The New York Times reports that editors responsible for publishing cartoons offensive to Muslims in the Daily Illini, University of Illinois’ student newspaper, have been fired in retaliation.
Shaz Kaiseruddin, a third-year law student and president of the Muslim Student Association, is quoted as saying, “I was in disbelief that they would do this, that our own student-based newspaper would be so ignorant and disrespectful.”
Hmm, disrespectful of what? Of Muslim’s right to live in a world where no one doubts the words of the prophet Muhammad? If the newsworthiness of the original publication of the cartoons is debatable, certainly they are newsworthy now that they have caused such a ruckus. Should the journalists cower before the threat of violent protest by Muslim extremists? Isn’t it the responsibility of journalists to inform us of things we don’t want to know about. That responsibility doesn’t end for people that have decided to be Muslim.“Universally, we found the cartoon to be repugnant,” said Mac VerStandig, the editor in chief of The Badger Herald.Repugnant? Really? Cause I found them pretty tame. I can think of some pretty repugnant variations on them, but the cartoon that I’ve seen is pretty tame. Makes a point; while not all Muslims are terrorists, pretty much all terrorists are Muslims, certainly nearly all of them using religion to justify their terrorism. Perhaps Ms. Kaiseruddin is ignorant of this fact. Does Mr. VerStandig find equally repugnant the fact terrorists use Islam to justify their terrorism? Because I find it repugnant that my government uses “freedom” and “democracy” to justify theirs.