Sunday, February 12, 2006
MO DRAWN IN OHIO
As Neil Young once sang:
Mad mullahs and Allah’s comin’
We’re finally on our own
This winter I hear the drummin’
Mo drawn in Ohio
Young’s original version differed slightly. But Ohio Beacon Journal cartoonist Chip Bok sure is hearin’ that drummin’:
Several Northeastern Ohio Muslims and community leaders met Friday to express their concerns about the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that have ignited outrage and violence ...
The Beacon Journal has not published the Danish cartoons. However, on Feb. 5, the Akron paper published a Bok cartoon depicting a pixilated picture of Muhammad on CNN. A couple in the cartoon said, “Well, no wonder Muslims are upset. Muhammad looks like he’s on acid.”
That was enough to provoke a demonstration outside the paper’s offices and this outburst from Akron Amir A.R. Abdoulkarim: “Allah curses and condemns them and every Muslim in this community should curse and condemn them.” For drawing a pixilated image of Mo the Magnificent. Which was a much cleverer means of covering the issue than ventured by the New York Times:
The New York Times — the most important liberal organ in the country — chastised the Danish cartoonists and refused to reproduce the cartoons, instead bizarrely illustrating the controversy with a photo of a painting of the Virgin Mary festooned with elephant dung from a long-ago dispute at a Brooklyn museum.
Protests have also taken place outside of the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Protesters with signs that read “Irresponsible Journalism” gathered outside the offices of The Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday to condemn the newspaper’s decision to reprint a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad that had angered Muslims worldwide.
Catchy slogan. Might work better than United Against Incitement.