundaries of free speech' which is a similar response given by European papers that had published the offending cartoons.

Um . . . here's the thing: This can not end well. Let's just put aside the whole 'free speech' thing for a minute. It seems this is just a distraction to the larger issue here. And that is this: There is something seriously wrong when people come to throws over cartoons. On the other hand, what could be a more appropriate development in this insane cultural/religious/political tension that has been going on, east vs. west, for years? This pent up anger and frustration. This 'us' vs. 'them' mentality that will not go away.

Personally, I think blaming this on religion, politics, culture, or even 'free speech' - it's all just an excuse. I think some people just want to be angry. It's another symptom of modern isolationism and angst. People feel cut off. People feel 'outside' and disenfranchised. Islamic fundamentalists are mad at Europeans, Americans and 'Western influence' in general. Western nations are angry back. Lob, volley, lob, volley. There's not a whole lot of understanding going on, on either side. It's all about people being angry, and ultimately I think their anger has more to do with themselves than anything else. Only they can't accept that. It's hard to be angry with yourself. It leads to feelings of doubt, which are hard to deal with. So why not look for other people to be angry with? It's much easier that way, more clear-cut. It's definitely easier than questioning yourself.

Sit anywhere near a busy intersection during rush-hour in Washington DC, NYC, Chicago, SF . . . any big city, and count the horns. Road-rage at it's finest. The streets are filled with angry people. Sometimes I'll sit in my apartment and I'll hear somebody lay on their horn for (no kidding) 25 to 30 solid seconds. And I realize that this kind of irrational honking, this futile noise-making in the face of traffic that won't budge, isn't about the traffic at all. It's about being angry, pure and simple. And who better to be angry at then that guy who has his tail-end jutting out into the intersection? I mean, he's probably a fucking liberal, anyway, right? Only fucking liberals are so stupid as to block an intersection like that!

Here's the thing: Ultimately, that horn isn't saying, Get out of my way, you liberal/conservative/(insert favorite person to hate here) idiot! That horn is saying, I just got fired for gambling online at work, you asshole! Now listen to me! That horn is saying, My husband is having an affair with a 23-year old slut! Listen to how angry I am! That horn is saying, My wife will no longer have sex with me and I haven't come in weeks! Can you hear me? That horn is saying, My mother, who was everything to me, died last week, and there was nothing I could do to stop it! The common denominator, the sentiment that pervades, is this: LISTEN TO ME!! I'M A HUMAN BEING ON THIS EARTH AND I FEEL ALONE AND POWERLESS!

But that horn - the kind that lasts 30 seconds - it's not about the traffic. Definitely not. There's something else behind that kind of display.

And this 'cartoon affair' is not about the cartoon. It's about years of frustration and a sense of disempowerment. And it's easy to make things worse by making other angry remarks.

A Washington Post article quotes Condi Rice as saying:

"I have no doubt that Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and have used this for their own purposes . . . The world ought to call them on it."

Maybe what she says is true. Maybe Iran and Syriah are blowing their horns loud for everybody to hear. But does it make sense to honk ours back? Does it really help anything to 'call them' on what amounts to a bunch of angry fist waving? I have no doubt that the United States can puff their chests bigger than anybody. But does that do any good?

There's a great line in this Ani DiFranco song, Your Next Bold Move:

You want to track each trickle back to it's source
Then scream over the faucet 'til your face gets horse
Cuz you're surrounded by a world's worth of things you just can't excuse . . .

So go ahead make your next bold move . . .
tell us, what's the next thing you need to prove to yourself?

Isn't the problem that we all feel helpless to identify and fix the root of the problems we face, whether they're in our personal lives or global in scale. Fixing the core problem just gets too messy. It means turning inward and questioning our beliefs, questioning our values. It's much easier to make these bold shouts at the symptoms and hope they'll go away, hope they'll back down.

But they don't go away and they don't back down. Instead, one person's cause is the next person's excuse. And so on and so forth. Forever and ever. Amen.

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