NY Press Kills Cartoons; Staff Walks Out

Finally, some testicular fortitude.

Kudos to these rare principled journalists.

Blowing their noses on the proffered white flag.

No freedom, no peace.

(Or anything else.)

"If not me, who? If not now, when?"

The New Duranty Times should hire all of them, and start on that Instant Makeover even its best friends have suggested it needs, and has needed, for a long time.

These peoples have had the courage to stand up for they believe is right.

I am a muslim ...and on the side with a hiding to nothing...but I have always respected peoples with spirit.

I have great respect for the position these individuals have taken. Unfortunately, I doubt the message they sought to convey will ever reach the eyes and ears of the people to whom it matters --->The people on the street! It is they who must hear about what's going on, and why muslims are rampaging around the world killing and destroying property over a couple of inocuous cartoons:-

You may refer them to me...I will tell them the truth.

Shunkleash(PBUH)

Naseem,

I have always respected peoples with spirit.

/Rodney King

"NO!"

/LA rioters

What have we come to when newspaper editors are forced to choose between hiding the full truth about a story that is causing death and destruction, or becoming unemployed? In another recent case, the riots in France went on for several days before the MSM even mentioned them.

A free and independent media is one of the foundations of our society; that is not an exaggeration or just flowery prose. If we lose the ability to accurately know what is going on in our country or in the world, we are in a very serious situation.

The story says that "the paper's publishers" refused to run the story. I checked on their website and they don't mention who the publisher is. Why are they open to having several "adult pleasure" ads displayed on their website (which I see nothing wrong with), but find drawings of Muhammad so distasteful that they cannot possibly display them?

Everybody talks about the bomb-shaped turban. How about just displaying the one of Muhammad standing next to a burro, or some of the other completely non-inflammatory drawings? The point is to let readers decide if these drawings are worthy of murder, or if the reaction to them is totally incomprehensible. That is the role of the media, to give information to the people.

On one hand it's very sad that the editorial staff had to walk out because of this, but on the other hand it's very good news that they did walk out instead of accepting it.

an "alternative" weekly refused to publish the drawings?? - thank God for "good ol' charlie hebdo", who did

Dear Donald Trump:

I have just discovered your next three Apprentices. Listed below are their names....please consider their previous talents and what they could do for your expanding Trump dynasty.

Former New York Press Managing Editor, Tim Marchman.
Arts Editor, Jonathan Leaf.
One-man City Hall Bureau, Azi Paybarah.

I must admit to being somewhat surprised by this - but a student newspaper at the University of Prince Edward Island (in Canada) has published the cartoons.

"The University of Prince Edward Island's student newspaper has published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that have sparked violent protests in other parts of the world."

"Two thousand copies of The Cadre were distributed on campus Wednesday, but university administration ordered them removed. Officials said the cartoons have already caused enough violence around the world."

"They were first published in a Danish newspaper in September, and then reprinted in several European newspapers"

"Ray Keating, editor of The Cadre, says the student newspaper didn't print the cartoons to cause an uproar or get publicity."

"Keating says he sympathizes with how offensive the images are to Muslims. However, he adds, the newspaper's staff felt they had to take a stand in favour of freedom of speech."

The students get it, too bad the administration doesn't - or is too spineless.

In the same article:

Halifax prof continues to display drawings

"Meanwhile, a professor at St. Mary's University in Halifax vows to continue his case for freedom of expression after being told to take copies of the caricatures down from his office door. He'll put them up in his classroom instead."

"Peter March, a logic professor with a penchant for debate on religion, said he put the cartoons on his door to make a statement about academic freedom and promote debate on campus.

"I feel threatened, I feel threatened by the crowds around the world shaking fists, shaking sticks, burning things down," he said. "I wish to make my stand, that here in Canada that won't wash."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/02/08/cartoons-smu-prof.html

we need more cartoons printed in all countries..will the muslim world then not trade with all of us? we have already been threatened.. so what the heck print more.. !!!

Sandmonkey has something to say about the pictures being printed in an Egyptian News paper 5 months ago. Did that take guts or what??

Papa Ray

The cartoon caption above, lampooning the oft-repeated claim that the cartoons are "bigoted Western provocation" of Muslim sensitivities, is most welcome. We need much more lampooning of the predominantly dhimmi media which is making all sorts of excuses and absurd claims in defence of those "sensitive" Islamists.

We have heard ridiculous arguments from apologists for Islam (and their non-Muslim useful idiots) that we need to condemn the "extremists on both sides." In this prime example of moral relativism, those "extremist" Danish cartoonists are equally worthy of condemnation as those zealous Muslims who make death threats, make genocidal calls for the extermination of Europeans, destroy property, kill each other, lie to our journalists about Islam, and terrorize the entire non-Muslim world.

