Charlie Hebdo publishes offensive cartoon on India's oxygen shortage

[pillionrider]

‘33 mn Gods…not one producing oxygen’: Charlie Hebdo releases cartoon on India’s Covid crisis.

Published on 28 April, the cartoon depicts Indians lying on the ground, gasping for oxygen. It also takes a dig at the multiple gods and goddesses in India, and how they have been unable to help the country’s plaguing oxygen crisis.

The accompanying catchphrase of the cartoon in French, reads: “33 million gods in India and not one capable of producing oxygen.”

The cartoon has been shared widely across Twitter to varying reactions. Some users have been offended by the inferences drawn, while others noted the truth to it.

Meanwhile, author Devdutt Pattanaik pointed out the irony of how Charlie Hebdo’s cartoon on Prophet Mohammad had found support among Hindu extremists, but they will be offended by this particular cartoon.

Anyone outraged over this yet? Not hearing much...

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Ouch. That was brutal

 

[Varun]

The only one who would lose their rags over this are the Bhakts.

 

[King_Kohli]

Anyone outraged over this yet? Not hearing much...

No one outraged, Most of Indians wont care.
only pseudo seculars trying to make something out of it.

 

[ahmedzee]

Wow, funny how Indian posters are saying they are not offended but Muslims were over the cartoons.
Well you got to realize the offense of publishing our Prophet (peace be upon him) cartoons. Infact, if you guys are not offended, then let me give you a cartoon scenario that would somewhat be almost equal for hindus of india. Lets say Charlie Hebdo publishes a cartoon of Saraswati, Lashmi, Parvati getting gang raped by indian men, in the wake of rapes in India. Now, would that offend you guys, or would you behave like this just to show that cartoons like these shouldn't be taken seriously.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Wow, funny how Indian posters are saying they are not offended but Muslims were over the cartoons.
Well you got to realize the offense of publishing our Prophet (peace be upon him) cartoons. Infact, if you guys are not offended, then let me give you a cartoon scenario that would somewhat be almost equal for hindus of india. Lets say Charlie Hebdo publishes a cartoon of Saraswati, Lashmi, Parvati getting gang raped by indian men, in the wake of rapes in India. Now, would that offend you guys, or would you behave like this just to show that cartoons like these shouldn't be taken seriously.

Most on here are new age secularists, they think this makes them more enlightened. You will soon read reports of Hindus in India being upset and imo its understandable. Its a lame, pathetic magazine, any idiot of a child could produce such cartoons.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Ouch. That was brutal

Ha ha, yes it's always good to see the lighter side. If one was not taking it too seriously then a picture of Indians lying on the ground gasping for breath with a caption of "33 million gods in India and not one capable of producing oxygen.” would certainly raise a chuckle in the west.

 

[Robert]

Most on here are new age secularists, they think this makes them more enlightened. You will soon read reports of Hindus in India being upset and imo its understandable. Its a lame, pathetic magazine, any idiot of a child could produce such cartoons.

Rather a contradiction in terms. The New Age is a set of esoteric spiritual beliefs, and secularism is organising society along humanist lines.

 

[Robert]

Ha ha, yes it's always good to see the lighter side. If one was not taking it too seriously then a picture of Indians lying on the ground gasping for breath with a caption of "33 million gods in India and not one capable of producing oxygen.” would certainly raise a chuckle in the west.

If one was a psychopath, perhaps.

Hebdo just isn’t funny.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Rather a contradiction in terms. The New Age is a set of esoteric spiritual beliefs, and secularism is organising society along humanist lines.

Very human of them to make sattire of dead people. This is more barbaric and backward. Im sure you'd be offended if half of your family perished and I made a cartoon mocking why secularism failed to save them.

 

[guna]

Anyone outraged over this yet? Not hearing much...

Charlie Hebdo is speaking the truth. We should all worship trees as they are the ones producing oxygen for us.

 

[guna]

Most on here are new age secularists, they think this makes them more enlightened. You will soon read reports of Hindus in India being upset and imo its understandable. Its a lame, pathetic magazine, any idiot of a child could produce such cartoons.

Not getting offended over faith shows maturity. If only the whole world is like that.

There are tons of cartoons and jokes made on Jesus. You do not see Christians getting mad and going on a rampage on streets.

