*****ORIGINAL POST 1/8/2015: On 1/7/2015, Islamic killers executed 12 and injured 11 in a horrifying terrorist attach against satirical cartoonists at the office of the French magazine "Charlie Hebdo" in Paris. Despite having 1st amendment rights, not a single TV, cable show, or newspaper (that I am aware of) in our own United States is willing to show the offensive cartoons - not for 1 second. I still have not seen them. Not in the Wall Street Journal - not CNN - not on the Fox News web site - not anywhere. If the Islamic terrorists have not flat out won on this front, they are certainly winning.
Looking Back to the Danes: A similar scenario occurred with Danish satirists in 2005 - 2006. I have still never seen one of the 12 published cartoon from that incident either. In fact, just now, I looked up the Wikipedia page on the 12 Danish cartoons in question - surely I will find the cartoons there? Nope - wiki will not show them either! Don't believe me? See the wiki page on this event by clicking here. I still have never seen the Danish cartoons!
In any case, the publishing of the Danish cartoons lead to protests across the world in early 2006. The protests escalated into violence resulting in more than 200 reported deaths, attacks on Danish and other European diplomatic missions, attacks on churches and Christians, and a major international boycott of Danish products.
Below: I found all 12 of the Danish cartoons in 1 image file. Unfortunately, they are quite tiny. However, you get the idea. Actually, I just glanced at them, because their exact content is immaterial to me, and I do not have an interest in defaming ANY religion (there are good and bad folks in all of them). Is there text associated with the Danish cartoons? I don't know, and it would be in Danish so it wouldn't help. I have seen far worse cartoons aimed at Christians. In any case, this is the first time EVER that I have seen the Danish cartoons, largely because the media continues to be afraid to show them. Remember that these cartoons alone sparked rioting and death throughout the planet.
Don't Make Them Mad: In 2012, the Obama Administration specifically criticized "Charlie Hebdo" for running cartoons making fun of Islam (the religion of peace) and Mohammed. Here's the exact quote from Obama spokesperson (at the time) Jay Carney:
“We have questions about the judgment of publishing something like this,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said, while adding “it is not in any way justification for violence.” “We don’t question the right of something like this to be published, we just question the judgment behind the decision to publish it,” Carney said.
First off, it's not our governments role to question legally published material in another country (as long as it does not threaten US security). Conversely, the White House does not specifically criticized media organizations who humiliate the Christian religion (nor any other religion except Islam, the religion of peace), probably because thousands of media outlets already do it ever day. Yet, Obama found the need to criticize the magazine "Charlie Hebdo", thus appearing to sympathize with those who executed 12 in Paris yesterday.
Similarly, the French government had criticized Charlie Hebdo, indicating that they should tone it down a bit. Hence, the saying that is going around in France after this slaughter, "Je Suis Charlie", meaning "I am Charlie" in French, is just not true. Hebdo dared to publish images offensive to Islam, whereas the French government, a reflection of the people of France, have run the other way - very unlike "Charlie".
Who Will Show Us the "Charlie" Cartoons? Specifically, CNN is quoted in this article as indicating that although it should show the cartoons, it will NOT because the need to protect its employees and managers is more important. "Charlie Hebdo" showed great courage in continuing to do what they do, and they received no support from our "proud, brave" media (cowards?). Perhaps our media should band together and all show them all at once, so that no single organization is the obvious target?
Time for America to Stand Together and Man Up! While the US government is not afraid to drone Islamic militants to death, the US media is deathly afraid of showing a cartoon as part of the routine news cycle. How sad. It's time for our media in our brave nation of America to "man up".
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