Bush-Shiva Caricature Upsets Web-Based Portal Owner

[ECH1969]

A caricature of a four-armed President Bush in the well-known tandava pose of Lord Shiva has roiled many Hindus and triggered an online signature campaign to protest its publication in a daily newspaper.

"It's a deeply insulting cartoon," Rajesh Gooty, the U.S.-based founder of Indiacause.com, a Web-based portal whose stated purpose it is to safeguard the interests of India, told India-West by telephone. "It is totally offensive to draw a parallel between Bush and Shiva."

The cartoon, which ran in the March 3 edition of The International Herald Tribune, a daily owned by the New York Times, depicts the U.S. president in a suit, holding in one hand a sign that says, "India Nuke Deal," and in another hand a sign that says, "Stop Iran Nukes."

"Would the New York Times dare publish cartoons mocking Jesus or Prophet Mohammed," Gooty asked rhetorically.

http://www.indiawest.com/view.php?subaction=showfull&id=1143744831&archive

[Roland99]

1. Does this mean it's time for a Bush on a crucifix cartoon?

sheesh.

[hootinholler]

9. That would be after November. n/t

[Kagemusha]

2. By the way, I count five arms.

Just for the record.

[MrPrax]

3. We got press freedom!!

and we can insult people for profit and power all we want!!

Fuck you (and if you DON'T like that...we will export songs, movies with just that 'culture' and IF you don't pay up...we'll nuke you)

[bemildred]

4. Tsk, tsk tsk, ought to be Kali. nt

[sweetheart]

5. or Ganesha: patron of thieves. n/t

[bemildred]

7. LOL, the elephant god, very appropriate. nt

[WhiteTara]

14. ganesha is the patron of good fortune

:)

[sweetheart]

15. as well thieves

.. is the patron of merchants and of thieves, He rules currency and exchanges of all types. The Hindu God Ganesh is identical to Mercury in all of his attributes. Offering of sweets, especially sweet rice, are often made to him. Ganesh means 'Lord of the Hosts', and he embodies the intellect. In Tantric traditions, he awakens the Muladhara chakra, which is at the base of the spine and represents the planet Mercury. He makes his sadhakas alert and he awakens them and puts them in tune with the fulfilment of their karmic debts and duties, and he also places us on the path to liberation. His seed mantram is ' GAM'
http://www.angelfire.com/journal/saadaya/Ianus.html

Ganesh, the elephant-headed god who is, appropriately, the patron saint of scholars, authors and thieves
http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/0203/Mar24_03/13.shtml

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

6. A quick Googling turns up plenty of Bush-Christ blasphemies

Doesn't Gooty get it? That cartoon makes fun of Bush, not Shiva - just like these images make fun of Bush, not Christ..


http://www.bush-o-grams.com/Gallery.html


http://earthhopenetwork.net/Bush_Satan.htm


http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blbushpassion.htm

There. Blasphemies for all. Now that everyone's offended, will everyone shut up about it already?

[fujiyama]

8. But the question is

would the NY Times actually print them? Well, maybe with Jesus...

I think the Times reeks of hypocrisy though. Funny, they didn't print the Muhammad cartoons.

I still think anyone getting offended by a political cartoon is a fuckin moron.

[Hosnon]

10. Why are religious people so sensitive...get over it. nt

[Journeyman]

11. Paul Conrad showed Nixon nailing himself to a cross. . .

in a prize-winning cartoon he drew after the Trickster gave his self-serving interviews with David Frost. Don't know if it ran in The New York Times, but I know The LA Times printed it.

[mom cat]

12. The picture needs some additions: US nukes coming out of Bush's

ears and Israeli nukes coming out of his back pocket!

[eppur_se_muova]

13. I thought Shiva was "The Destroyer"...seems more than appropriate.

Probably the cartoonist has heard the famous description by Oppenheimer on witnessing the first atomic explosion: He said he was reminded of a line from the Bhagavad Gita(sp?), "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I was thinking the line was uttered by Shiva, but according to Wikipedia it was Vishnu. Who knows, maybe the cartoonist was confusing his deities here -- I certainly don't know the difference myself.