We have also heard claims from the dhimmi media that it's okay to satirize political figures but not religious ones. First of all, Islam began as a militant political movement and, at its core, has not changed significantly since the seventh century. Obligatory imperialistic jihad to spread Islam is still on. Killing "blasphemers" to defend Islam is still on. Subjugating women to maintain male supremacy is still on. "Muslim" is first and foremost a nationality, and its status as a religion is secondary to the imperialistic totalitarian goals. Second, the other problem with this "don't touch religion" argument is that mainstream Islam does not recognize any separation of mosque and state. While the western countries for the most part make such a distinction, Islam does not, and most of its clerics and scholars do not. If we observed this policy whereby it is okay to satirize anyone in any context except religion, we will effectively remove our ability to criticize political and militant Islam. If you criticize suicide bombing, like the Danish cartoonist who depicted the Islamic association between Mohammad and bombs, you are "attacking the religion." A common tactic of political parties throughout history is to try and portray themselves as favouring the religious beliefs of the majority. As long a religion and politics are mixed--and no one mixed religion with politics more than Mohammad--those who mix them should be prepared for critcism of their religious and non-religious beliefs. Third, members of all religions can take insult against their chosen religious figures without resorting to violence and protests, but the dramatic exception is Islam. Islam lags due to the combination of anti-"infidel" brainwashing from early childhood plus the lack of the application of objective systematic methods of critical thinking as used in science and philosophy. Thus, Muslims in Muslim countries generally lack the ability to form a rational response to the cartoons, in addition to being unable to examine their own religious beliefs with a critical perspective.

Clearly, we need to not only criticize religion just as easily as we criticize politics, but we must increase our criticism of religion in direct proportion to the degree to which that religion is objectionable (morally or otherwise) and threatens what we value in western society. Most religions have survived this glare of scrutiny. Christians nowadays can shrug off attacks against Jesus, even though these attacks are upsetting to them. But we cannot allow religion to have a special status simply because it insists on having a special status. Indeed, any religion which attempts to block or suppress criticism must be seen for what it is: A totalitarian supremacist system masquerading as a religion.

Ideas, religious or otherwise, should not be respected blindly. Blind respect would be irresponsible. It would be prejudiced, bigoted, foolish, ignorant. Rather, ideas must be put to the test in order to find out whether they are defensible and have merit. Proponents of a religion-nationality such as Islam bear the responsibility of having to defend their beliefs. If they cannot do so through means other than threats, appeals to sympathy, appeals to authority, vicious counterattacks and distraction techniques, then they will simply continue to provide evidence to the general public that their beliefs are not worthy of being defended and Muslims are morally irresponsible for trying to defend Islam. Make no mistake about it: Koran-based Islam is predominantly a doctrine of hate and demonization of the non-Muslim "beasts". Until Muslims can exorcise the numerous and significant evils from their religion, they will never gain the true respect of westerners, no matter how many fake and coerced apologies they try to extract from us.

Finally, as an atheist, I have little fear of Christians. If I wanted to lampoon Jesus and publish my work, I could do so without worrying about being murdered and without worrying about the safety of my family members, the publisher of my work, etc. (In fact, I have no interest in doing so, because other people’s belief in Jesus has little negative impact on my life and, indeed, encourages forgiveness and compassion in its followers who, unlike Mohammadans, have no mandate in their scripture (New Testament, specifically the Gospels) to use force against non-Christians in the name of religion). Many Christians may dislike me because I am an atheist, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they hate me for it, and I certainly wouldn't equate dislike/disapproval/disagreement with the ferocious hatred so evident from Muslims who make death threats and try to intimidate me and my family and the entire non-Muslim world. Anyone who cannot distinguish morally between moderate dislike and murderous genocidal hate has no business pretending to be making moral judgements.

For too long we have allowed the moral relativists and anti-western bigots to control our media. While they are hiding under their desks thinking they can escape the Islamists, let’s tap them on the shoulder and say, “By the way, I’d like to discuss something with you…” Its time to start taking these unwitting, ignorant individuals to task publicly, en masse, demolishing their cowardly articles with carefully-honed moral reasoning and utterly shaming them for their immoral and irresponsible actions in attempting to help the political and militant Islamists. My sense is that people in my own country, Canada, are morally outraged by the terrorism of the Islamists over these cartoons and the active cooperation of the state-funded CBC and other media organizations in taking it upon themselves to submit our citizenry to sharia Law. This is an outrage, and we can win the debate if we get organized and make the attempt.

Yeah yeah it's all real easy to sit on our fat arses and type furious letters on the net. i totally applaud these people who decided NOT to publish these cartoons. they are the ones who are going to be beheaded not US! After all, Living as a protected person aint so bad. You still get to worship freely and for a small fee you get to live.
So hurry while supplies last, limited time offer only. send $1000 to the Saudi embassy C\O Dhimmi bliss PO box 4567 Washington DC.* Fun for the whole family! tell your friends!

*offer void in Dar-al-harb© and Jewlandia.