Dennis Prager: Cartoons, Cowardice, and Dishonesty

frontpagemag.com ^ | February 14, 2006 | Dennis Prager

[Tolik]

American news media have suffered in recent years. Thanks to the Internet and talk radio, millions of Americans have ceased relying on The New York Times and CNN for their written and televised news.

But it is difficult to recall a greater blow to the credibility of American news media than their near-universal refusal to publish the Mohammed cartoons originally published in a Danish newspaper that have brought about worldwide Muslim protests.

This loss of credibility owes to two factors: dishonesty and cowardice.

Everyone and his mother knows why the networks and the print journals haven't shown the cartoons -- they fear Muslims blowing up their buildings and stabbing their editors to death. The only people who deny this are the news media. They all claim that they won't show the cartoons because of sensitivity to Muslim feelings.

Which brings us to the other reason for the latest blow to the news media's credibility: They are lying to us. If some politicians were telling lies as blatantly as the news media are now, the media would be having a field day exposing those politicians and calling for their removal from office. But, alas, what TV news station will criticize another TV news station? And what newspaper or magazine will criticize another newspaper or magazine?

So, without anyone in the media holding them accountable, the news media continue to believe they can fool nearly all the people all the time when they say they are not publishing the cartoons out of respect for Muslim sensibilities.

Why is this false?

First, major papers in virtually every European country have published the cartoons. It is inconceivable that European papers are less concerned with Muslim sensibilities than American media are. If anything, in Europe they are more pro-Muslim given their anti-Israel and anti-American views and given that they live in countries with far greater numbers of Muslims than live in America.

Second, the reason to publish the cartoons is not to offend Muslims; it is to explain the most significant current news event in the world. How can anyone understand the Islamic riots without having seen the cartoons that triggered them? If millions of Christians rioted after cartoons were published in the Muslim world, does anyone doubt that the Western press would publish them, or that it had the obligation to do so?

The argument that people can see the cartoons on the internet is specious. Anyone could see the photos of the abuse of Arab prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison on the internet, yet the news media presented these photos day after day for weeks.

Third, the American press has routinely published cartoons and pictures that insult Christians and Jews. The Los Angeles Times published a cartoon depicting the stones of the Western Wall of the Jewish Temple, the holiest site to Jews, as spelling out the word "HATE" and showing a religious Jew bowing down before it. And what newspaper did not publish a photo of "Piss Christ," the Andres Serrano work of "art" depicting a crucifix in the artist's urine?

American newspapers "insult" every group whenever they feel like it, but no one riots, burns and kills because of it.

Fourth, the ban on depicting Mohammed applies to Muslims, not to non-Muslims. It is remarkable that American newspapers, so frightened of any breakdown between church and state, are suddenly guided by Muslim religious prohibitions.

Fifth, the argument that publishing the images would inflame Muslims' passions is another coverup for cowardice. No American newspaper or TV news show exhibited the slightest concern with inflaming Muslim passions when they endlessly published and depicted Abu Ghraib abuse photos.

If the liberal news media in America -- conservative Fox News and The Weekly Standard have shown the cartoons -- admitted they feared being hurt if they showed the cartoons, one would have respect for their honesty, if not their courage. But the liberal news media's lack of courage coupled with their dishonest justifications make for a devastating commentary on American news media.

One should not be surprised. A few years ago, New York Times foreign affairs reporter John Burns reported -- to his great credit -- that some of the most prestigious American news organizations had made a deal with Saddam Hussein not to report negatively about his regime in exchange for being allowed to have a Baghdad news bureau.

When it comes to taking on conservatives, Catholics, evangelicals and the like, liberal news media are Supermen. When it comes to confronting real evil, however, the news media are Mickey Mouse.

[Tolik]

Nailed It!
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[Fenris6]

[bubman]

Here is a link to the cartoons.

BTW every story I see about these stupid cartoons, I will post a link to them so everyone can see what the fuss is about.

Care of Strategypage.com:

http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/articles/military_photos_20062716.asp

[NYer]

Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[Tolik]

exactly!

[philsfan24]

still shocked the philadelphia inquirer showed them. kudos to them for one day.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Perfect. That's exactly it.

[NRA1995]

No surprise at all. They will bash Christians till the cows come home because we won't crash hijacked airliners into their headquarters.

