I shook my head when I saw the lede in a USA Today article in this morning’s local daily: “The Western world stood up against Islamic terrorism Wednesday after 12 people, including four cartoonists, were assassinated in the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo outside Paris.” Fact is, akin to Sony and the movie The Interview, a variety of media outlets are bowing to the terrorists.
Organizations such as the Associated Press, the New York Daily News, the New York Times and CNN censored cartoons from the French magazine. To justify this on grounds of respecting religion ignores the facts. Nothing in the Qur’an prohibits images of Muhammad. Any such prohibitions came from the hadith, a record compiled by followeres of what Mohammad said and did. But those statetments aren’t about Muhammad in particular. Rather, they prohibit all pictures of people or animals. Moreover, Muhammad has been depicted in Islamic art throughout the centuries.
As for people who would commit such barbarous acts because of a satirical cartoon, another cartoon sums it up well:
It is a media outlet’s decision to censor images that Charlie Hebdo fought so valiantly for that sends the message that satire, art, and freedom of speech are only so free.
April Siese, Bustle.com, Jan. 8, 2015
