Electronic Insurgent
As Tim mentioned earlier there’s been a bit of a brouhaha over the latest issue of the Student Insurgent, the University of Oregon’s student-run Marxist/Anarchist publication.
In their latest issue, the Insurgent Collective decided to print a number of depictions of Jesus in various poses. As a headline on page 11 of the issue makes clear, their purpose in printing the comics was to confront Christians. And as Collective individual “Jessica” says on page 16, “I have to say it is really fun to offend people.”
Regardless of content, people and organizations should not be censored for speech that’s considered “offensive” or “hateful.” Indeed, we support the publication and round denunciation of ideas and opinions which are bigoted or inappropriate. The best way to counter the free expression of bad ideas is with the free expression of good ideas.
Of course, the Insurgent collective does not necessarily agree with us. Last year, Collective individual Pira Kelly was one of the loudest supporters of the effort to defund the Oregon Commentator. She passed out pink armbands symbolizing the fight against free speech before our budget hearing. What a difference a year makes!
Anyway, we’ve put the Insurgent issue in question up in .pdf form since we have no ideological qualms about technology. Please note that it is not our opinion and does not reflect this author’s own views or beliefs. Also, since the format of their magazine was too wide for our scanner we’ve had to splice each page together. If a member of the Collective would like to put a better copy on the web, I know that I for one would appreciate it.
UPDATE: I notice that we’ve been getting a significant bit of traffic thanks to links from Hot Air and a few other blogs. For those of you who are new: thanks for visiting. You may have noticed that the Student Insurgent mentioned our own publication of the Muhammed cartoons as one of their justifications for printing the anti-Christian drawings. I encourage you to read the issue in question and decide for yourself if the Commentator’s presentation and editorial are comparable in tone and substance to the Insurgent’s. As always, I believe that context is everything.
UPDATE: You can find an archive of our blog’s coverage of the Insurgent (including more recent tidbits) here.
Matthew 12:31. Therefore I say to you: Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven.*
It’s the initials that are the giveaway.
HEY MR. IAN
Um, even illiterates can understand a television program. But, hey, who gives a damn about facts when you are about to get beamed up by The Rapture TM
HEY MR. IAN……HEY YOU ILITERATE LITTLE LETTERED MORON. I HAPPEN TO TYPE 120 WPM AND KNOW WHAT CAP LOCK IS……..I ALSO KNOW WHO WAS ON THE O’REILLY FACTOR AND MR. GRAF LOOKED LIKE A LITTLE DWARF……WHAT’S THE MATTER HIT A BAD NOTE WITH YOU AND YOUR BOYFRIEND? THAT CAN BE THE ONLY POSSIBLE REASON FOR YOUR DEFENSE……..YOU COLLEGE KIDS NEED TO GET A LIFE. Oh, and by the way here is your small capped words. Probably easier for you to comprehend.
TYPING IN ALL CAPS DOESN’T MAKE YOUR POINT ANY BETTER.
Mainly, it irritates the blog administrators. Please, stop it.
I’m still putting the odds at fifty-fifty that you’re Tyler.
This cruel parody of an outraged evangelical is beneath even you, Graf. Shameful.
YES IT IS A REAL COMMENT. I JUST GOT FINISHED WATCHING FOX NEWS AND THE LITTLE JERK THAT RUNS THAT NEWSPAPER. HE LOOKED LIKE AN ABSOLUTE IDIOT. YOU CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT WE ARE IN THE END OF TIMES.
Attn: illiterate moron. The Commentator is not the Insurgent. The next time you say your prayers, include a mention of the caps lock key.
YES IT IS A REAL COMMENT. I JUST GOT FINISHED WATCHING FOX NEWS AND THE LITTLE JERK THAT RUNS THAT NEWSPAPER. HE LOOKED LIKE AN ABSOLUTE IDIOT. YOU CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT WE ARE IN THE END OF TIMES.
I’m not sure if the comment immediately above this one is for real or not. Anyone?
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY APALLING!!!! NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I EVER BEEN SO DISCGRACED. THIS NEWSPAPER NEEDS TO BE SHUT DOWN IMMEDIATELY. I FEEL SORRY FOR THE SOULS OF THESE PEOPLE. OH HOW I WOULD LOVE TO BE A LITTLE MOUSE IN A CORNER ON JUDGEMENT DAY. THIS NEWSPAPER NEEDS TO GO AND GO NOW!!!!!
