Cartoons

And the furor goes on. Now papers are printing one or more of the cartoons to make a point of it in the U.S. However, note that the great Washington Post / NY Times / Boston Globe group have cravenly elected not to print. Why? These are in bad taste and not useful. Hmmm. But the Washington Post did not think it in bad taste to print a cartoon where a U.S. soldier was depicted with nubs for both arms and legs with Cheney saying "now we can call him battle hardened." That was in good taste? Or did the usefulness of the political attack outweigh the reality of lampooning American soldiers returning from national duty.

As people are threatened with death, as clerics call for the execution of the cartoonists, as mob leaders call for the punishment and execution "al Zarqawi" style (that means a beheading with a knife) of Danes and Norwegians ... the Globe talks of the need for sensitivity towards Islamic interests. Can the blind hatred of Bush be so consuming that even this be relegated to the cause of PC?

Folks, as noted some days ago, this is an important distinction developing between Western countries, which are by and large secular and the Islamic world where the word of Mohammed is the word of God (and its interpretation determined by hostile clerics). Each violation of Islam is a violation of the word of God in their minds and must be punished. Our right to freedom of speech directly conflicts with Islam: our rights versus the Word Of God. We believe (most of us) deeply in our inalienable rights (thank you Mr. Jefferson) -- or we should inasmuch as our country was established to provide these rights and American have died in huge numbers in the last 225 years to protect them. And Muslims have died in huge numbers to promulgate the Word of God as told by Mohammed. This is one of those litmus tests. This is not a tolerance thing. And that makes this a flash point which can die down of its own accord or escalate to something greater.

Those who would impose their thoughts on others through means of political correctness and access to the courts (for so-called civil rights infringements -- where does free speech leave off and civil rights displace it?) probably have little problem with kow-towing to the threats made against them. Those who value their rights to self determination and expression -- and that should be you -- cannot bend like grass blown by the wind, but must stand strong.