Here's a sentence about the publishing of the Danish cartoons that should bring anyone up short:
"This was a case of seeking a reason to exercise a freedom that had not been challenged."
The body of Pim Fortuyn was not challenge enough? The fatwa on Rushdie? The murder of Theo van Gogh? Maybe if the Boston Globe had covered these events with a greater sense of their importance, they would understand why Danish artists were and are living in a climate of fear. Then there's this:
"Depicting Mohammed wearing a turban in the form of a bomb with a sputtering fuse is no less hurtful to most Muslims than Nazi caricatures of Jews or Ku Klux Klan caricatures of blacks are to those victims of intolerance."
Can someone let me know if the Globe has ever editorialized against the publication of vicious anti-Semitic images in the government-run Arab press?