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A Timely Observation
Many of the pen-is-mightier-than-the-sword cartoons have been well-intentioned but delusional. Not to mention obvious. A different take:
It’s by Dave Matheny, Ricochet member and an old comrade from the newspaper. I’d like to see him do as many as possible – Ricochet exclusives, of course. (No doubt he can write a better headline, too.)
Published in General
Then there’s stuff like this:
He goes on to the history of the “pen is mightier than the sword.”
I am… Horrified is too gentle a word, to describe my reaction to the people who think the killing needs to be “explained.” Or who go into actual victim blaming, or try to insist that the paper’s folks didn’t die as martyrs for free speech. (The arguments for which boil down to “they were jerks.” Because that totally rules out dying for a cause?)
I hope that France will figure out steps they can take to protect free speech. The proper response to a threat isn’t to shut up, it’s to work to counter the threat and be louder.
In the West, journalists have the right to be delusional. And Muslims have the right to get away with this (h/t Cornelius):
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=697860583692539
How long has Matheny been drawing cartoons? I didn’t find many on his site. But he does seem to have the knack for it, so a regular series would be a great addition to Ricochet.
Aaron, the website is VERY new and is a work in progress. It would take many, many months to scan in all of Dave’s work. You’ll see more artwork shown as he has time to work on the site. He’s been an illustrator since the 1960s, including 30+ years with the Mpls. newspaper, and has been working for EAA’s Sport Aviation magazine as a writer and illustrator for about a dozen years.
Love it! I want to see more!
Great stuff, James. Thanks for this. I’ll hope for more in the future.
Hope that one leaves a mark! Brilliant, Mr. Matheny.
Even Galileo was convicted of heinous crimes by the cardinal inquisitors for declaring that the earth was not the center of the universe, the sun was. He wasn’t allowed to publish his book “The Dialogue” and it appeared on the index of Prohibited Books in 1664, and remained there for nearly 200 years. He was forced to confess his ideas were errors and heresies.
Even Galileo was convicted of heinous crimes by the cardinal inquisitors for declaring that the earth was not the center of the universe, the sun was.
Eh? Not sure what this has to do with the cartoon. And it should be pointed out that the heliocentric theory had been advanced prior to Galileo, by a monk, no less (Copernicus). And Kepler, too. For a less simplistic overview of the Galileo case, go here: http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-galileo-controversy
It has to do with freedom of speech and ideas, not cartoons. Wasn’t allowed by most civilizations. I don’t need a less simplistic overview of the Galileo case, I have books on the subject. I was trying to make a simple statement for those who might not be familiar with the case.
I was trying to make a simple statement for those who might not be familiar with the case.
But it serves no purpose to simplify it to the point of perpetuating simplistic myths.
Nor do I see an equivalence between house arrest (Galileo) and the murder of the Charlie Hebdo journalists. This reminds me of the idiots on MSNBC who equated the Charlie Hebdo murders to Jerry Falwell bring a lawsuit against Larry Flynt for portraying him (and making up quotes, which I think was the meat of the suit) having drunken sex in an outhouse with his mother (or mother-in-law, I forget which). If you think these things are equivalent, we have so little in common that there is no point in conversation.
You’ve fallen victim to a well-circulated myth; for starters, he was convicted of breaking his oath to not teach heliocentrism. A second notable part is he wasn’t prevented from publishing Dialog on the Two World Theories, he was actually asked to write it by his old friend, who was the Pope at the time and paying him (search for “pension”)– as long as he made both sides of the argument. (Books advocating the theory had already been blanket-added to the Index in 1616; search for Index.)
He then took an argument the Pope had made and put it in the mouth of a character called, roughly, “the idiot,” with the rest of the work being as fair as you might expect from that. Even his supporters couldn’t claim it wasn’t doing exactly what he’d sworn he would not do. Lying is a pretty nasty thing, yeah, but it’s not really what comes to mind when one thinks of “heinous crimes.”
He was still treated like a visiting celebrity, in spite of being (from the evidence in his writings and public fights) an egotistical jerk with really bad judgement and an entitlement mentality.
It’s far closer to Falwell/Flynt lawsuit than silencing free speech by killing people who are rude.
If what I stated reminds you of this, then indeed we have nothing in common. I have no knowledge of a lawsuit between Flynt and Falwell. Never read either one of them. I’ll grant you that I am an idiot because I believed that conversations on Ricochet remained polite discussions. Obviously, I was very, very, misinformed.
I think it’s fair to say that if you are not able to tell the difference between the murder of journalists today and the trial of troublesome, would-be theologians in the Church centuries ago, yes, you are misinformed.
A wonderful cartoon…
This weekend Gannett newspapers (USA Today and regional branches) in full twit preening mode put up “The daring covers of ‘Charlie Hebdo,'” but included only covers on European politicians and generic Islamists. Those who attacked the publication did so not because of depictions of and commentaries on European politicians, nor (in my judgment) because of depictions of and commentaries on Islamists in general. They attacked because of depictions of and commentaries specifically on Muhammed.
If Gannett and other preening media companies want to demonstrate their “brave” commitment to publishing without fear, let them publish the depictions of and commentaries on Muhammed (as they already do on Jesus and others).
Thanks for sharing, James, and for promoting Mr. Matheny’s work.
It is sobering to think, but in all of human history the ideals of free-speech, freedom of religion, and all that “stuff” we consider foundation to western civilization are an aberration. Europe seems to have to forgotten that and it remains to be seen if they and ultimately the rest of the civilized world will survive to learn form this mistake. While I once thought Francis George’s famous quote to be the height of hyperbole now I am not so sure (Disclaimer: I am currently grieving the Ducks loss in the national title game so I may not be so maudlin tomorrow).