Muslims didn't even object to them. As you can see from this article, not even CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper, a man who is hair-trigger quick to take offense at the slightest provocation (whether real, imagined, or trumped-up), took offense at these cartoons. The worst thing that can be said about them is that they aren't funny, but that's beside the point. The Washington Post was playing the dhimmi in advance, censoring itself in anticipation of ruffling feathers that weren't ruffled. Such is the absurd state of the "freedom of the press" on this day, Ramadan 3, A.H. 1428.
An update on this story. "Why Were These Comics Dropped?," by Deborah Howell in the Washington Post (thanks to all who sent this in):
Readers were confused and angry that "Opus" comic strips with a Muslim theme did not appear in the Aug. 26 and Sept. 2 Sunday print editions. The strips, created by Berkeley Breathed, were distributed by the Washington Post Writers Group and published on washingtonpost.com.Most of the controversy involved the Aug. 26 strip, which showed regular character and spiritual seeker Lola Granola in her version of a burqa, declaring she has become a "radical Islamist. Hot new fad on the planet." Her boyfriend, the piggish super-patriot Steve Dallas, is horrified. She tells him he "won't be getting a girlfriend obsessed with Western crud" or one "who resists a man's rightful place." Steve, with a leer and then a concerned look, asks: "Anything else I won't be getting?" Lola answers: "God willing."
Executive Editor Len Downie decided to kill the strip because he felt the language and depiction of Muslim female dress could be offensive. He consulted with other editors, one of whom talked to a Muslim staff member, who believed the strip was problematic.
[...]
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights and advocacy group, wasn't offended. " 'Opus' poked fun at the strip's characters, not Muslims or Islam. I see hundreds worse on the Internet every day," he said.
Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic studies at American University, also wasn't offended. He said there is a strong Muslim tradition of satire and self-deprecation. "I think there is a danger of us becoming so politically correct that we end up by blunting the critics' bent and the satirists' wit. Muslims need to be sensitive to the fact that in Western culture there is a healthy tradition of not taking things too seriously."
Pretty damn sad that these so called liberals, the big defenders of free speech, are the first ones to cencor themselves.
This is another example of the defacto alliance between the left and the cult that arose from the middle east
"Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic studies at American University, also wasn't offended. He said there is a strong Muslim tradition of satire and self-deprecation."
Did we miss something? Or did the cartoon rioters and murderers miss something?
Greetings:
Many years ago, when I was studying psychology, I came across something referred to as "avoidance behavior."
The gist of the behavior is that the subject is conditioned to associate a preliminary stimulus with a subsequent noxious stimulus. The subject learns to react to the preliminary stimulus to avoid the subsequent noxious stimulus.
The classic experiment in this regard has a rat inserted into a box. The box consists of two adjoining compartments with wire grid for their floors, an opening between the compartments, and a lightbulb. The lightbulb is lit and whichever compartment the rat is in receives and electric shock to its wire grid floor. The rat learns to jump to the other compartment whenever the lightbulb comes on to avoid the electric shock.
The kicker is that this is a type of behavior that is very difficult to change or extinguish because the subject never knows if the noxious stimulus is no longer being delivered because he has already reacted to avoid.
In the classic experiment, the rat has to be physically restrained in the initial compartment while the lightbulb is lit to un-learn the behavior.
It would be most ironically fitting, Robert, if you added the Islamic [seasonally regressing, archaic lunar] calendar date right to the byline (after the conventional date) to underscore a particularly egregious example of--or ignominious event in the annals of--Dhimmitude. On the occasion of a monumentally craven act of denial or surrender, say.
Pretty damn sad that these so called liberals, the big defenders of free speech, are the first ones to cencor themselves.
Posted by: Elric66
If *only* the liberals knew WHEN to censor themselves.. LOL
Timing is everything...
Allahfanculo,
LOL. Like Rosie for example?
Morale Builder Extraordinaire!
Now here's what I'm talkin' about!! An anti-Jihad music video featuring a wild black rapper and some white-boy long-haired rockers burnin' down the house! Listen closely to the words...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymLJz3N8ayI
I just found a different version of the above music video but this time it integrates Wafa Sultan, Walid Shoebat, and others, and sends people at the end to jihadwatch.com and faithfreedom.org.
Warning: the video twice uses the mf word and at the very end uses the f word.
This music video with Walid Shoebat and Wafa Sultan is an anti-jihad masterpiece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9oX5Q2ftmA&NR=1
Hooper didn't object? He will now.
Let sleeping dogs sleep...
http://sheikyermami.com/2007/09/15/al-qaeda-in-iraq-leader-offers-bounty-for-murder-of-swedish-cartoonist/
Cowards...they are the cartoons in real life...plastic, backbone of jellyfish...and one wonders why so many are turning away from thier toilet papers?...soon they will only be writing to themselves.
"" 'Opus' poked fun at the strip's characters, not Muslims or Islam. I see hundreds worse on the Internet every day," "
Dougie Hooper sees hundreds worse on the Internet everyday.
Now we know what he does with all his time!!! :D
Halal, anyone?
Needless to say, I won't be attending this:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/331632_ramadan14.html
"He said there is a strong Muslim tradition of satire and self-deprecation."
Yeah, I understand the mountain area of South Warzistan is a veritable Catskills with all those mahometan stand-up comics.
Whoever, the cartoonist is, you can tell he/she read a lot of Doonesbury!
So let me get this right: those Opus strips were cancelled, even though there wasn't any muslim who actually found them offensive?
...then would anyone care to explain to me exactly why Spanky Ham is still around?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanky_Ham