Letters

February 2006
February 15 - January 13 - January 10

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Heating it up for "freedom"

On Saman's cartoons "Funnier than hell":

If you think you would know better than... whoever you are referring to, please leave them alone, and let the fire burn. As usual ashes will get cold. But no, the journalists and the news media think they know better, and they are defending "some freedom"!

Who can tell the son of an "....." who died because of current protests, in "wherever".

why his father died, and will this orphan have a chance in "our" world?

The one who knows better is the one who tries to calm down the situation, not "heat it up".

This is my opinion about the messages

But truly you have a talent, and keen eyes, why not to use it to help the current situation? (Even if it goes against your inner beliefs)

Good luck.

Mahnaz

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We have lost our sense of humor

On Saman's cartoons "Funnier than hell":

Wow... great job! I sent it for anyone I knew... (not religious ones, since aren't we all tired of their boring speech?)

I really think that we, as a society, have lost our sense of humor. Now we have the right to get offended by a cartoon, and it gives us the right to threaten, to kill, to burn and to destroy anyone and anything that is not from "us"... and on the other hand we don't have the right of feeling offended if someone is kidnapped and beheaded live on TV, or stoned to death, or tortured for asking just a little bit of freedom of "existence”... all in the name of religion or Jihad or Politics or moral.

Why aren't we screaming in the streets when children dye of hunger in Africa?

And what about the freedom of speech? When did we replace it with “freedom of speech at your own risk”? Artists are supposed to be the ones trying to understand the world and its reality, through their feelings and imagination... Since when, we got the right to kill artists because of what they create? Isn’t it just our own reality and image that seems so upsetting?

Aren’t we just killing the “messenger”, totally blind to the message?

Nothing is really “sacred”, but life! Keep safe!

Azarin

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I'm Jewish, but laughed anyway

On Saman's cartoons "Funnier than hell":

Your cartoons are great! Thanks. BIG LAUGH!!!!!!! My favourite is the first one of course and less favourite is the Sharon one because I am Jewish but I laughed anyway.

Negar J

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Why not make fun of Jewsish religion?

On Saman's cartoons "Funnier than hell":

I have to admit that those cartoons were hillarious.

Before I make additional comments, I will say that I am a very modest Muslim (similar to majority of fellow Iranians). For example, I actually eat ham and drink, etc. Or maybe I shouldn't be referred to as a Muslim ... who knows. Also, I am not an anti-Semite; and I do have fellow Jewish Iranians in my family (in addition to Catholics and Zoroasterians).

HOWEVER, I am a logical and educated person and am well aware of what's going on around the world. I do sense the amazing and disturbing amount of hypocracy that's out there, regarding religion and freedom of speech. In my opinion, you displayed it perfectly via your cartoons. I didn't see one cartoon making fun of Jews (besides the 'Sharon' cartoon which wasn't about the Jewish religion as much as about the Israeli govt.)

So I ask you, Sam - why not?

What prevented you from including more Jewish related cartoons? We have certainly seen an extreme and un-warranted bloody reaction to the Muslim cartoons during the past month or so, which I certainly do not condone. We're also getting a mouth full of freedom of speech rhetoric from mostly Western governments, practically justifying the cartoons (with which I certainly agree).

However, I wonder what the reaction of the same peace and freedom of speech-loving governments would be if the cartoons were anti-Jewish? Without any hesitation, I would say that they would condemn those cartoons ASAP and begin to 'educate' us once again about the sad and immoral acts of Hitler, the Holocaust ... which, again, I'd understand.

BUT then we have a perfect example of HYPOCRACY, which actually goes along very well with our (U.S.) foreign policies. Not sure if you've thought about the situation in this manner; if not, I'd recommend for you to do so.

In summary, if you got the balls to downplay Christianity and Islam, then why not Judaism? When I think about it, I would be even more disappointed if I was a Christian because Christianity is getting downplayed by everyone here in the US, while its basically the religion of the majority. And again ... no one in the US has the balls to say anything about Judaism! Hypocracy at its best!

Last word ... just in case you may be wondering ... again ... I am not an anti-Semite. I just believe that everyone should be treated equally. It just has to happen, right? If not, then why go into foreign countries with different cultures and richer histories than ours (the U.S.) and FORCE them to live freely? As one person once said: "Why does a free Iraq cost so much?"

