As we mentioned in our last post, from AP: Borders, Walden Won't Carry Magazine.
Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries."For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday.
The magazine, published by the Council for Secular Humanism in suburban Amherst, includes four of the drawings that originally appeared in a Danish newspaper in September, including one depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse.
Charles Johnson has some noteworthy commentary: A Thought About the Borders Statement.
Although [Border's] decision to preemptively surrender is appalling, I actually applaud Borders for being honest and acknowledging their real motivation—fear and concern for employees—for not carrying Free Inquiry, instead of concocting an obviously phony statement about “religious sensitivity.”However, isn’t one of the main complaints by Muslim groups about the Danish cartoons that they promote a stereotyped image of Muslims as violent terrorists—especially the cartoon showing Mohammed with a bomb-shaped turban?
In fact, the accusation of ignorant, racist stereotyping is one of the most common charges levied by Islamic advocacy groups against the people they target for harassment.
So why isn’t CAIR demanding an apology from Borders Books for this open admission that they fear violence from Muslims? Isn’t this a blatant example of “racist stereotyping” by CAIR’s usual yardstick?
Read the whole thing.
This cartoon is based on a suggestion by Rich Chandler.
Posted by Forkum at April 2, 2006 08:53 PM
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