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Not Heroic, But They're Telling the Truth
Loose Canon commends the Boston Phoenix, an alternative weekly, for being just about the only media outlet in these United States with a shred of decency. Here is part of what the paper wrote in defending its decision not to run the notorious Danish cartoons:
“There are three reasons not to publish the Danish cartoons depicting Mohammed with his turban styled as a bomb (to view the cartoons, click here) and the other images that have sparked violent protests and deaths throughout Europe, the Middle East, West Asia, and Indonesia:
“One: Out of fear of retaliation from the international brotherhood of radical and bloodthirsty Islamists who seek to impose their will on those who do not believe as they do. This is, frankly, our primary reason for not publishing any of the images in question. Simply stated, we are being terrorized, and as deeply as we believe in the principles of free speech and a free press, we could not in good conscience place the men and women who work at the Phoenix and its related companies in physical jeopardy. As we feel forced, literally, to bend to maniacal pressure, this may be the darkest moment in our 40-year publishing history.”
I wish my local daily had been as honest. Not only did the paper's ombudsman try to explain away the failure to carry the cartoons with some craven blather about editorial decisions, but today the paper's "Style" section had a piece trying to explain why art and stories blaspheming Christianity are routinely published, while these cartoons can't be. I was eager to see how the article would swing the justification. But disappointed in the utterly unoriginal, politically correct rationale for what is really cowardice:
" 'Of the 57 nations that belong to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, 54 have been colonized by Europe,' [Yvonne Haddad, professor of the history of Islam and of Christian-Muslim relations at Georgetown University] says. 'That history is well known in Islamic countries, you've got the current war in Iraq....Those things form the context of this sort of response [riots]. Devout Muslims are offended by the cartoons, but this is not just a religious affront.'"
Let us hope that if we end up living under Islamic rule, which is not beyond the realm of the possible, they will be so solicitous of our feelings.
“There are three reasons not to publish the Danish cartoons depicting Mohammed with his turban styled as a bomb (to view the cartoons, click here) and the other images that have sparked violent protests and deaths throughout Europe, the Middle East, West Asia, and Indonesia:
“One: Out of fear of retaliation from the international brotherhood of radical and bloodthirsty Islamists who seek to impose their will on those who do not believe as they do. This is, frankly, our primary reason for not publishing any of the images in question. Simply stated, we are being terrorized, and as deeply as we believe in the principles of free speech and a free press, we could not in good conscience place the men and women who work at the Phoenix and its related companies in physical jeopardy. As we feel forced, literally, to bend to maniacal pressure, this may be the darkest moment in our 40-year publishing history.”
I wish my local daily had been as honest. Not only did the paper's ombudsman try to explain away the failure to carry the cartoons with some craven blather about editorial decisions, but today the paper's "Style" section had a piece trying to explain why art and stories blaspheming Christianity are routinely published, while these cartoons can't be. I was eager to see how the article would swing the justification. But disappointed in the utterly unoriginal, politically correct rationale for what is really cowardice:
" 'Of the 57 nations that belong to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, 54 have been colonized by Europe,' [Yvonne Haddad, professor of the history of Islam and of Christian-Muslim relations at Georgetown University] says. 'That history is well known in Islamic countries, you've got the current war in Iraq....Those things form the context of this sort of response [riots]. Devout Muslims are offended by the cartoons, but this is not just a religious affront.'"
Let us hope that if we end up living under Islamic rule, which is not beyond the realm of the possible, they will be so solicitous of our feelings.
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