Letters to the Editor
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Washington Post: snivelling little cowards.
I can't believe that the Post wouldn't run that Opus strip. Given their cheerleading for the Iraq War and the hoped-for Iran War (hoped for by twits and loonies, that is), you'd think that the last thing they care about is offending Muslims.
I don't get it at all.
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Does anyone still believe there is a "liberal" press anymore
The best satire is always true, that is what makes it so funny. The Post is afraid of the truth. The truth here is fundamentalist religions of all types are the fad these days, and all flavors of these treat women as subordinate to men. Interestingly, when any kind of Conservatism (Muslim or Christian) looks to the past for guidance, it always seems to bring back this choice for the social order. Some might wonder if they are overcompensating for their shortcomings.
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let's hear it for integrity!
Kudos for having journalistic integrity. Not to mention a measure of !cajones! In my opinion, Breathed has got a great sense of the ridiculous and that scares the hell out of the conservative journalistic machine.
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You're the first people defending arsonists 'protesting' the insensitive western press
for the crime of insulting Mohammed.
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nothing wrong with a little editorial decision
Okay, so maybe The Post overreacted here. But in these times it's better to err on the side of caution. It's a newspaper's job to promote rational dialogue - not to promote controversy for controversy's sake. Think of all the senseless deaths that could have been prevented had the European world not insisted upon printing comics it knew to be offensive to Muslims. We live in a democracy where anyone can say anything. But how about living in a society where we show a little respect for our friends and neighbors?
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Joan, you're own political correctness is called Broadstreet, this has been pointed out to you, and you won't do anything about it.
Joan,
Broadstreet is as bad as any group of global warming deniers or panderers to Muslims.
On a daily basis, Broadsheet basis, with no basis whatsoever, scientific articles that they have not read and science that they do not understand because it goes against the agenda they and apparently you want to spread via Broadsheet.
You have had scientists, engineers, and mathematicians pointing this out, and showing the obvious comparison to global warming and evolution deniers.
Yet, dear Ms. Walsh, you choose to do nothing, and do not even comment on it.
So clean up your own act before you get so proud over your brave stance towards running this cartoon.
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"two comic strips that could maybe, possibly, perhaps somehow offend some Muslims, somewhere, perhaps"
Coy and cute are not tones that most grownup writers aspire to.
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Hard To Figure Out
We in the West have, in recent years, seen plenty of reason to be cautious about insults, plain or obscure, to Islam. We know, beyond question, that there is a large reactionary element in the Muslim world, and that some factions of this will go to horrific extremes to make their displeasure known.
Will these Opus strips been seen by one or more of these factions as justification for an extreme reaction? Those of us in the West seem, at present, very ill-equipped to evaluate such things with any confidence. Is Breathed deliberately yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater, or making valid points that even an extremist will take for what they are?
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funny, ha ha
Maybe, and just maybe, what the Post doesn't want is a deluge from all the second generation Muslims in the United States who might feel that the cartoon is an insult to their lifestyles. Besides the staple crop of flag burners abroad (please don't burn penguins, they're somewhat cute), this little gem might crawl on the nerves of those in Muslim communities that the media feels should do more to prevent home-grown extremism. After all, if the six o'clock news tells us that, for Muslims in the US and Europe, the choice (at least the choice as seen through non-Muslim eyes) is between terrorism and non-terrorism, and that communal and social exclusionary practices are fine just as long as they don't lead to the path of radicalism, fundamentalism and, eventually, militarism, then why would you make fun of the apparently sincere elements of Islamic life.
Of course, the question of false dualities ("Islamic" terrorists versus all other Muslims) overlooks a lot of gaps (like the one they just found in the universe; also the one that hides the little links between really, really strong religious beliefs, dogmatism, fundamentalism and radicalism), but if we had the time to think and ponder, we wouldn't force poor Christiane Amanpour to fight for her spot in the media limelight with "God's Warriors."
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Look, don't go to to a piano concert expecting to see a bullfight, He who pays the piper calls the tune
I have tried to explain to Salonians, angry with me because I have criticized BB for wasting his talent on Technicolor drivel aimed at the great American Sunday comics sections, that BB has been going straight for the cash for some time now.
He could draw some really acidic stuff, as evidenced by his much older and better work from years ago, but his current work is mostly banal, unoffensive mirth aimed at the American family room on Sunday morning.
This is what "family" entertainment is all about. This is where BB makes the mortgage.
Instead of the Lola Granola/Steve Dallas strip, my local Sunday paper ran cute little Opus picking up someone's cell phone in a diner and Oh Ho HO, how hilarious it was, the ensuing misunderstanding! It was simple. It was harmless. It was useless crap for anyone with a brain larger than a walnut.
But it's what buys BB's Ferrari or whatever he's driving these days.
Now, I am very GRUNTLED to see that Steve and Lola are back and that sometimes even Bill the Cat shows up. Dare I hope that BB will pull himself away from his money-grubbing Opus strips and start producing some penetrating think piece cartoons that would make Mom and Dad and the Kiddies feel a little uncomfortable?
Oh no! That just won't do! Not in the Sunday papers!
The Sunday funnies are for settling down in the old BarcaLounger after church and before the football games get underway. Open the funnies and read them to the kids.
Mommy and Daddy don't want to have to explain to little Brittany and Jason what Muslim extremism is all about, or bra-less Lola is funny because she's a real hippy-dippy left wing slut stereotype.
Mommy and Daddy want more Opus sitting on a windy hilltop under a tree, or at his mailbox, or at his front door in a towel and shower cap, all in a tizzy about something that even a five year-old will have no trouble at all getting a laugh out of it.
Over and over again. No surprises.
But the problem comes when BB yearns to draw some of his better, more biting satire. The family papers don't want to see that stuff. It's disturbing. Somebody might get offended -- especially a whacked out crazy-ass religious fanatic of any stripe or color who might see a strip like this week's banned comic and decide it's time to go all jihad on some newspaper editor.
Berkeley, you might be forced to choose. Keep drawing the banal Opus drivel and be safe (not to mention rich as hell), or find a different venue and actually reclaim your soul drawing strips that don't compromise.