For all the self-congratulatory pats on the back the media gives itself for “standing up to President Bush” or “speaking truth to power,” a lot of them, esp. in Europe but more and more here at home, sure do seem to be cowards when it comes to printing something negative about Islam. They can rant about “Bushitler” all they like and no one’s gonna shoot them and pin a note to their chest with a freakin’ dagger. The same cannot be said about criticizing Islam.

Posted by Judge Smails on 27 August 2007 @ 1pm

Eh, they’ll be just fine if they criticize Islam, too. Nobody’s going to be stabbed in the chest for running this “Opus” cartoon. Not that it criticizes Islam, anyhow — it’s a parody of Lauren Winner.

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 27 August 2007 @ 1pm

Show me one instance of the media “rant[ing] about “Bushitler.”", Smails. Go on, we’ll be waiting.

Posted by MB on 27 August 2007 @ 5pm

It’s unfortunate. Of course usually when comic strips are canceled it’s because of fear of complaints from Christians and/or Republicans.

Posted by KCinDC on 27 August 2007 @ 7pm

It’s so good to see the defenders of Islamofacism haven’t gone underground. It’s nice you still can put up at least a generic moral equivalency argument when called upon.

You may have missed a pretty good cartoon the other day. The first scene had a Bible in a toilet with the caption “Art.” The following one featured a Koran in a toilet captioned with “Hate Crime.” That about sums it it up.

Of course you two bleeding hearts are so anxious to take someone else’s side against your own country you can’t be bothered to stop and think about who you’re siding with. Plus ca change.

Posted by Judge Smails on 27 August 2007 @ 7pm

And thus concludes another demonstration of Smails’ ridiculousness.

Posted by MB on 27 August 2007 @ 8pm

Newspapers refuse to run strips all the time. It’s usually, as in this case, for ridiculous reasons, most often something related to sex, drugs, religion, or politics. Why are we supposed to be excited about this one? Because it clearly demonstrates that we’re one step away from living under sharia law in the new caliphate?

I’m disappointed in you, Judge. You’re usually fairly rational and don’t go in for smearing other commenters as traitors. I don’t see any defenders of Islamofascism here.

Posted by KCinDC on 27 August 2007 @ 10pm

“They can rant about “Bushitler” all they like and no one’s gonna shoot them and pin a note to their chest with a freakin’ dagger. The same cannot be said about criticizing Islam.”

Er…Islam has been criticized on television and in print pretty thoroughly in the US for the past 6 years. I don’t know of any incidents violent retribution being taken against the various critics.

And frankly, J.S. you undermine your own point with this passage:

“You may have missed a pretty good cartoon the other day. The first scene had a Bible in a toilet with the caption “Art.” The following one featured a Koran in a toilet captioned with “Hate Crime.” That about sums it it up.”

Now, assuming this is a cartoon you actually saw published somewhere and not something you pulled out of thin air for the purpose of making a point, what sort of dastardly revenge was visited upon the cartoonist responsible for depicting a Quran sitting in a toilet? I’m going to take a wild guess here and say “none”.

I do agree that it stinks when fear of religious nuts prevents publications from running cartoons and articles that are simply playful or offer serious and thoughtful commentary or analysis. It’s a sort of soft censorship that only encourages the loonies and cheats the marketplace of ideas. I don’t cut any slack for the Christian nuts either. It’s all the same sort of thing, in my opinion.

Posted by Triscula on 27 August 2007 @ 11pm

Triscula, the reports of the gruesome murders of Ann Coulter, Tom Tancredo, Glenn Beck, Michael Graham, and Virgil Goode in retribution for their anti-Muslim statements were suppressed by the liberal media in order not to offend our CAIR overlords.

Posted by KCinDC on 28 August 2007 @ 1pm

“usually when comic strips are canceled it’s because of fear of complaints from Christians and/or Republicans.”

When did that happen? The last time I recall a public outrage about a comic, it was against a Christian who wrote a comic. Johnny Hart, writer of B.C., was run through the ringer for a strip that people thought attacked Islam, even though it took a very tortured interpretation to come to such a conclusion.

I don’t remember any strips getting cancelled due to complaints from Christians and/or Republicans. But I certainly could have missed it — can you tell me what those were?

Posted by I.Publius on 2 September 2007 @ 2pm