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2010-10-13 Home Front: WoT

Just Admit it, Newspapers: You're Scared of Muslims

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Posted by tipper 2010-10-13 17:21|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1
(T)he Washington Post and other newspapers pulled Wiley Miller's syndicated "Non Sequitur" cartoon from their comics pages two Sundays back, because Miller pulled a familiar-to-Reason-readers "where's Waldo?" gag with the Prophet Muhammad, satirizing the new 21st century taboo on the depiction of even jokes about the fear of depicting a historical figure who really existed.

As is typical of the genre, Washington Post editors tried to play their own "where's Waldo" with the censorship process:

Style editor Ned Martel said he decided to yank it, after conferring with others, including Executive Editor Marcus W. Brauchli, because "it seemed a deliberate provocation without a clear message." He added that "the point of the joke was not immediately clear" and that readers might think that Muhammad was somewhere in the drawing.

If the Post's new standard for comics is to make jokes "immediately clear," then it might be time to kill the comics page altogether. No, Martel/Brauchli, you pulled the cartoon because your fear of Muslims outweighs your commitment to free expression, period.

Islamophobia (ie. Islam+phobia, "fear") is an irrational fear of Islam or Muslims.

Posted by Parabellum 2010-10-13 17:41|| http://sidemeat.wordpress.com/ 2010-10-13 17:41|| Front Page Top

#2 The problem, of course, PB is that this fear is entirely rational. You print something that the beardies don't like and they'll be sending their nutters for your head. What this is is not Islamophobia, but, plain old cowardice.

Posted by Alan Cramer 2010-10-13 18:07|| 2010-10-13 18:07|| Front Page Top

#3 Playing the Devil's Advocate by defending the MSM:

Protecting American's constitutional rights and freedoms from interference by foreign powers is the duty of the federal government. Individuals or even big corporations can not and are not supposed to raise and maintain paramilitary forces strong enough to take on foreign governments.

The political classes of the US and other western nations have made it clear that they are consciously neglecting this duty. They're willing to sell out our freedom to appease our ~~enemies~~ allies, the Afghan people. That was the explicit message of the Terry Jones/Koran burning kerfuffle.

The MSM are just acting rationally here.

Posted by Hupiper Smith9107 2010-10-13 18:23|| 2010-10-13 18:23|| Front Page Top

#4 I like the "fear" angle, here. That is, rub the MSMs nose in it, that they are "afraid of Muslims". This is important, because fear is not the same as respect, or equality, or objectivity.

And the MSM will hate that idea. That they are so afraid of Muslims that they have lost the pretense, the excuse, of blaming others for "Islamophobia".

Others are not "Islamophobic". They are "Islamosceptic".

It is the MSM that is "Islamophobic", because they are, justifiably, afraid of Muslims.

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-10-13 18:56|| 2010-10-13 18:56|| Front Page Top

#5 Parabellum:
who owns the washington post? Newsltd's biggest share not owned by Murdoch is owned by a Saudi sheikh... don't know who owns the Post though

That oil money has been recycled into media assets... look at al Jazeera. You should fear it. It now shapes opinions from remote Africa across Europe through the ME and on to Asia.

it's not the BBC. It doesn't portray Sudanese war criminal Bashir as a war criminal but as a muslim victim of western imperialists....

Posted by anon1 2010-10-13 22:41|| 2010-10-13 22:41|| Front Page Top

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