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Cartoon on Islam was deeply offensive (You be the judge...)
Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | December 4, 2002 | Letters to the Editor

Posted on 12/04/2002 3:47:51 AM PST by Fintan

Below is a sampling of local response to Tony Auth's Nov. 28 cartoon. The Inquirer has received more than 300 letters from around the country and abroad criticizing it.

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Tony Auth's Nov. 28 cartoon depicting Islam as an intolerant religion is deeply offensive and contributes to the climate of hostility against innocent American Muslims.

I highly doubt that the Inquirer would publish Mr. Auth's cartoon if he had drawn a picture of a priest saying "Catholicism is tolerant - tolerant of priests who rape and molest children," or a rabbi saying "Judaism is tolerant - tolerant of soldiers attacking teenage boys armed only with rocks, tolerant of settlements dispossessing Palestinian land, tolerant of assassination of political leaders...."

The Inquirer has a responsibility to behave in a manner that supports interfaith respect so as to promote peace among Muslims, Christians and Jews, regardless of the shameful behaviors perpetrated by a minority in each religion. In printing Mr. Auth's cartoon, the newspaper fell woefully short of that obligation.

Zafar Hasan
Philadelphia

Self-reflection needed

There are hardly words to convey how appalled I was by Tony Auth's virulently anti-Islamic cartoon published on Nov. 28. I cannot imagine that the editors of your paper would ever consider printing a cartoon that condemned the entirety of Christianity or Judaism in a similar manner.

Perhaps before preaching tolerance to others, Auth and the editorial staff should engage in serious self-reflection.

Thea Abu El-Haj
Philadelphia

Islam is not evil

I am highly disappointed and angered to see the cartoon published on Nov. 28 that reads as follows: "Islam is a tolerant religion... We tolerate fanatics, suicide bombers, terrorist charities... and women... barely."

This is a blatant attack on a religion. It has been pointed out time again that groups of people who are evildoers do not make the religion to which they belong evil. As a Muslim, I feel humiliated and disgusted.

Syed Shahabuddin
Newtown

Historical amnesia

Tony Auth's cartoon on Nov. 28 espouses the resolutely racist ideation of Islam pervasive in the popular imagination of U.S. society. The mediocre, reductive, and chauvinistic association of Islam with terrorism and sexist oppression commits a deliberate and narcissistic error so common among imperialists - that of historical and cultural amnesia.

Christianity has been awfully "tolerant" too, engaging in inquisitions, holocausts, African slavery, genocide of nearly the entire indigenous population of the Western hemisphere - all within the last five centuries.

Christians have developed (and used) weapons capable of destroying entire cities at once while declaring themselves the only people responsible enough to possess them.

Those who terrorize Palestinians in their own land enjoy a legitimacy given to their actions by the same element that celebrates the above-mentioned "accomplishments" of Euro-Christianity.

Ari David Perlstein
Philadelphia

Stop hate, don't inspire it

I totally agree with Steven Rosenzweig's letter "Cartoon unfair to Muslims" (Dec. 3).

In Hitler's Germany, anti-Semitism was part and parcel of the times, and the media there and in many other places were filling people's minds with horrible racist stuff. Bad went to worse as people too easily accepted the unacceptable and did not understand the ugly ramifications of racism.

We should know better now.

Thank you for at least printing Mr. Rosenzweig's letter, but I can't help but think the type of people most swayed by cartoons need to be reached in the same medium. Auth should work on stopping racist hate, not inspiring it.

Anne Selden Annab
Mechanicsburg

Just a pretense

Congratulations! Tony Auth's cartoon about Islam was right on the ball. I think it is about time that the world recognizes the evil taught through the pretense that Islam is a loving religion.

Joseph P. Wade
Coatesville



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons
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Of course, it was just fine to dance in the streets on 9/11...

1 posted on 12/04/2002 3:47:51 AM PST by Fintan
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To: Fintan
Well, at least they ain't rioting...
2 posted on 12/04/2002 3:51:33 AM PST by hellinahandcart
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To: Fintan
"Christianity has been awfully "tolerant" too, engaging in inquisitions, holocausts, African slavery, genocide of nearly the entire indigenous population of the Western hemisphere - all within the last five centuries."

Then the author of this statement fails to acknowledge that the only African slavery still continuing are in Moslem countries of Africa.

3 posted on 12/04/2002 3:52:00 AM PST by BlueLancer
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To: Fintan
Dumb move. Bad taste.

I'm no fan of Islam but we shouldn't condemn an entire religion for the faults of the fanatics.

4 posted on 12/04/2002 3:52:36 AM PST by JimVT
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To: Fintan
Joseph P. Wade Coatesville

I agree with him...

