By now, news of the anti-Islam political cartoons from Denmark has probably reached every corner of this little globe of ours, so I will refrain from rehashing what has already been said from many different sources, and from many different angles. Suffice it to say that I find nothing wrong with the cartoons – they are political cartoons, for heaven’s sake. They are meant to be offensive. However, the Muslim world’s response to them… That I find distasteful, despicable, and generally disastrous. What they are doing basically amounts to demonstrating (and rioting, and burning, and assaulting, and…) against the right to free speech, and the right to free press, both of which are concepts my nation, and I, hold dear.
What is more is that they are succeeding.
“What?!” you are asking, I am certain. “Where are the radical Muslims knocking down the doors to our publishing houses and homes and the like squelching our rights?”
Well, I hate to break it to you, but they did not have to. We are doing it to ourselves. Take a look at this CNN article. From an offhand glance, it simply seems like yet another news article about a situation that has been blown horribly out of control. But look a little closer… read past the idiotic morons using violence to “demand” an apology… past “Le Mond” being completely retarded… down to the last section. Read it carefully. Did you notice anything?
Here, I will give you a hint:
CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of respect for Islam.
*blinks* Excuse me? So CNN is basically sacrificing themselves on the altar of appeasement, and withholding vital information from their viewers. Just by reading those articles, people could easily garner the impression these cartoons are completely off the wall, ragingly racist, and absolutely denegrating… Or they could garner the opposite impression. But the fact of the matter is that the cartoons are part of the story… hell, they are the story.
Of course, the truly disappointing/amusing thing is that, apparently CNN only has such respect for Muslims… When it comes to political cartoons concerning the President, they not only put the images on their actual webpage, but they also link to the page containing even more…
So the President is fair game, but the Islamic faith is not? What about Christianity – something tells me to doubt it? What about an Islamic president (or “theocratic dictator”, I suppose would be the more appropriate phrase)?
Do I really need to explain how inherently disturbing it is that one of the largest news sources in America is voluntarily censoring itself, suppressing its own God- and America-given right to freedom of the press, in order to appease a bunch of megalomaniacal, violent, disrespectful, oppressive, narrow-minded, generally-offensive morons? Those people demonstrating have absolutely no respect for our laws, our traditions, and our very rights, and would gladly take them all away from us, and enforce their own upon us, if they had even the slightest of chances. And here CNN is, already helping them along the way.
Do not misunderstand – I know full well that there are moderate Muslims, just as there are radicals, like the ones demonstrating. I went to highschool with a surprising number of those moderates (surprising because my highschool was run by the Roman Catholic Church, though I was not). However, the radicals more than make up for their more rational brethren, both in noise and problems.
There is no worse form of censor than a self-inflicted variety, beacuse then the only person responsible for your downfall is yourself. But doing so at the price of journalistic integrity, and for the purpose of appeasing violent, destructive radicals? Even for CNN that seems pathetic. May we all hope that no other news source follows their atrocious lead.
At this point, who would worry about taking our rights away from us when we give them up so freely?
recent comments