@JPB,
JPB wrote:
Bill, inhale and read what I wrote. I didn't say it was wrong. I clearly said she had the right to do what she did. I also said that the result of doing it was predictable. Larry Flynt? Larry Flynt was shot. Was that reaction justified? No. Was it predictable? Yes. People make choices all the time. Some choices are smarter than others and I think her choice was kinda dumb in this case.
What you refer to as kinda dumb, I refer to as a courageous demonstration of solidarity. Had a great number of cartoon satirists shown her same courage along with her; she wouldn't need to join the witness protection program now. How many other victims do you refer to as dumb for not laying down to bully's threats?
JPB wrote:And get off the abused wife comparison. Show me one place where you've counseled an abused wife to get into her husband's face and provoke him?
Get in his face and provoke him? She never stepped foot in the same room, nor even asked, let alone forced him to look at her cartoon.
On the other hand; show me a wife about to be abused in the same room as us; and see if you and I aren't both in the abusers face. Molly was pitching in in solidarity with Matt and Trey, who were being threatened, just as you and I would be if abuse were taking place in front of us.
Moreover, my advice to EVERY abused woman is to leave the abuser. How many abusive husbands do you think consider that good behavior? And how many victims have seen the violence escalate precisely because they did defy their abuser by leaving? I knew a girl who was murdered for doing precisely that. Fear of the bully's threats, however, in no way means a victim should obey abuser’s demands. Living subservient to a bully is just flat out wrong, and any
blaming the victim for the bully's violence (or threats of same) is wrong in every instance. What other victims of bullying would you refer to as "dumb" for not obeying a bully’s unreasonable demands? No one forced a single fanatic to look at a single cartoon.
Defying this particular bully is important if you give a rat's ass about freedom of speech. Look at Irishk's posting of the Simpsons response and tell me there is anything right in forfeiting freedom at the bully's demand. How many other cartoon satirists have been stifled by these death threats? Look at Irishk's next posting to see just how soft Molly's cartoon in solidarity was.
Then try and provide the list of other special interest groups you think should be off limits to cartoon satirists and explain why. I'll bet you can't. I see no one has even tried.
The sad fact that’s being ignored here is that freedom of speech has already been eroded by these fanatic’s death threats (those who recognize this as an inalienable right will not attempt to evade by pointing out the speech is still "legal")… Sadly, the more popular position on this thread, inexplicably, seems to be to blame the victims and rail against other potential victims of oppression by death threat, rather than recognize the simple truth: The truth is no religious group has ANY right to tell 6 Billion people what they should or shouldn’t depict. None. I’d wager of the 6 Billion people on this planet; all but a handful recognize this simple truth in a general sense, whether they happen to be Muslim or not. And every last person who disagrees, whether it be out of devotion or sensitivity is simply, completely wrong.
By succeeding in scaring the Simpsons creators into silence (along with who knows how many others), the South Park Network Execs into obedience, and by making Molly disappear altogether; the fanatics have won a battle towards their goal of superimposing the tenets of Sharia Law over the Bill of Rights. I am shocked at how few on this thread recognize this as the greater evil.