THE PRESIDENT OF THIS COLLEGE NEEDS TO STAND UP AND BE A MAN. AND THE LITTLE CHILDREN WHO WROTE THESE ARTICLES NEED THEIR ASSES KICKED!!!!!
[…] Most importantly, we posted a .pdf of the issue here. (Note: link contains picture of the Insurgent’s cover, which many find offensive.) […]
Olly, excellent point about the desire to throw rocks at people in funny hats…that’s what I meant to say but you said it much better. Thanks.
Margo is right though…Christianity is unfairly fair game while both Jews and Muslims are off limits.
Hey, some of my best friends are Catholics.
Seriously, though, I think what makes religion an irresistible target for snark is that piety can often come across as sanctimony, and the more sacramental the sect the blurrier the lines get. What makes Catholicism an easier target than, say, Lutheranism is that it’s gaudier. The impulse to throw (figurative) rocks at people in fancy hats is as old as comedy itself, although the Insurgent do themselves no favors by dressing it up in a bunch of dialectical mumbo-jumbo.
(I think something similar is going on with the Motoons. The Jyllands-Posten cartoons derive a lot of their vitality and power precisely from the fact that we’re being told that this is a very serious matter that we shouldn’t be making fun of. No red-blooded satirist – or eighth-grader – can fail to respond to such stimuli.)
It doesn’t seem to be Christianity as a whole that people are after though; the target always seems to be the Catholics in particular. The figure of Jesus on a cross is paartcularly Catholic; they’re the only ones who use that image in their churches or around their necks or whatever. Protestants just use a blank cross.
I do see what you mean about the pervasiveness of christianity in society but when only one group gets picked on all the time it gets a little scary. We know too well how the Muslims would respond and no one has the cujones to even consider an image or a screen character unflattering to Jews.
Yeah, the erection humor is just “sightly” juvenile and trying hard for that offensive sting. But then, it’s also pretty juvenile behavior to believe in this all powerful deity who makes the Universe in six days (he rests on the seventh because deities get tired, it’s exhausting work)…the penetration of christianity into society is so pervasive it definitely needs to be seriously mocked. And I’ll appreciate that mockery in whatever form I can find it…either clever humor or boner bathroom humor.
Catholic Season ends July 19, a bit of a long one this year, but I’m glad I got my doe tags. Protestant Season opens up July 25, and Neo-pagan season runs through the end of September.
One wonders when the open season on Catholicism will end? There are those who will not cease to fill the world with vile images meant to provoke…..of Jesus in Urine (Serrano’s (sp?) Piss Christ), or of the Virgin Mary in Dung. Now we have Jesus with a boner for Judas.
Perhaps someone should seek an NEA grant or student activity funds to produce The Torah in Turd or Abraham sodomizing Isaac. Perhaps someone might fund a study to investigate sexual abuse by Rabbis and report it daily on the front page of every major american newspaper as often as posssible. It would be instructive to sit back and watch the fireworks.
[…] On one hand, it’s oftentimes inappropriate to push disturbing images in unsuspecting people’s faces. There are numerous people who know what an aborted fetus looks like, have an ironclad point of view one way or the other on the issue, and just want to go to their classes without having to see such images again. A very good friend of mine had relatives murdered in the holocaust and purposely avoids viewing images of the atrocities. He isn’t ignorant and he isn’t avoiding reality– he’s seen plenty of images and depictions of that particular genocide. But he does want to go about his day without an emotional load to bear. In a similar vein, a fellow Commentator staffer was bothered by the full image of the last Insurgent issue’s cover that I put up on the blog– for day or two when he visited the blog he pretty much had to view an image that offended him. […]
[…] On one hand, it’s oftentimes inappropriate to push disturbing images in unsuspecting people’s faces. There are numerous people who know what an aborted fetus looks like, have an ironclad point of view one way or the other on the issue, and just want to go to their classes without having to see such images again. A very good friend of mine had relatives murdered in the holocaust and purposely avoids viewing images of the atrocities. He isn’t ignorant and he isn’t avoiding reality– he’s seen plenty of images and depictions of that particular genocide. But he does want to go about his day without an emotional load to bear. In a similar vein, a fellow Commentator staffer was bothered by the full image of the last Insurgent issue’s cover that I put up on the blog– for day or two when he visited the blog he pretty much had to view an image that offended him. […]
I think the majority of your commentators have got it right, the Left/supposedly Liberal espousal of anything offensive to Christianity is merely another symptom of the paucity of their arguments for the alternative anti-religion. I note that the Left has been conspicuous in NOT giving offence to Islam, perhaps another symptom of their desire for power and influence at any price. The point made by Jyllands-Posten has now been made, it is time to move the debate on and address the original point – that of political bias against national cultures and the assidious promotion of Middle Eastern culture in Europe and other “European” based nations.