5 posted on 12/04/2002 3:53:12 AM PST by dakine
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To: Fintan
The Religion of Peace insulted? Shame, shame shame. I would have thought "promoted" would have been more accurate than "tolerated."
6 posted on 12/04/2002 3:53:25 AM PST by anton
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To: Fintan
I'm tired of hearing how offended Islamics are when they themselves have yet to master the dark mysteries of personal hygiene.
7 posted on 12/04/2002 3:53:50 AM PST by Caipirabob
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To: Fintan
This year the No.#1 pop song in Egypt and Syria was a catchy tune titled "I hate Isreal".
8 posted on 12/04/2002 3:59:34 AM PST by Semper Paratus
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To: Fintan
Truth hurts. We need more truth; we aren't getting it from members of the Religion of Peace™.
9 posted on 12/04/2002 4:03:22 AM PST by FreedomPoster
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To: JimVT
>>I'm no fan of Islam but we shouldn't condemn an entire religion for the faults of the fanatics.

Of course, the great majority of Muslims are peaceful -- so what?

10 posted on 12/04/2002 4:04:41 AM PST by FreedomPoster
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To: JimVT
Dumb move. Bad taste.

I'm no fan of Islam but we shouldn't condemn an entire religion for the faults of the fanatics.

The lack of outrage within Islam over their fundamentalists lack of human rights speaks for Muslim's intolerance all by itself. The cartoon accurately reflects this realility. The cartoon is objective. Hiding behind a charade that Islam is the Religion of Peace is a lie that belongs in Muslim countries, not in America.

11 posted on 12/04/2002 4:06:06 AM PST by LoneRangerMassachusetts
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Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: BlueLancer
Christianity (Islam) has been awfully "tolerant" too, engaging in inquisitions, holocausts, African slavery, genocide of nearly the entire indigenous population of the Western hemisphere (Middle East/ Eastern Europe) - all within the last five centuries (1200 years)

This guy missed some of his history lessons. Just substitute a couple of words and you have the pot calling the kettle black.

13 posted on 12/04/2002 4:10:54 AM PST by germanicus
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To: Fintan
And if this cartoon was published in a newspaper in a Muslim country, there would be a fatwaissued calling for the artist's death. Who do these people think they're fooling?
14 posted on 12/04/2002 4:13:43 AM PST by Trailerpark Badass
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To: Fintan
" As a Muslim, I feel humiliated and disgusted.

Syed Shahabuddin "

As a Christian I feel the same. I am humiliated that we haven't wiped your vermin friends off the face of the planet. I am disgusted that you even exist.

15 posted on 12/04/2002 4:14:00 AM PST by Movemout
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To: Movemout
"I am humiliated that we haven't wiped your vermin friends off the face of the planet. I am disgusted that you even exist."

200 years from now, I want their children's children's children's children
to cower and cringe in fear whenever they hear the sounds of jet engines overhead
because their legends tell of fire from the sky.

I want them to hide in dark caves and holes in the earth,
shivering with terror whenever they hear the roar of diesel engines
because the tales of their ancestors talk about metal monsters
crawling over the earth, spitting death and destruction.

I want their mothers to be able to admonish them with
"If you don't behave, the Pale Destroyers will come for you",
and that will be enough to reduce them to quivering obesience.

I want the annihilation to be so complete that their mythology
will tell them of the day of judgment when the stern gods from across the sea
.. the powerful 'Mericans .. destroyed their forefathers' wickedness.

(Original created by BlueLancer ... 13 September 2001)
(Thanks to HiJinx for the accompanying pictures)

16 posted on 12/04/2002 4:15:51 AM PST by BlueLancer
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To: JimVT
...but we shouldn't condemn an entire religion for the faults of the fanatics.

First, many people do not consider Islam a religion so much as a mental illness. And what is the difference between a fanatic and a nonfanatic in Islam?

17 posted on 12/04/2002 4:17:03 AM PST by EverOnward
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To: Fintan
The cartoon is right. Some people just can't handle the truth.
18 posted on 12/04/2002 4:17:59 AM PST by aomagrat
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To: Fintan
The Inquirer has received more than 300 letters from around the country and abroad criticizing it.

I wonder how many they received PRAISING it?

19 posted on 12/04/2002 4:18:19 AM PST by Illbay
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To: Fintan
Is it a co-incidence that all the people that were insulted by the cartoon have Islamic names? It is also interesting how well they worded their outrage in Politicaly Correct patterns.

Too bad they are insulted by the truth of the cartoon and were not insulted enough to write in about the truth of the World Trade Center slaughter. Better us Dhimmis should die than they be bothered by inconvienent thoughts...
20 posted on 12/04/2002 4:18:45 AM PST by American in Israel
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