[G.Mason]

" ... conservative Fox News ..."

And the propaganda just keeps rolling on.

Lieberman is now a "conservative".

John F.Kennedy was a "conservative".

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a "conservative".

In a few short years Hillary Clinton will be a "conservative", BJ Clinton will be a priest, and Pee Wee Herman will be Secretary of Defense.

[Arabs only 600 years behind us]

That article is dead on, the liberal media are cowards who are only critical of those who won't harm them. I guess that is what is taught at Berkeley.

[Steely Tom]

No surprise at all. They will bash Christians till the cows come home because we won't crash hijacked airliners into their headquarters.

That's bad enough, but what really galls me is the way they strut around on stage after publishing anti-Christian material, patting themselves on the back for being so "courageous."

[joebuck]

Boy that cartoon of the media under the desk is great. I've been seeing it for about a week now and I still laugh every time I see it. In the words of Homer Simpson, "It's only funny cuz it's true."

[TChris]

Another bullseye for Prager. Nice. :-)

[Talking_Mouse]

So true.

[brownsfan]

I am a fan of Dennis Prager. I listen at lunch whenever possible.
A part of this story that he didn't emphasize is the comment about the internet. I particularly enjoy this angle. The MSM quaking in their shoes tells Americans if they want to see the cartoons go to the internet.
Ok, but if we have to go to the internet for related material, why bother with the MSM in the first place? The MSM is hastening their own demise as a consequence of their lack of courage and honesty.

Beautiful.

[mal]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1578066/posts

[kokonut]

This is what Iran really think about cartoons? People of the world need to be reminded. Here is a cartoon that kind of sums it up that everybody can understand. Well, except maybe for the stuck on stupid types. http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2006/02/cartoon-that-everybody-can-understand.html

[FrankR]

Muslim outrage huh. OK .. let's do a little historical review. Just some lowlights:

- Muslims fly commercial airliners into buildings in New York City.
No Muslim outrage.

- Muslim officials block the exit where school girls are trying to escape a burning building because their faces were exposed.
No Muslim outrage.

- Muslims cut off the heads of three teenaged girls on their way to school in Indonesia. A Christian school.
No Muslim outrage. .

- Muslims murder teachers trying to teach Muslim children in Iraq.
No Muslim outrage. .

- Muslims murder over 80 tourists with car bombs outside cafes and hotels in Egypt.
No Muslim outrage. .

- A Muslim attacks a missionary children's school in India. Kills six.
No Muslim outrage. .

- Muslims slaughter hundreds of children and teachers in Beslan, Russia. Muslims shoot children in the back.
No Muslim outrage. .

- Let's go way back. Muslims kidnap and kill athletes at the Munich Summer Olympics.
No Muslim outrage. .

- Muslims fire rocket-propelled grenades into schools full of children in Israel.
No Muslim outrage. .

- Muslims murder more than 50 commuters in attacks on London subways and busses. Over 700 are injured.
No Muslim outrage. .

- Muslims massacre dozens of innocents at a Passover Seder.
No Muslim outrage. .

- Muslims murder innocent vacationers in Bali.
No Muslim outrage. .

- Muslim newspapers publish anti-Semitic cartoons.
No Muslim outrage.

- Muslims are involved, on one side or the other, in almost every one of the 125+ shooting wars around the world.
No Muslim outrage. .

- Muslims beat the charred bodies of Western civilians with their shoes, then hang them from a bridge.
No Muslim outrage. .

- Newspapers in Denmark and Norway publish cartoons depicting Mohammed.
Muslims are outraged. .

Dead children. Dead tourists. Dead teachers. Dead doctors and nurses. Death, destruction and mayhem around the world at the hands of Muslims .. no Muslim outrage .. but publish a cartoon depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban and all hell breaks loose.

[ancient_geezer]

Dead children. Dead tourists. Dead teachers. Dead doctors and nurses. Death, destruction and mayhem around the world at the hands of Muslims .. no Muslim outrage .. but publish a cartoon depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban and all hell breaks loose. its business as usual.

Dead children. Dead tourists. Dead teachers. Dead doctors and nurses. Death, destruction and mayhem around the world at the hands of Muslims.