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US paper defends printing Mohammad cartoon
Reuters ^ | February 5, 2006

Posted on 02/05/2006 3:49:52 PM PST by West Coast Conservative

The Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the few U.S. newspapers to publish a caricature of the Prophet Mohammad from a series that sparked a wave of protests by Muslims, defended the action on Sunday by saying it was just doing its job.

"This is the kind of work that newspapers are in business to do," said Amanda Bennett, the newspaper's editor.

The Inquirer on Saturday published the most controversial image, which depicted the Prophet with a turban resembling a lit bomb, and it posted on its Web site an Internet link to the rest of the cartoons.

For many Muslims, Islam forbids images of the Prophet. The publication in Denmark and elsewhere in Europe of a series of satirical cartoons depicting Mohammad has sparked protests in many countries and some have turned violent. Moderate Muslim groups have condemned the violence and urged restraint.

The Inquirer included a note with its publication of the image which read, in part, "The Inquirer intends no disrespect to the religious beliefs of any of its readers. But when a use of religious imagery that many find offensive becomes a major news story, we believe it is important for readers to be able to judge the content of the image for themselves."

The note compared the image with the earlier publication of a 1987 photograph by Andres Serrano of a crucifix in urine, a work which angered many Christians.

Bennett said in an article on the Inquirer's Web site that the newspaper published the Mohammad cartoon to help convey the issue.

"We're running this in order to give people a perspective of what the controversy's about, not to titillate, and we have done that with a whole wide range of images throughout our history," Bennett said.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections; US: Pennsylvania; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: antidhimmitude; cartoon; cartoons; freespeech; islam; madmo; media; mohammadcartoon; nondhimmi; notosharia; philadelphia; religionofpeace
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1 posted on 02/05/2006 3:49:55 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
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To: West Coast Conservative

Courage in America.


2 posted on 02/05/2006 3:51:49 PM PST by Ladycalif (Gilchrist for Congress; Elect a Minuteman! http://www.jimgilchrist.com/)
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To: West Coast Conservative

3 posted on 02/05/2006 3:53:12 PM PST by mirkwood (Adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it.)
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To: West Coast Conservative
US paper defends printing Mohammad cartoon

Finally!

4 posted on 02/05/2006 3:53:54 PM PST by GretchenM (What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Please meet my friend, Jesus.)
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To: West Coast Conservative

it turns out that a group of Danish imams circulated the images to brethren in Muslim countries. When they did so, they included in their package three other, much more offensive cartoons which had not appeared in Jyllands-Posten but were lumped together so that many thought they had.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/02/04/do0402.xml


5 posted on 02/05/2006 3:54:08 PM PST by listenhillary ("Mainstream media" is creating it's own reality~everything sucks)
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To: Ladycalif

Courage it is.
Question is what did we have to fear in the first place?
There's nothing to fear but fear itself, eh?


6 posted on 02/05/2006 3:54:51 PM PST by voletti (Awareness and Equanimity.)
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To: West Coast Conservative

by saying it was just doing its job.

Nothing like defending yourself with complacency sounds like a bill collection agency or an eviction handler.

Couldn't just come out and say Moohamhead was a fake prophet for cash could they ?


7 posted on 02/05/2006 3:56:40 PM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK (The Death Penalty isn't for making examples it's for making bad people DEAD!)
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To: West Coast Conservative

BTTT


8 posted on 02/05/2006 3:57:57 PM PST by Fiddlstix (Tagline Repair Service. Let us fix those broken Taglines. Inquire within(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: West Coast Conservative

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/02/04/do0402.xml

Why were those Danish flags to hand? Who built up the stockpile so that they could be quickly dragged out right across the Muslim world and burnt where television cameras would come and look? The more you study this story
of "spontaneous" Muslim rage, the odder it seems.
(snip)

It rather looks as if the anger with which all Muslims are said to be burning needed some pretty determined stoking. Peter Mandelson, who seems to think that his job as European Trade Commissioner entitles him to pronounce on matters of faith and morals, accuses the papers that republished the cartoons of "adding fuel to the flames"; but those flames were lit (literally, as well as figuratively) by well-organised, radical Muslims who wanted other Muslims to get furious. How this network has operated would make a cracking piece of investigative journalism.


9 posted on 02/05/2006 3:58:03 PM PST by listenhillary ("Mainstream media" is creating it's own reality~everything sucks)
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To: West Coast Conservative


And tolerance groups all over the United States will boycot...


10 posted on 02/05/2006 4:01:15 PM PST by Tzimisce (How Would Mohammed Vote? Hilary for President!)
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To: West Coast Conservative

I wonder if the dems are gonna side with the mohamadeans on this,or they'll support freedom of speech?


11 posted on 02/05/2006 4:07:30 PM PST by Thombo2
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To: West Coast Conservative

I don't really see how any intelligent discussion could take place concerning the cartoon without it being shown to the readers.

And I don't think that publishing something in this country takes courage. That is the whole point of a free press: they don't have to worry about politicians being angry for what they print!


12 posted on 02/05/2006 4:08:17 PM PST by TinkersDam
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To: West Coast Conservative

Well, people need to know what all the violence was all about. Meanwhile, a muslim protest in NYC at the UN went largely unreported.


13 posted on 02/05/2006 4:08:54 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: Thombo2

Will McCain think this has to do with CFR ?


14 posted on 02/05/2006 4:14:41 PM PST by festus (The constitution may be flawed but its a whole lot better than what we have now.)
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To: durasell

One of the few U.S. editors with balls is a woman.


15 posted on 02/05/2006 4:15:40 PM PST by BW2221
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To: Thombo2

Expect the libs to champion freedom of speech? Like when Larry Summers of Harvard spoke his mind about women in science? Like that Neo-Nazi march in Ohio that lambasted African-Americans as violent thugs, that (ironically) started a riot?

No. This was a case of acting 'in bad taste' and stoking 'vulnerable sensibilities.' That's the way things work. If you're a member of a protected group, you're allowed to have temper tantrums like a 2-year-old whenever anyone says anything halfway dispraging or offensive about you, regardless of the potential merits of the claim. It's only when you're NOT that you get called out as being 'thin-skinned' and the concept of freedom of speech gets tossed around. God bless America. </SARC>


16 posted on 02/05/2006 4:16:41 PM PST by rightwinggoth
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To: BW2221

The whole thing reminds me of the Rushdie thing. Chain bookstores refused to display Satan Verses. Independent booksellers were putting copies in their windows.


17 posted on 02/05/2006 4:19:33 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: mirkwood

Thank you so much for reminding me of Hyacinth and "Keeping Up Appearances." I just ordered the DVD collection. That show was great.


18 posted on 02/05/2006 4:20:00 PM PST by debg
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To: West Coast Conservative
It's called NEWS!

At least one newspaper gets it.

The more upset muslims get the more newsworthy it is.
19 posted on 02/05/2006 4:22:01 PM PST by nmh (Intelligent people believe in Intelligent Design (God))
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To: debg

mind the pedestrian!


20 posted on 02/05/2006 4:25:07 PM PST by Palpatine (Every single liberal is now an enemy of the republic!)
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