CNN has a story this morning on Swedish artist and rondellhund provocateur Lars Vilks, in which reporter Paula Newton opines that “... one could argue Vilks should have known better because of what happened in Denmark in 2005, when a cartoonist's depictions of the prophet sparked violent protests in the Muslim world and prompted death threats against that cartoonist's life” (Hat tip: LGF.
CNN, of course, did “know better” during the Motoon furor. As I wrote in the Feb. 12, 2006 East Valley Tribune, “The response by the American news media to this fundamental challenge has been anything but encouraging. CNN, in every story covering it, has included the line, ‘CNN has chosen not to show the cartoons out of respect for Islam.’ The network showed no such respect for Christianity on March 27, 2000, however, when it showed British artist Chris Ofili’s painting “The Holy Virgin Mary,” which incorporated elephant dung and images of female genitalia, in a story about a Brooklyn museum’s dispute with new York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Giuliani had complained that the artwork desecrated a figure sacred to millions of Catholics.”
Yes, Vilks should have been intimidated into self-censorship, just as the oh-so-principled CNN was. It was just this kind of thing that prompted my resignation from my MSM job during the Motoon affair. I’ve often wondered if I was right to do so. Incidents such as this indicate that I was.
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