Molly Norris conceived of “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” as a joke, but it went viral in part because it was a gesture of defiance in the face of violent threats and intimidation: if Islamic supremacists were threatening to murder Motoonists Kurt Westergaard and Lars Vilks, and anyone else who dared to draw Muhammad, then if everyone drew him, the thugs couldn’t possibly kill us all, could they? Well, no, they couldn’t. But Anwar Al-Awlaki, the American-born imam who is linked to so much jihadist activity in the United States, including the Fort Hood jihad assassin, the Christmas underwear jihad bomber, and even 9/11, called for her death. And so now she has disappeared. There is no more Molly Norris: she has changed her name and gone into hiding. This is the sort of case that the President of the United States should be talking about. Instead of wringing his hands about the prospect of Muslim rioting over Qur’an-burning, the President should go on television and give a brief lesson about how freedom of speech is a foremost bulwark against tyranny and a cornerstone of any society that respects the dignity of the human being. He should say that the idea that Molly Norris would have to live in hiding because of a cartoon, or series of cartoons, is unconscionable, and tell the Islamic world that neither Muslims nor their prophet are harmed by cartoons depicting him, and that their violent rage over such depictions is the only thing that makes people care to draw him in the first place. He should say that to threaten people with death and to kill people over cartoons of Muhammad is sheer madness, and is a form of violent irrationality that is destructive to free societies — and as such, it is something that the U.S. will do everything it can to resist. Molly Norris and others who are threatened will be given full round-the-clock protection, and if violent protests and riots over cartoons or Qur’an-burning break out in areas where American troops are deployed, those troops will put down those riots and protect the innocent to the fullest possible extent. Maybe in January 2013 we will have a president who will see the need to do such things, and move to protect and defend Western culture and civilization. “On the Advice of the FBI, Cartoonist Molly Norris Disappears From View,” by Mark D. Fefer in the Seattle Weekly , September 15 (thanks to all who sent this in): You may have noticed that Molly Norris’ comic is not in the paper this week. That’s because there is no more Molly. The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully. But on the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she is, as they put it, “going ghost”: moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity. She will no longer be publishing cartoons in our paper or in City Arts magazine, where she has been a regular contributor. She is, in effect, being put into a witness-protection program–except, as she notes, without the government picking up the tab. It’s all because of the appalling fatwa issued against her this summer, following her infamous “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” cartoon….
View original post here:
"Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" cartoonist changes name, goes into hiding
