Political Cartoons

I thought this editorial a little hypocritical and pointless.

I composed the following letter to the editor, but decided it was too long and a little pointless itself:

I notice that the Deseret News didn't publish the cartoons that caused all the trouble for the Danes. Wouldn't want to be "insensitive" or suggest that Muslims are hypocrites when they portray Jews as pigs, monkeys and murderers and the U.S. as the Great Satan. They might blow up your building. Those third-worlders just can't be expected to understand freedom of the press can they?

And those quadruple amputees who sacrificed limbs for their country, what's the matter? Can't they take a joke? Gee, from the way the Democrats talked about Max Cleland, the loss of a few limbs should have immunized him from any disagreement, just as Cindy Sheehan's loss of her son gives her "absolute moral authority" in the words of Maureen Dowd, who major suffering in life was from lasik surgery.

Yes, political debate gets pretty nasty at times. As you wrote: "a cartoonist for the Washington Post used a caricature of a dismembered U.S. soldier to make a point about the war. It was a ham-handed way to send a message. In fact, the only thing more ham-handed was the letter the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent to the Post in protest. Anyone who knows a lick about the media knows that was a quick way to guarantee more of the same."

And anyone who knows a lick about media hubris and self-justification knows why newspapers and broadcast news networks are losing money, readers and audience. As the old saying goes, don't dish it out if you can't take it.

I have an idea for a political cartoon. It has a dinosaur with the tag "news media." . . .

I think what bothers me about the editorial is that it misses two points: (1) The Muslims who are burning embassies and going ballistic don't deserve to be defended, because they are guilty of much worse in their own belief that the rest of the world owes them some kind of reverence. The rage and violence are exactly what brought on these cartoons in the first place. All they're doing is confirming the impression that Mohammed taught hate and terrorism. (2) Tom Toles doesn't deserve to be above criticism nor the media the right to wave away complaints with "That was a quick way to guarantee more of the same." To defend Tom Toles' nasty little insult of the Pentagon as cold and uncaring about those who have sacrificed so much in the line of duty, as just asking for more of the same, is the reason why the media in this country are becoming as nauseating as the Arab street who would tear down civilization because they can't keep up.