I believe I've actually run the above cartoon twice before. But Captain Ed is asking blogs to post it in a gesture of solidarity with the Danes who first ran it.

Danish newspapers have demonstrated solidarity with Kurt Westergaard and Jyllands-Posten today. After the arrests of conspirators determined to assassinate the editorial cartoonist, the other newspapers in Denmark today have reprinted the cartoon that aroused the ire of Muslims in the first place. They want to make the point that no one can intimidate them into silence:

Newspapers in Denmark Wednesday reprinted the controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed that sparked worldwide protests two years ago.
The move came one day after Danish authorities arrested three people who allegedly were plotting a "terror-related assassination" of Kurt Westergaard, one of the cartoonist behind the drawings.

Berlingske Tidende, one of the newspapers involved in the republication, said: "We are doing this to document what is at stake in this case, and to unambiguously back and support the freedom of speech that we as a newspaper always will defend," in comments reported by The Associated Press.

Happy to comply.

Freedom of religion does not mean that religion has the right to be free of criticism. If a religion's faith in an almighty God is well-founded, then they need not fear skeptics, satirists or critics. Only the most insecure faith would threaten violence against those who peacefully disapprove. But their insecurity is not an excuse for us to behave cravenly.

The best defense against attempts to curtail free speech, is for people to simply refuse to be intimidated. Make it clear that each time extremists threaten a person or media outlet simply for expressing an opinion, the result will be the widespread propogation of the offending statement, article or in this case, cartoon.

Want to increase the audience for an "offensive" cartoon by ten-fold? A hundred-fold? A thousand-fold? Then threaten the cartoonist.

This entry was posted by Michael Reynolds, on Wednesday, February 13, 2008. You can leave your response.