Iranian Holocaust cartoon exhibition flops
According to The Independent most Tehranians are simply not interested in the Holocaust cartoon exhibition, with visitor numbers down to around 50 per day.
The exhibition, which was supposed to be a celebration of free speech, coincides with President Ahmadinejad’s closing down of a daily newspaper, Sharq, for publishing a cartoon of him as a donkey:
AP, THURSDAY: Reports are coming in of no threats of beheadings and bombings by Jews as a result of the Iranian cartoon exhibition about the Holocaust, parts of which claim it did not happen.
In a frenzy of indifference, no one has been assassinated, no buildings destroyed.
Sources close to the organisers have told Associated Press that they have been overwhelmed by silence on the subject of the controversial cartoons. Angry mobs were not taking to the streets with slogans yesterday. ‘It’s bizarre,’ said one of the organisers. ‘Who would have thought this exhibition would cause such a non-rumpus? No one has threatened anyone with death, or even a poke in the eye.’
Copyright: Associated Press, 2006. All rights reserved.
Too bad. They should consider adding the mo-toons to the exhibition. That would probably bring down the house – in a very literal way. Double standard anyone? So where’s the cry for boycotting Iran? That would mean we’d have to stop buying….uhm, whatever we might be getting from Iran.
I would love to believe that people are taking this cartoon thing a little less serious by now, but that’s hardly the case if the subject is the semi-fictional mr. Mo. I still like the gradual exposure approach. As you might know, the best way to treat a phobia is to gradually expose people to what they fear. And with images of Mo being the issue hear, we’d have to start with Mo behind a wall, then a blurry Mo passing by on a motorcycle, later Mo peaking out of a window, gradually moving into Mo playing cricket, perhaps Mo reenacting scenes from popular movies, like Pulp Fiction, The Godfather or even Missing in Action(Mo popping out of the water blasting away with his M60), etc. Finally we’d be able to publish the original mo-toons without getting any attention whatsoever. Who wants to start?