Cartoonist Under Fire

Since the murder of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, there have been numerous assaults on our proud profession and the freedom of expression. In the interest of bringing these atrocities to light, I am creating this new category where I will post stories of interest as links in the comments as I become aware of them. Readers are also invited to participate.

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51 Responses to Cartoonist Under Fire

  1. rlcrabb says:

    I’d like to see this movie. One Venezuelan cartoonist bemoans the fact that in that country, stores are required to report how much you spend and what you bought. (They must not have credit cards!)… http://rabble.ca/columnists/2015/03/documentary-follows-cartoonists-under-threat-jail-attacks-censorship-and-lawsuits

  2. rlcrabb says:

    Amazing that we are having to defend Charlie Hebdo from Americans now… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernardhenri-levy/in-praise-of-blasphemy_b_7185898.html

    • Chris Peterson says:

      Yeah, well when you make a public announcement that you’re going to purposely instigate a riot by having a Muhammad drawing contest, that’s to be expected.
      Kind of a stupid move, but that’s exactly what the promoters of the event were hoping for. Kind of like attempting to prove that black people have violent tempers by walking up and punching Shaquille O’Neil in the face.

  3. rlcrabb says:

    It still amazes me that so many people don’t get it. It’s not about Pam Geller or Charlie Hebdo…It’s about drawing a simple picture of a person and being KILLED for it. When you start culling out sacred cows and saying ‘you can’t draw that,’ eventually someone will be able to rationalize banning YOUR free speech rights. It’s a terrible precedent. http://www.salon.com/2015/05/05/neil_gaiman_stands_up_for_charlie_hebdo_for_fks_sake_they_drew_somebody_and_they_shot_them_and_you_dont_get_to_do_that/

  4. Chris Peterson says:

    As you wrote, back in January:
    “I have no animosity toward the followers of Islam, nor do I have any plans to start drawing Mohammad in compromising positions just to be mean.”

    My point was that the cartoon competition in Texas was designed and promoted specifically to show the Muslims that, here in America, we can draw or say whatever we want without recrimination. That, in itself, is not something that I disagree with; I was merely pointing out that when they promote an event in the way they did; what the heck did they expect? If you, yourself, alerted the media that you intended to draw a cartoon of Muhammad in public at a certain date and time, and ridicule him for no other reason than that you can, I would worry for your health, and your sanity.

    I could give you all the blah-blah about being a veteran, and how I might be the last person you’d have to lecture on freedom, but you know darn well that I support your, and everyone else’s, freedom of expression. But that time spent in the military wasn’t so folks could go around stepping on snakes and crying fowl when they’re bitten. As a nation, I think we do that way too often, and we’ve got enough problems without publically issuing challenges to other people’s radical religious beliefs for no other reason than our right to do so.

    Then again, maybe you’re right; maybe I just don’t get it.

  5. rlcrabb says:

    Art Speigelman on the difference between Charlie and Geller. I pretty much agree with his opinion. I wouldn’t have participated in Geller’s show for the obvious reasons, but I still believe she and her malcontents have the right to present the artwork without fear of being executed by radical wannabes. http://time.com/3849465/art-spiegelman-je-suis-charlie-but-im-not-pamela-geller/

  6. rlcrabb says:

    “They don’t want us to write and draw. We must write and draw. They don’t want us to think and laugh. We must think and laugh. They don’t want us to debate. We must debate.” http://www.salon.com/2015/05/10/the_left_has_islam_all_wrong_bill_maher_pamela_geller_and_the_reality_progressives_must_face/

  7. Chris Peterson says:

    Bob,

    It is my opinion, and has been for quite a while, that ALL religions are a pox on society. After over a thousand years of nobility owning your body and the church owning your soul, the founders finally broke that chain with our Constitution, which gives power to only the governed. Thomas Paine did most of the heavy lifting on that and ended the centuries-old right of aristocracy and the church’s ability to put anyone to death that dared to ask questions or express themselves in a manner they did not like.
    One of the main reasons that I hate the right, is that they are again fusing the church and government into a coalition of control; a very nefarious and dangerous action. Damn the Christians, damn the Jews, and damn the Muslims; for making the world, once again, a religious battleground. For my part, science can’t evolve fast enough in it’s innocent destruction of all things mystical.
    I especially get a pain out of Pope Francis calling the kettle black, when it wasn’t all that long ago that every Pope for centuries had the blood of innocents on their hands, and in ways, and in numbers, that make today’s ISSIS look like boy scouts.