 

[Jadz]

Wow, funny how Indian posters are saying they are not offended but Muslims were over the cartoons.
Well you got to realize the offense of publishing our Prophet (peace be upon him) cartoons. Infact, if you guys are not offended, then let me give you a cartoon scenario that would somewhat be almost equal for hindus of india. Lets say Charlie Hebdo publishes a cartoon of Saraswati, Lashmi, Parvati getting gang raped by indian men, in the wake of rapes in India. Now, would that offend you guys, or would you behave like this just to show that cartoons like these shouldn't be taken seriously.

The principle purpose of publishing material that is blatantly offensive and insensitive is to create controversy, because controversial content inevitably incites rage, causes hurt and leads to condemnation from those targeted or victimized. Above all else, it generates mass interest - and, thus, makes huge profits for the publishers and authors.

This is exactly why people should refrain from rising to the bait. Your reference to the reaction to cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is precisely the reason certain sections of the press - and others - continue to mock and malign him, because Muslims are so easy to enrage, so easy to incite to fury, so easy to push to extremes.

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was an intellectual, he was possessed of the grace, wisdom and humility gifted to him by Allah SwT - he was routinely attacked, verbally and physically, during his lifetime yet turned away from his detractors and adversaries, and often forgave them. There were assassination attempts upon his life, but he survived them - he did not allow anything or anyone to deter him from his noble task. I regret the fact that Muslims, who claim to love him, fail to follow his example of patient fortitude and endurance.

I commend our Indian brethren for not allowing an insignificant publication to bother or concern them - India has a history and civilization to be proud of, we should all support Indians in their moment of suffering and need.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Not getting offended over faith shows maturity. If only the whole world is like that.

There are tons of cartoons and jokes made on Jesus. You do not see Christians getting mad and going on a rampage on streets.

That's the beauty of it, the world is a big place. Even if the whole world isn't mature enough to enjoy this sort of humour, there is plenty left to aim at. Hopefully you can maturely appreciate the humour on offer here.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Not getting offended over faith shows maturity. If only the whole world is like that.

There are tons of cartoons and jokes made on Jesus. You do not see Christians getting mad and going on a rampage on streets.

Practicising christians are low in number now compared to their overall figures. Poor argument, because one set of people dont care of abuse of their faith doesnt mean all should follow the same thinking.

Its human nature, if you offend someone esp on a regular basis, be prepared to face some sort of backlash. What is offensive differs. Is there nothing can offend you?

 

[guna]

Practicising christians are low in number now compared to their overall figures. Poor argument, because one set of people dont care of abuse of their faith doesnt mean all should follow the same thinking.

Its human nature, if you offend someone esp on a regular basis, be prepared to face some sort of backlash. What is offensive differs. Is there nothing can offend you?

Its called evolving and becoming more rational. If God is not offended by the cartoons, who are humans to act like crazed loonies over worthless cartoons?

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Its called evolving and becoming more rational. If God is not offended by the cartoons, who are humans to act like crazed loonies over worthless cartoons?

Do you think these cartoons are examples of evolved behaviour?

 

[KingKhanWC]

Its called evolving and becoming more rational. If God is not offended by the cartoons, who are humans to act like crazed loonies over worthless cartoons?

I asked is there nothing than can offend you? Lets find out how evolved you are.

 

[guna]

I asked is there nothing than can offend you? Lets find out how evolved you are.

There will be things that can offend anyone. But how you react to the offensive content shows the maturity.

You can ignore it, hold peaceful protest or go on a rampage and kill the offender. Choice is yours.

 

[KingKhanWC]

There will be things that can offend anyone. But how you react to the offensive content shows the maturity.

You can ignore it, hold peaceful protest or go on a rampage and kill the offender. Choice is yours.

Thanks, according to your own logic you are not evolved.

This is common sense. But dont expect everyone to ignore if you offend them esp with something dear to them. Its human nature which will never change.

 

[guna]

Thanks, according to your own logic you are not evolved.

This is common sense. But dont expect everyone to ignore if you offend them esp with something dear to them. Its human nature which will never change.

You are not getting the point. Evolving is not about not getting offended at all. How you react to the offensive content shows the maturity and evolving of the society as a whole.

 

[KingKhanWC]

You are not getting the point. Evolving is not about not getting offended at all. How you react to the offensive content shows the maturity and evolving of the society as a whole.

