"...except we won't show you the cartoons!""Freedom of speech is at stake here, don't you all see?
If anything, we should ALL make cartoons of Muhammad, and show the terrorists and the extremists that we are all united in the belief that every person has a right to say what they want!
Look, people, it's... been real easy for us to stand up for free speech lately!
For the past few decades we haven't had to risk anything to defend it.
But those times are going to come!
And one of those times is right now!
And if WE... aren't willing to RISK... what we have, then we just believe in free speech, but we don't defend it."
Chris in South Park "Cartoon Wars"
It's a sad world where a cartoon character has more sense and courage than John Donatich, the director of Yale University Press, publishers of an upcoming book by a noted authority on Islam about the Muhammad editorial cartoons published in a Danish newspaper in 2005, and the ensuing controversy (to put it mildly)!
The book, The Cartoons that Shook the World!, will NOT contain the cartoons themselves!
It's like doing a book analyzing the classic comic strip Peanuts, but not using a single illustration of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, or any of the characters, or reprinting any of the strips!
Instead the author would just describe them in the text!
In addition, Yale removed all the other Muhammad images included in the book as comparisons, including centuries-old fine art published in encyclopedias and currently on exhibit in noted museums!
Needless to say, author Jytte Klausen is pissed!
She said “Muslim friends, leaders and activists thought that the incident was misunderstood, so the cartoons needed to be reprinted so we could have a discussion about it.”
Makes sense, right?
Donatich is quoted as saying the reason NOT to print the cartoons in the reference book was “when it came between that and blood on my hands, there was no question.”
What the hell is he talking about?
There has been no outcry about the book's impending publication, despite the fact that it was originally announced last year!
No death threats!
No fatwahs!
So, what is Donatich afraid of?
Is he buying into the stereotype of Muslims being fanatics who would kill him for publishing this book?
An academic who believes in ethnic stereotypes?
Now THAT'S scary!
