My Last Word On The Cartoon Thing

Now that I've actually seen the cartoons that have caused all the kerfluffle around the world, I want to refine, though not change, my views on the matter. Maybe next time I'll get the whole story before sharing my half-baked opinions with the whole planet, but I doubt it.

I disagree with the American editors and news directors who opted not to show the 'toons, maintaining that simply describing them was enough. Unfortunately, I came away with a number of misconceptions based solely on verbal descriptions, including the false idea that the cartoons were the work of a single artist, when the twelve images are the work of a dozen different sets of hands. (I wonder if the Muslim cleric who put a $ 1 million on the cartoonists heads realizes this. Is it $1 million for the death of all twelve, or $1 million each? And just where is a "cleric" getting $1 million, let alone twelve?) That's why I decided to go ahead and post the "bomb turban" 'toon and a link to the whole set of drawings for the education and enlightenment of my dedicated readers.

I'd also said that the incendiary nature of these cartoons was obscuring their message, but I now realize that that was the message. The Danish editors were attempting to strike a blow for free speech. I still question the wisdom of such a move, and believe they failed to consider the possible consequences when they launched their little experiment.

Furthermore, now that I've seen the things, I'm really not impressed.

Anyway, that's the last I'm gooing to say about the subject at least unless some new and bizarre twist occurs that just begs to be commented on after, of course, I've gotten all the facts.

From now on I'll stick to "Cartoon Controversies" that I'm qualified to comment on, such as: Who would win in a fight between Speedball of Marvel's New Warriors and Cheeks the Toy Wonder?

Now back to the important stuff, like this week's trivia question.