Depends on the type of offence. I.e If I see someone abusing
or being offensive towards someone because of their race, religion, sex, age , disability , which is upsetting the person, it would be uncivilsed to ignore it.

 

[El Generico]

There will be things that can offend anyone. But how you react to the offensive content shows the maturity.

You can ignore it, hold peaceful protest or go on a rampage and kill the offender. Choice is yours.

Is lynching a mature response? As that seems to be the go to response for India if someone eats beef.

Funny thing is this whole thread is a veiled attempt to say that Muslims are too sensitive and Hindus are mature lol.

In 99% of the world you can openly eat beef but in India you could be tortured and killed if you are suspecting of eating it. Is it mature to be offended by someone eating a hamburger lol?

Point is different religions find different things offensive, cartoons may not be a big deal in Hinduism but even thoughts of eating beef are considered blasphemous.

 

[guna]

Depends on the type of offence. I.e If I see someone abusing
or being offensive towards someone because of their race, religion, sex, age , disability , which is upsetting the person, it would be uncivilsed to ignore it.

Whatever be the offensive word, it all depends on how you react to it. No reaction is always the best reaction.

If we start reacting to every thing that is said about us, then we will go to mental asylum.

That reminds me of the bollywood song - "Kuch toh log kahenge! Logon ka kaam hain kehna!!".

 

[guna]

Is lynching a mature response? As that seems to be the go to response for India if someone eats beef.

Funny thing is this whole thread is veiled attempt to say that Muslims are too sensitive and Hindus are mature lol.

In 99% of the world you can openly eat beef but in India you could be tortured and killed if you are suspecting of eating it. Is it mature to be offended by someone eating a hamburger lol?

Point is different religions find different things offensive, cartoons may not be a big deal in Hinduism but even thoughts of eating beef are considered blasphemous.

That is the worst kind of response. Nobody has the right to kill anyone.

Cow is sacred for Hindus. But Hindus should not attack other countries saying that they have offended their sacred animal.

For the last time, just because you find something offensive does not give you the right to attack anyone physically. Hindus who kill Muslims over beef eating are no better than the idiots who attacked Charlie Hebdo office in France.

 

[Zaz]

That is the worst kind of response. Nobody has the right to kill anyone.

Cow is sacred for Hindus. But Hindus should not attack other countries saying that they have offended their sacred animal.

For the last time, just because you find something offensive does not give you the right to attack anyone physically. Hindus who kill Muslims over beef eating are no better than the idiots who attacked Charlie Hebdo office in France.

Just to be clear Whos advocated the right on attacking others?

Theres idiots in both the hindu worlds and muslims worlds who got over the top

Are you implying all muslims advocate violence when offended?

 

[street cricketer]

My two cents on the whole cartoons debate. I'll start by saying I'm not a muslim, so if people think I wouldn't be able to understand the muslim reactions to cartoons on the Prophet and my answer would be biased on the account of me being a non muslim, fair enough. But these are just my thoughts on this whole issue.

The question is not so much about is it offensive or if it isn't. Let's be honest, they're offensive and meant to provoke reactions. It would be offensive even for a cultural muslim I assume as would be cartoons on hindu deities for a cultural hindu or hindus in general. But have you ever wondered why the right wing groups in Europe don't concentrate their ire on the hindus or Buddhists for example as much as they provoke muslims. Is it because the hindus and the buddhists are in the good books of the racist right wingers, certainly not. They would probably think as bad about the hindus, Buddhists and other minorities as they think of the muslims. The simple reason is because muslims fall very easily to the bait of the right wingers time and time again.

When right wing groups burn the Quran or publish offensive cartoons of the Prophet, it's not so much to offend the muslims per se. Well that's secondary but the primary reason is to evoke a reaction they want. The main objective of right wing groups in any country is to cause polarisation of the society they live in. In this case, it is to polarise the general people of Europe against muslims and create a wave of negative sentiment against them perpetuating Islamophobia among the average joe. When they make the cartoons, they know that muslim groups will cause massive protests. If it's headed by a group of angry bearded muslim men with placards, that's perfect tv for them. And almost always, a random nutjob would take the knife or the gun to "avenge" the honour of the Prophet causing deaths, exactly like it happened in the Charlie Hebdo shooting incident. Or the more recent knife attack in France. All these would perpetuate the sentiment that muslims are an intolerant community incapable of accepting any form of criticism and react with violence at any such criticism. This a self perpetuating cycle, someone makes the cartoons, muslims get angry and protest en masse, a violent revenge attack happens which feeds to the sentiment of Islamophobia.