Ali M

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One day

On Saman's cartoons "Funnier than hell":

saw your cartoons on iranian.com. just wanted to say they were great. hopefully one day there wont be any religion or fake religion to be a subject of a black cartoon.

keep up the good job and good luck.

mojgan

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Educating Iranian community to be more tolerant

On Saman's cartoons "Funnier than hell":

I just wanted to give you and other Iranian.com staff Kudos for publishing the satire cartoons about religion. This is a courageous act. And I am sure this is very beneficial both in educating Iranian community to be more tolerant toward Freedom of Publication and Speech; and it will also help erase the black & white image of Iran and Iranians in the outside world. I will support you and your cause.

Sina

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Suicidal rage over outdated religious beliefs

Cartoonist Saman's letter to those who commented on his latest work, "Funnier than hell":

Thanks everyone for your feedback on the cartoons. I didn't have much time to reply to all but glad most of you liked the toons. I think funnier than the actual cartoons is watching the world go into a suicidal rage over outdated religious beliefs... and the media using the opportunity to sell Viagra pills. There just wasn't enough testosterone floating around those burning embassies. We should really be proud of our ancient history and thousands of years, which we have evolved from ... cheers to major progress for mankind and birthplace of civilization.

Anyway, we have many wonderful civilizations such as Iran and Pakistan to thank for, for spending gigantic chunks of their national budget on maintaining nuke technology ... the hell with schools. Thanks to many brilliant leaders, Habibollah is forced to go to religious studies cuz there aren't any "real education" in the hood. You know like biology, astronomy, physics ... 2+2 and other hard to believe myths about life.

God willing, Habibollah quickly learns to accept violence as a form of "free-expression" and the art of beheading in the name of Santa Clause and his assistant Marry Tooth-fairy. Bloody death to those who question religion and morality as 2 separate things ... the same way Galileo questioned the Catholic church as NOT being the center of universe.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Ahmadinejad, Sharon, Mubarak, Musharaf and most importantly... those powerful countries in the world for their blind support of many such great leaders ... only so they can sell and consume more Viagra pills.

Saman

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Falling victim to ignorance

On Dutch documentary on Jews in Iran:

I am absolutely heart-broken to see the plight of our fellow countrymen and women and the way they fall victim to ignorance and prejudice in Iran on a daily basis. I am so ashamed that my so called people who claim to have a 2500-year history of civilization are still so ignorant and narrow-minded to treat other human beings - whatever their background - the way they are treating such minorities as the Jews in our country.

Frankly, I am so appalled to realize that my own people are some of the most racist and bigoted inhabitants of this planet. Let's not kid ourselves, these prejudices do not all have religious roots. (The girl interviewed in the art class, for example, did not particularly strike me as a devout Muslim.) So it's not just the problem of religion, Afghanis who are so called 'fellow-Muslims' are treated far worse, if it is at all possible.

My heart goes out to every minority individual in Iran, and may god give them patience to deal with so much ignorance around them.

Hedieh

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Sick, sick, sick

On Pullniro's "Palestine, Palestine, Palestine...":

SICK, SICK. SICK............... SICK mind, sick spirit, sick display of bigotry, sick ploy to provoke and cause hurt to those victims. 

Engtec

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Very sick to spend time thinking of ways to offend

On Amir Normandi's "12 post cards for Muharram":

When i first saw the post cards, i didnt think much. i said its just someone expressing their freedom of speech. but then rethinking it, Mr.Normandi must have serious issues. there exists something called respect. i understand that there was a point, but you offended so many followers who have nothing to do with the politics going on. you must be very sick to spend your time thinking of ways to offend others.

Najmeh

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Leave Rudi's looks alone

On letter "Regain your dignity, Rudi":

I would like to ask the writer of this email to regain his dignity. Apparently, his criteria for judging if an anchor is any good is her "velvety voice and her flirtatious ways".

He also quickly took note that Ms. Bakhtiar now looks 'unattractive' because of her seemingly whitified skin.

If your opinion of female news reporters is based in such shallow and delirious thoughts, then why do you even care what network they work for? Based on what I've seen on Fox News (as far as their female reporters & anchors go), it seems to be the ideal network for you.

ZH

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From Germany, with love

On A letter from Iranian students to freedom-loving people of the world, "Year of freedom":

Thank you for sharing the letter.

I wish to express how much I feel with you people,

We all suffer from this darkest age of world manipulation.

My sincere love to all human brothers and sisters in the world,

Gela Jonat,
Germany

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