tagged w/ Mohammed Cartoons
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Remember "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day?" A relatively unknown cartoonist, Molly Norris, declared "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" in response to the death threats (fatwa) issued against the producers of Comedy Central. Her thinking, rightly, of course, was that if everyone drew Muhammad, the jihadists couldn't kill everyone......... after the fact of the insult won’t work.
But Ms. Norris had no clue what she stepped into. After Norris's brilliant idea went viral online, she became so spooked and worried that she had offended Muslims that she apologized for it and divorced herself from the idea, refraining from participation. That didn't matter, it wasn't long before the "charismatic" imam to the devout Muslim world had placed the Seattle cartoonist on an execution hit list. The ummah reacted to the contest with the same open-mindedness, tolerance and modernity we have come to expect.
And what happened to our little Miss Norris? There is no "Molly Norris" anymore, not in Omerica.
The Washington Post, shill for jihadist and Islamic apologists nonparallel, is reporting:
Report: 'Draw Muhammad' cartoonist changes name, goes into hiding at FBI's insistence
Seattle Weekly announced today that it will no longer run Molly Norris's artwork. The newspaper is also reporting that legally, there is no more "Molly Norris."
Norris -- the Seattle-based illustrator whose cartoon sparked "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day!" earlier this year and a subsequent fatwa against her -- has gone into hiding and changed her name at the guidance of the FBI, reports the Seattle Weekly, which says:
"The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully. But on the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she is, as they put it, 'going ghost': moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity. She will no longer be publishing cartoons in our paper or in City Arts magazine, where she has been a regular contributor."
Seattle Weekly also says that the artist likens the situation to cancer -- the threat could be benign, it could be more serious and sudden.
Comic Riffs last communicated with Norris in July. Attempts to contact her Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Several months ago, FBI officials alerted Norris to what they were treating as a "very serious threat," according to a report. At that time, Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki said that Norris was a "prime target" for execution and that her "proper abode is hellfire."
Awlaki, a New Mexico-born 39-year-old, has been called arguably the highest-profile English-speaking supporter of violent jihad. He has been linked to the recent Times Square bombing attempt and reportedly inspired Texas's Fort Hood massacre.
Norris drew her "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" cartoon in April in response to Comedy Central's editing of its program "South Park" and the animated show's attempts to depict Muhammad -- and to satirize reactions to any effort to ridicule Muhammad.
On April 25, shortly after Norris created her "anti-censorship" cartoon, Comic Riffs broke the news that Norris was distancing herself from the illustration:
"I made a cartoon that went viral but [this campaign] isn't really my thing," Norris told Comic Riffs. "Other folks have taken it over."
Several months ago, Norris's April YouTube video of her explanation for the cartoon was "removed by the user." In that video, Norris apologized to "everyone of the Muslim faith who has or will be offended" by her cartoon and supported calling off "Everyone Draw Mohammed Day," which was staged May 20. She also urged America's Muslims and non-Muslims to come together -- to meet "halfway."Remember "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day?" A relatively unknown cartoonist,... more
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In a moral failure of epic proportions Yale University Press is censoring a scholarly publication dealing with the controversy over cartoons caricaturing Muslims and the Prophet Mohammed. Editors at Yale University Press have triggered a storm of controversy and outrage by deciding not to reprint the 12 sketches for fear of violence.
The Cartoons That Shook the World, due out in November by Yale University Press, examines the reaction of the Muslim world to the 2005 publication of the cartoons by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The original publication of the satirical cartoons resulted in riots, death threats, and the murder of many people.
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Should the cartoons be published with the book?In a moral failure of epic proportions Yale University Press is censoring a scholarly... more
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Prints of the Danish cartoon depicting Islam's Prophet Mohammed as a suicide bomber in 2005 -- much to the chagrin of the international Muslim community -- will now be sold by the Denmark Free Press Society for $250 each. One thousand copies are to be printed and sold, with each having a designated number and signature by the artist, Kurt Westergaard, who has been in hiding due to numerous death threats. From AFP:
Two Tunisians were arrested in Denmark last year on suspicion of planning to murder Westergaard, and later released without trial after they appealed a government order for their expulsion on national security grounds.
'The image won Kurt Westergaard international fame, but it has also forced him to live under constant police protection,' the Free Press Society said on its website.
'Despite threats and concrete murder plots planned by Islamists, he has nonetheless never expressed any regret and never apologised for being a free artist.' Calls to the organisation were not returned.
As the AFP notes here, Westergaard has never apologized or expressed regret for the drawings. And indeed, he enjoys the backing of free speech and free press advocates around the globe in this regard. A notable example of one such advocate, just this week, is NATO Secretary General and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who defended the drawings in 2006 and who forewent any diplomatic gesture or apology in Turkey this week at the Alliance of Civilizations meeting, despite earlier reports that said an apology was forthcoming. From ABC's Jake Tapper:
During a panel discussion at Çırağan Palace in Istanbul, Rasmussen said that, "I would never myself depict any religious figure, including the Prophet Mohammed, in a way that could hurt other people's feelings. I respect Islam as one of the world's major religions," Turkey's English daily newspaper, the Daily News & Economic Review, reported.
"My position is clear before, during and after the crisis. I condemn action that aims to demonize people on their religious or ethnic background," he said.
That said, Rasmussen also asserted that "all kinds of censorship are the enemy of dialogue and enhance prejudice. All kinds of prejudice have to confronted, not ignored. That is why freedom of expression is a precondition for open dialogue."
The controversial cartoons caused riots throughout the Muslim world in early 2006, resulting in a number of deaths, property damage and a general wounding of diplomatic relations between east and west that has still not fully healed.Prints of the Danish cartoon depicting Islam's Prophet Mohammed as a suicide... more
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