    All that being said; I would still not purposely, and publically, challenge the blood-thirsty zealots of todays conflict. If someone in my town issued such a challenge, basically inviting every religious imbecile with a gun into my community, I would take whatever measures necessary to have the event relocated out in the woods somewhere, where they could all have it out. You can yell “fire” all you want in the middle of nowhere, but no one has the right to do so where others can’t help but be involved. And if innocent people had been killed, I would have had every participant up on charges. Afterall, who’s more at fault; the religious imbecile with a gun, or the person who invites him to your town and goads him into firing it?

    Stay safe, my friend.

    • rlcrabb says:

      “Goads him into firing it”…Being murdered for drawing a picture of some anonymous dude with a beard (since we don’t know what Big Mo looked like) is setting the bar rather low in my opinion.

    • Michael Anderson says:

      Idiot. Actually, he’s 100% wrong. Trying to delete a message by killing the messenger only creates more messengers. But just randomly killing strangers to foment terror is actually pretty hard to defend against, and hence makes more strategic sense if you’re a bad guy. Kerry needs to walk this one back, way back.

  8. Chris Peterson says:

    He was saying, clumsily, that the reason for one attack was more identifiable than the other. I agree. One attack was against specific people because someone felt offended; the other was merely to kill as many people as possible.
    Even 9-11 had more focus than this attack.

  9. rl crabb says:

    Here’s a look behind the bamboo curtain of North Korean comic books. I wonder if they pay any better than publishers here in the free world? http://www.koreabang.com/2012/pictures/north-korean-comic-books-propaganda-or-propamanga.html

    • Chris Peterson says:

      Not a whole lot different than the myths and legends of other cultures, (especially those of Native Americans), but the fact that they claim to have found Tangun’s remains says a lot about the underlying psychosis of the “royal” family of N. Korea.

  10. rl crabb says:

    “And who can have that much influence over society’s political views than someone who got paid $5 for his cartoon that day.” http://cartoonistsrights.org/reaction-to-the-firing-of-the-most-important-cartoonist-in-africa/

  11. rlcrabb says:

    Being a Crabb, I can relate to fish out of water, and options… https://eatenfish.com/

    • Michael Anderson says:

      Gee Bob, that’s quite an apologia for terrorism you’ve written there…”Trump thugs.” I’m just thankful that Legace didn’t gun down any beautiful American babies once she got to Chicago.

    • fish says:

      Visa Denials Based on Nonimmigrant Intent

      Although the application process for a tourist visa is fairly straightforward, the last thing the U.S. government wants is for this to become an easy means of entry for people who actually want to work in the U.S. (which is prohibited for B-2 visa holders) or stay and live there long term. For that reason, every applicant must show their “nonimmigrant intent” — that is, prove that they really plan to act as a tourist and leave on time. In order to prove this, the State Department demands evidence that:

      the reason for your trip is for pleasure (or else medical treatment)
      you plan to stay in the U.S. for only a specific, limited period
      you have sufficient funds to cover your expenses while visiting the U.S. (particularly important because if you run out of money, the authorities assume you might violate your visa by working in the U.S.)
      you have compelling social and economic ties in your home country, such as a job or schooling and family, and
      you have a house, apartment, or other residence outside the U.S. as well as other binding ties that will ensure your return when your permitted stay is over.

      You will be expected to provide documents proving all these things. For example, you should bring to your consular interview copies of your travel itinerary (including hotel reservations), plane tickets (including a return ticket), home and apartment leases, bank statements, and so on. Failure to provide convincing proof will result in your tourist visa being denied.

      Next time I’d just plan on not bringing anything “in progress” with me. And lets be honest about this …the regulatory language predates the current administration….if she had attempted the same thing 6 months earlier those would have been Obama thugs and quite likely the same people manning the gate.

      • rl crabb says:

        Perhaps, but I doubt it. I know many foreign artists who have traveled freely to conventions in the U.S. in the past, even Hawaiians.

        • fish says:

          If you’re asking the rules and laws to be enforced consistently, appropriately and honestly I think that you are asking for disappointment.

          It seems a thing beyond Americans these days.

  12. Brad Croul says:

    Slouching toward Authoritarianism.

    “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”

    – “The Second Coming”, by W. B. Yeats

  13. Steve Frisch says:

    Love that line of verse.

  14. Michael Anderson says:

    “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep”

    “We have buried the putrid corpse of liberty”

    “Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hand, and an infinite scorn in our hearts”

    Benito Mussolini

  15. Michael Anderson says:

    This is the Putin-Trump Doctrine. Get used to it, replaceable subjects.

  16. Steve Frisch says:

    Another one for your files…I love the embedded “Through the Glass Darkly” cartoon…it reminds me of our bloggy friends herein Nevada County.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/unfiltered-kept-getting-death-threats-left-right-211839264.html

  17. Chris Peterson says:

    I have no doubt that, had he written something a bit less profane, he’d still be working.

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