Sunday, February 17, 2008

The Danish Cartoons: In Solidarity

Today the Washington Post buried on pg. A23 beneath the small headline:

Sixth Night of Youth Violence
the following story:
Groups of youths torched schools and cars in a sixth consecutive night of violence across Denmark, mostly in immigrant neighborhoods, police said Saturday. Forty-three people were arrested.

Police said they weren't sure what triggered the spate of vandalism in cities including Copenhagen, Aarhus, Ringsted and Slagelse.

Some observers said immigrant youths were protesting perceived police harassment but suggested that reproduction of a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers Wednesday may have intensified the unrest.

More than a dozen newspapers reprinted a cartoon that sparked massive protests in Muslim countries two years ago -- a gesture of solidarity after police revealed an alleged plot to kill the cartoonist.

On Saturday, 10 Danish lawmakers canceled a trip to Iran after its parliament demanded an apology for the reprinting.
I posted Plot to Kill Danish Cartoonist: AP Spins Readers which concerned: 1) what Danish police say was a well-organized plot by Muslim extremists to kill the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard; and 2) the AP's attempt to mask the fact that most news organizations in the West reacted to the extremists threats by promptly and loudly promising they wouldn't publish even one Danish cartoon image of Muhammad.

I also published a follow-up post: Danish paper reprints Muhammad cartoons following death plot.

The Washington Post was among the first of America's large MSM news organizations to assure Muslims and its own journalists it wouldn't publish any image of the Danish cartoons.

At the same time, WaPo let readers understand it would continue to fearlessly exercise its right to publish Abu Ghraib photos and anything else, however badly it might reflect on America, and however much it might upset our government.

If you're an informed citizen, you expect almost all major MSM news organizations to act as WaPo has.

What about JinC?

Well, I want to make a gesture of solidarity with Kurt Westergaard (now in hiding), the other Danish cartoonists, the Danish newspapers which published and republished the cartoons, and those few other MSM news organizations which have had enough courage and care for press freedom to publish one or more of the cartoons.

So here below you see Westergaard's cartoon, which I was able to access thanks to a link provided at Michelle Malkin's blog:



































4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmm!

Try that link!

Anonymous said...

Glad to see the Danish press at least is showing some measure of integrity. Too bad the US press is so cowardly they only attack those they know won't come after them.

Anonymous said...

all for freedom of speech,it is not smart or elegant to insult poeple even our enemies specially our enemies.shouldnt the rules apply equally to all. should we support apologies in case of "pimping Chelsea",apologies to "insulted black women players".etc etc and then have a double standard.until now i have been with you for all you have done,but this makes me sad

Anonymous said...

One of the most important freedoms we Americans have is freedom of speech. When we start making excuses for abridging freedom of speech (as in hate crime laws that discomfort this or that group but do not incite, or as in so-called campaign-finance laws that abridge free speech just when we need it, around election time) we go down a slippery slope that will ultimately get us to a situation of no freedom.
When others threaten us, and we hold back so as not to "offend"(as have the Washington Post and Washington Times) we lose some part of our freedom. Soon, so as not to offend, we might even stop permitting piggy-banks as the Brits have.
Remember, freedom is not free. We have to defend our freedom even when we are faced with threats of violence.

Jack in Silver Spring