[…] As a nice contrast, let’s compare Jaime’s bravery to those brave young souls at the Insurgent, a student newspaper at the University of Oregon, who bravely took a stand against the great Christian Menace. You see, the Oregon Commentator reprinted the Jyllands-Posten political cartoons that sparked so much violence a few months back, and the Insurgent, to make a point, published insulting cartoons about Christ*. The Insurgent apparently has no web presence, so the Commentator scanned and posted the issue for its online readers to see (Warning: The scanned Insurgent issue has images that are potentially very offensive.) […]
Joseph: “The amendement gives the freedom of speech as long as it doesn
I was just wondering, how can this little paper be Marxist/Anarchist? Those two concepts are not compatible. Marxists kill anarchists when they have power.
I wonder if the “collective” has ever thought about that.
Probably not, since their idea of an intelligent sociopolitical statement is drawings of penises. Welcome back to the Marxism/Anarchism of the sixth grade toilet stall.
In making any response at all to the “Jesus” cartoons reminds me of Pat Robertson saying “We demand respect!”
The world hates Jews and Christians because the world hates God. See Deut. 28:8-10.
John 15:18 – “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”
1 John 3:13 – “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.”
If the God-hating world loves you, THEN you have a problem.
The amendement gives the freedom of speech as long as it doesn
WHAT A DUMMY I AM. I thought I was addressing an Insurgent column! I apologize. Nevertheless, I believe my original point about the Insurgent editors is correct: anti-Semitic cartoons that mock Jesus are so common it’s boring. I could add: If the Insurgent editors wish to create controversy and provoke a strong condemnation from Frohnmayer, they should draw pornographic cartoons about secular saints such as Martin Luther King. Isn’t that what college English teachers (mostly scam-artists) like to preach: subvert, undermine, destabilize middle-class sensibilities?
That’s really dumb.
I’m a christian myself and am deeply offended by the liberal paper’s attempt to attack Christianity. There was no such need if the point was to “make a statement.” It’s as if someone who advocates against gun violence does so by shooting people.
The liberal papers defense that freedom of speech extends them the right to bash other religions is flawed. The amendement gives the freedom of speech as long as it doesn’t infringe on other’s rights namely the freedom of religion which is on the same document.
I can’t say that the Oregon Commentor made a wise decision printing the Muslim cartoons without expecting retaliation either.
We’ve had Jesus on the Cross dunked in a bucket of urine and placed in a tax-payers museum for viewing as an art piece. We’ve had the Blessed Mother covered in elephant dung and porno pictures and also placed in a tax funded museum for viewing as art – it stunk bad. There’s actually been a movie depicting Jesus Christ as gay. So there’s really nothing new here just silly little boys trying to be baddddd. lol
Boring.
This kind of foolishness is exactly why my kids will paying for their own college (just like Dear Old Dad). Because, there is no damn way that I’m going to shell out enough money to buy a summer home so they can come home with their heads filled with the “S” I’ve read in the “Insurgent”. Hell, being stupid should come a lot cheaper than 4 years worth of tuition.
Gettin’ even…
… in Jesus’ name:As you may be aware, a small newspaper has printed some rather degrading pictures of Jesus, presumably in order to provoke a response, and as a counterpoint to the Mohammed cartoons. Fair enough; as a classical liberal,
“We are amazed that the Commentator stands behind us and supports us completely in our endeavor.”
From the editorial, that is the money quote showing the cluelessness of these irrelevant moonbats. In one sentance the illustrate their lack of understanding of Christianity and the First Amendment: forgiveness and free speech.
Beyond that, their little publication is boring, out-of-touch, and irrelevant. In THEIR eyes, that may be their biggest sin.
Isn’t it a kind of F-U to the folks that went ape-shit about the Mohammed cartoons? We can see cartoons slamming Jesus, but we GET OVER IT.
Meh. Jesus has a boner. Jumpin’ Jesus on a pogo stick. Here’s a fundy with a thought bubble so you can see his hate-filled thoughts. [YAWN]
“Thou shalt have no other Gods before me” has a more subtle meaning – when you go to church, and there’s that big cross with the statue of Jesus nailed to it, and there’s another statue of Mary, and the altar in the middle with the fragment of the One True Cross, YOU DON’T PRAY TO ANY OF THOSE THINGS. You don’t kneel before the guy in the robes, and you don’t need absolution from the organization. All that sh|t’s between you and God.
