That no mainstream Canadian newspaper dares publish the controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammed is clear evidence publishers value their lobby plate glass windows more than freedom of the press.
Well, duh!
Grow up!
When has this not been the case?
Do you think any of the soul-less corporations that operate the dwindling number of newspapers gives a diddlydamn about anything other than how fast they can make them resemble supermarket flyers?
Replacing the lobby windows would cost thousands of dollars.
It is so bloody obvious nobody would even bring it up at a budget meeting.
You want to what? Sit down. Shut up. You're fired.
Why would you publish ANYTHING that might break the lobby windows?
And they don't.
This is why ...
(a) personalities dominate elections rather than anything anybody actually feels strongly about
(b) entire nations are taken over by religious loonies. No, not Iran: look south, to the Religion Liason Office in the White House.
(c) celebrity sightings, addictions and fartings are passed off as "news"
(d) less editors and staff are required to process the tsunami of publicity handouts that separate the ads, and
(e) things are not just unlikely, but UNABLE to change.
Cartoonists think the cartoons should have been published?
That's today's front page news?
Months after the cartoons first appeared?
Weeks after every publishing drone considered what the corporate tower suits would make of replacing the lobby windows?
What's the old expression about being a day late and a dollar short?
Months late. Decades short. No guts. No glory.
This was hardly the hill to die on.
That hill was bulldozed in the 1990s by bottom-line guys.
Maybe earlier.
By the way--do you remember yesterday's editorial cartoon in any newspaper?
No? Me neither.
You take my point?
2 comments:
You know what I hate about this world wide protest? We have found yet another item about that which We Must Be Careful About from now on. It'll be considered poor form to joke about Mohammed, to draw pictures of him or to portray the Koran in anything other than the most favourable light.
But I'm worried that even the usual suspects who would defend the freedom for speech will be cowed by all of the nonsense going on. I'd like to start up my own newspaper, dedicated to pictures, cartoons and jokes about Mohammed. The aim would not be to offend Muslims but to see how long the paper would last, and what methods would be employed to shut it down.
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