So muslims when they angrily protest against the cartoons, they unknowingly fall to the trap of the right wingers and feed into this vicious cycle of fear, phobia and hate against muslims. Now the next question is how to react. You react exactly how you would react to a troll in an online forum. A troll's main objective is to evoke a negative reaction with the people he engages, and the best way to deal with trolls is to ignore them. I'm sure there must be a few cartoons on hindu deities or Buddha published by RW groups in the past, but when they don't get the desired reaction, they automatically stop or get buried in the news. In fact, I would argue that the cartoons of the Prophet got more famous and got to the front page of newspapers by muslims angrily reacting to it than if they had simply ignored it. Charlie Hebdo doesn't care about negative publicity, it works on the motto that any publicity is good publicity.

I definitely think muslims need to tone down their reactions to offensive material for their own sake.

 

[street cricketer]

Wow, funny how Indian posters are saying they are not offended but Muslims were over the cartoons.
Well you got to realize the offense of publishing our Prophet (peace be upon him) cartoons. Infact, if you guys are not offended, then let me give you a cartoon scenario that would somewhat be almost equal for hindus of india. Lets say Charlie Hebdo publishes a cartoon of Saraswati, Lashmi, Parvati getting gang raped by indian men, in the wake of rapes in India. Now, would that offend you guys, or would you behave like this just to show that cartoons like these shouldn't be taken seriously.

The argument is not so much about if it's offensive or not. It's how you react to offensive stuff said about you. The fact that you had full freedom to make a very lewd analogy on hindu revered deities with zero reservations is because you know you aren't going to get any negative reaction to it, certainly in your real life.

It's not that difficult for me to say for example, make a similar lewd analogy about a revered female personality in Islam, but I wouldn't do so because firstly it wouldn't be the right thing to do, particularly on a day you consider to be holy. But more importantly, and I'll be honest when I say this, it's because I would then spend the next few weeks/months of my life in fear of some random nutjob doxxing me and trying to avenge the "honour" of whichever personality I insulted in this hypothetical scenario, because of things I've read in the news. And there in lies the crux of the argument about cartoons. That disproportionate reactions by muslims to cartoons tends to create fear among the society and perpetuate the sentiment of Islamophobia further than if they simply didn't react to it and ignored it like they would ignore a dog barking at them in a street.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

You are not getting the point. Evolving is not about not getting offended at all. How you react to the offensive content shows the maturity and evolving of the society as a whole.

I don't know why you keep talking about maturity and being evolved. If you were that evolved you would be able to accept the cartoon with grace rather than using it to compare favourably with Muslim reaction to Hebdo.

 

[Robert]

Very human of them to make sattire of dead people. This is more barbaric and backward. Im sure you'd be offended if half of your family perished and I made a cartoon mocking why secularism failed to save them.

I refer you to post 9.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Whatever be the offensive word, it all depends on how you react to it. No reaction is always the best reaction.

If we start reacting to every thing that is said about us, then we will go to mental asylum.

That reminds me of the bollywood song - "Kuch toh log kahenge! Logon ka kaam hain kehna!!".

Your being disingenuous here. 99.9% of the people who are offended do not react in any violent way.

I assume you will not react regardless of how someone offends you. If a cartoon of someone dear to you is made on a weekly basis, its then upseting to that person, giving them mental health issues, you'd still support the cartoonist?

 

[El Generico]

That is the worst kind of response. Nobody has the right to kill anyone.

Cow is sacred for Hindus. But Hindus should not attack other countries saying that they have offended their sacred animal.

For the last time, just because you find something offensive does not give you the right to attack anyone physically. Hindus who kill Muslims over beef eating are no better than the idiots who attacked Charlie Hebdo office in France.

When did I or anyone say that someone should be physically attacked?

My response was to OP’s failed attempt to show how Hindus are way more “mature” than Muslims.

 

[ahmedzee]

The argument is not so much about if it's offensive or not. It's how you react to offensive stuff said about you. The fact that you had full freedom to make a very lewd analogy on hindu revered deities with zero reservations is because you know you aren't going to get any negative reaction to it, certainly in your real life.