So when I see a picture showing Jesus and Judas (I guess) as homos, it can’t bother me, because those aren’t Gods. God and Jesus are in my head and in my heart, and I can’t imagine anything that would be able to touch them there.
I’d be willing to wager that a substantial subset of the population of Islam feels the same way about Mohammed. “Oh, look, here’s a picture of The Prophet (peace be upon him) with a turban that’s a BOMB!!! OMFG!!!1!11! (NOT)”
This is realy disgusting and I feel deep offended.
Edmund-Peter from Poland Warsaw
[…] Lots of people emailed me about these obnoxious and appalling cartoons depicting Jesus – on the cross – with an erection, and him kissing (presumably Judas) with more erections. […]
The Jesus Cartoons
As you may be aware, a small newspaper has printed some rather degrading
Do you pay incidental fees? I’m sure if you call the insurgent they’d be happy to send you one though.
It’s always nice to find a liberal that can read something other than what’s printed on a tye dyed t-shirt. Someone mentioned 700 unsold copies….Any chance a white, Christian, male in Texas could get one?!
I, for one, would like to commend you for your literacy.
I read the newspaper.
You guys are fuckin’ retards.
I guess we’ve cracked the Da Vinci Code…
It’s ‘Who would Jesus Do?’
Though I guess what bothers me the most is that all Western society is being blamed for the rather tame Mohammed Cartoons in spite of the willingness of the MSMs to refuse publication.
Yet this obscenity is virtually self parody because mocking Jesus is just so… pedestrian and common…
Ultimately a tiny paper in Denmark proved it’s original point. That the ‘Politically Correct’ are self-censoring and their misdirected hate is just another symptom of their self loathing.
I went to college in the ’60s. It’s amazing that the Left is still pushing the same old tired line they were 45 years ago. When the ‘journalists’ at the Insurgent graduate, they’ll have jobs waiting for them at Air America. Oh, wait…
JESUS CARTOONS — PICTURE UPDATE
Allahpundit via Hotair provides us with a picture of one of The Insurgent’s Jesus cartoons, reported here. For a complete scan of the publication, go here (Thanks Oregon Commentator!).
Do you see anyone rioting yet? Perhaps burning flags? Stonin…
So lemme get this straight: a conservative student newspaper publishes the offensive censored images issued by its ideological opponent, an opponent that has demonstrated an unwillingness to reciprocate, and dawg says it’s still not good enough because they haven’t published child pornography yet?
I find I don’t miss academia.
[…] Moreso, 700 copies of The Insurgent won’t be distributed after the University of Oregon invoked self-censorship on those images. The original publication, the Oregon Commentator, freely published the Jesus cartoons on their web site showing that at least some University of Oregon students understand that free speech is free speech. If The Insurgent has printed the Danish cartoons they could hold their head up high that they proved a point, but thus far the only point they have proven was already made. […]
[…] There’s nothing more about this on the Emerald website, so I’m not sure what the current status of the Insurgent is. The Oregon Commentator (the conservative student newspaper, remember) managed to scare up a copy, though — and has posted the entire issue, uncensored, on its own website. As far as I know, it’s the only place to view the images online. Here’s the cover, which is precisely as witty and insightful as you’d expect it to be: […]
Of course you can publish what you want. The problem is that most people will find your anti-Semitic depictions of a middle-east Jew boring. While you’re at it, why don’t you defy the Supreme Court case NY v. Ferber (1982) and show how you can subvert middle class sensibilities and print child pornography in the Insurgent? I DARE YOU. But you won’t–because deep down you’re boring corporate conformist middle class pasty white flat-ass males (and a few females) WHO PRETEND TO BE BAAAAD. What a bunch of WUSSIES.
[…] WorldNetDaily, America’s Most Trusted News Source, has an article about Catholic League President Bill Donohue’s efforts to complain to UO President “John Frohnmayer.” Donohue has apparantly learned of the Student Insurgent’s recent issue and, angry at a depiction of Jesus and a friend “sporting erections,” has now directed his ire towards our fair state. […]
Jesus cartoons aside, I’m fucking offended by “use herbs for emergency contraception”. Dudes, that means there are going to be SO MANY pregnant hippie chicks. That’s wrong, sick and wrong.