It's OK to be Scared. Just Tell Us.
I agree with Eugene Volokh when he observes that the Opus comic rejected by the Washington Post is pretty dang tame. I found the cartoon to be poking fun more at men and male attitudes than at Islam. I don't think there is any way the Post can argue now that their editorial policy is symmetric across all religions. They are tiptoeing around Islam in a way they never would with Judaism or Christianity. If they are scared of violent reprisals, they should just say so.
TCO:
Maybe they should have said after 9-11, that they had been pussified.
August 27, 2007, 5:10 pmWalter E. Wallis, P.E.:
The week prior, the jab at fundamentlists is rather direct, and Southern Baptists didn't burn Opus in effigy. Why ia that?
August 27, 2007, 5:13 pmCraig:
It's amazing how journalists, who claim to be so passionate about the first amendment, so readily renounce it when the subject is radical Islam. How much of this is a fear of being beheaded, and how much is political correctness?
August 27, 2007, 6:27 pmTCO:
They're pussies. They got scared after 9-11. So now they want to smoke some Muslim pole. I hope they do get beheaded.
August 27, 2007, 6:37 pmmarkm:
But admitting that you're scared of insanely murderous radical Islamics is in itself offensive to them.
August 28, 2007, 6:16 amBobH:
It's also offensive to give their kids soccer balls:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6964564.stm
The US Army gave away soccer balls decorated with various national flags. One of the flags was Saudi Arabia. The Saudi flag includes a verse of the Koran, containing the word "Allah".
They are offended.
I agree that decent people should make reasonable efforts not to offend others. But a point is reached with people who choose to be offended by everything, that the only reasonable thing to do is to say, "Screw 'em" and make no further efforts. The screw-em point has long been passed, in my opinion.
August 28, 2007, 9:17 am