It's not that difficult for me to say for example, make a similar lewd analogy about a revered female personality in Islam, but I wouldn't do so because firstly it wouldn't be the right thing to do, particularly on a day you consider to be holy. But more importantly, and I'll be honest when I say this, it's because I would then spend the next few weeks/months of my life in fear of some random nutjob doxxing me and trying to avenge the "honour" of whichever personality I insulted in this hypothetical scenario, because of things I've read in the news. And there in lies the crux of the argument about cartoons. That disproportionate reactions by muslims to cartoons tends to create fear among the society and perpetuate the sentiment of Islamophobia further than if they simply didn't react to it and ignored it like they would ignore a dog barking at them in a street.

Firstly, apologies on making that comment. I meant no harm but I was just giving an example. It is not like I published a cartoon like that.
Secondly, no need to get worked up so much. My whole point was that the level of offense charlie hebdo cartoons make of Islam, can't be compared to what they just published on India.

Those cartoons are offense and I for one don't really recommend reacting in the way of violent protest to it. I would react in a way Imran Khan is reacting, to explain to the French why it is offensive.

 

[guna]

When did I or anyone say that someone should be physically attacked?

My response was to OP’s failed attempt to show how Hindus are way more “mature” than Muslims.

Alright then.

Hindus are not as fanatic as Muslims when it comes to faith. Mojority are nominal Hindus who just celebrate festivals and eat good food. Nobody is taught that you have to believe in everything written in Hindu holy books. Naturally most Hindus are very accepting of other faiths and their Gods.

 

[El Generico]

Alright then.

Hindus are not as fanatic as Muslims when it comes to faith. Mojority are nominal Hindus who just celebrate festivals and eat good food. Nobody is taught that you have to believe in everything written in Hindu holy books. Naturally most Hindus are very accepting of other faiths and their Gods.

Lol do you think people are oblivious of what’s happening in India? Aren’t people lynched for not following a Hindu diet? Do you have any examples of Muslims killing others because they ate pork? Isn’t it actually illegal to eat beef in India?

Also isn’t the ruling party in India, a far right Hindu party? What statistical analysis did you use to infer that Muslims are more fanatic?

 

[DeadlyVenom]

The posters like guna are trying to pull the wool over our eyes. There are hardly any hindus outside of India ( well not in sizeable numbers), so of course there will not be a major reaction. We do know however based on lynchings and general cow related shenanigans in India that the Hindu religion as ita fair share of loonies and extremists.

Hedbo is a real piece of work though. I genuinely have no clue as to who would find this type of thing funny.

 

[pillionrider]

There are hardly any hindus outside of India ( well not in sizeable numbers), so of course there will not be a major reaction.

Is that why Hindu Indians (and Indian Muslims in countries like South Africa) drown out Pakistanis when it comes to the crowds at Ind-Pak matches? Or are you saying Pakistanis are too cheap to spend money and prefer to support their team for free on the internet?

And coming to Muslims from other countries, Indian Hindus are far more visible in all sectors from menial jobs to white-collar ones. Where are all these large outnumbering Muslims?

 

[El Generico]

Muslims make up 5% of France while Hindus are 0.2% population. In the UK it’s 5% Muslims while around 1% Hindus.

I am not sure what you are trying to argue [MENTION=139758]pillionrider[/MENTION], what DV said it’s literal facts and stats that you can google.

 

[Itachi]

from common perspective, it's already evident that Muslims tend to get more offended frequently over different subjects than non muslims (Christians, Hindus, Buddhists). Hence religious extremism in other religion isn't as wide spread as among Muslims.

 

[Local.Dada]

This was offensive and so were the cartoons about religious figures. 2 wrongs don’t make a right just because shoe is on the other foot.

However glad at least this won’t result in body parts being chopped off.

If people jog their memories, that’s exactly what took away from the core issue before. In fact a lot of people were sympathizing and rooting for the Muslims before someone was brutally murdered and people started justifying that.

This was dumb by Charlie Hebdo though, now once again the focus will be on their insensitivity.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Every hindu on this thread bar the odd exception seems to be less bothered about Hebdo mocking their dead and suffering families, and are more concerned about lecturing Muslims about their failure to accept insult.

From my perspective I don't approve of Hebdo mocking Indian dead, but it's not my business, so on behalf of PP Indians I will congratulate Charlie on their successful venture.