Creator of long-running satirical cartoon strip condemns satirical cartoons lampooning Islam as "hate speech"

Garry Trudeau is a liberal Democrat cartoonist, author of the long-running political-satire strip Doonesbury. If you're looking for someone who could be said to fairly represent liberals, this guy would do it.

Last week Trudeau spoke at an ultra-liberal university, where he offered his opinion on free speech--particularly the kind expressed by cartoonists.

In this context he mentioned the executions in Paris of 11 unarmed civilian cartoonists by heroic Muslims armed with machineguns.  You may vaguely recall it.  Then again maybe not.

Now, you'd think that as a cartoonist who's used biting satire to lampoon and otherwise skewer anyone and everyone not firmly planted on the liberal/Democrat/"progressive" plantation, Trudeau would have been furious at the Muslim killers of satirical cartoonists.

In a logically consistent world, that would be the right guess.  Of course liberals like Trudeau don't feel the slightest need to be consistent.  And sure enough, Trudeau opined that the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo had committed the mortal sin of failing to use "judgment and common sense in expressing oneself."  Of course he didn't phrase it like that, but his meaning was absolutely clear.  Here he is:

 I...have spent a lot of time discussing red lines since the tragedy in Paris. As you know, the Muhammad cartoon controversy began eight years ago in Denmark, as a protest against “self-censorship,” one editor’s call to arms against what she felt was a suffocating political correctness. The idea behind the original drawings was not to entertain or to enlighten or to challenge authority—her charge to the cartoonists was specifically to provoke, and in that they were exceedingly successful. Not only was one cartoonist gunned down, but riots erupted around the world, resulting in the deaths of scores. 

No one could say toward what positive social end, yet free speech absolutists were unchastened. Using judgment and common sense in expressing oneself were denounced as antithetical to freedom of speech.

Damn those "free speech absolutists," eh?  Trudeau--who has made a luxurious living employing satirical cartoons to skewer conservatives and Republicans--just weighed in against free speech.

To be more precise, he clearly implied that the Danish editor who encouraged Danish cartoonists to satirize the founder of Islam failed to use "judgment and common sense," as a result of which "scores" of people were killed in riots around the world.

This of course was the point of the Danish editor's charge:  She recognized that all religion could be satirized except one:  Islam.  Because a big chunk of Muslims were fucking crazy and would riot or kill you if you said something they didn't like.

And they did.  She proved her point.

Trudeau continues:

And now we are adrift in an even wider sea of pain. Ironically, Charlie Hebdo, which always maintained it was attacking Islamic fanatics, not the general population, has succeeded in provoking many Muslims throughout France to make common cause with its most violent outliers. This is a bitter harvest.

"Now we are adrift in an even wider sea of pain" is lib-blather for "Now Muslims have killed another dozen people for drawing cartoons of their prophet."  Of course Trudeau's elegant euphemism allows the reader the luxury of having only a vague idea of what he's referring to.  Which of course is why he used it.  No liberal wants to face the fact that Muslims are implacably bent on taking over the world by any means, and killing non-Muslims is part of the program.

Traditionally, satire has comforted the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable. Satire punches up, against authority of all kinds, the little guy against the powerful. Great French satirists like Molière and Daumier always punched up, holding up the self-satisfied and hypocritical to ridicule. Ridiculing the non-privileged is almost never funny—it’s just mean.

By punching downward, by attacking a powerless, disenfranchised minority with crude, vulgar drawings closer to graffiti than cartoons, Charlie wandered into the realm of hate speech....

In case you hadn't gotten Trudeau's message yet, there it is.  You can't have free speech if someone is offended by it.  Cuz that makes it "hate speech" [insert menacing group growl here]--something all politcally-correct types abhor.  And who gets to decide what constitutes "hate speech"?  Why, Garry Trudeau and his friends in the Democrat government, of course.  Who else could it possibly be?

The White House took a lot of hits for not sending a high-level representative to the pro-Charlie solidarity march, but that oversight is now starting to look smart. 

Notice how deftly Trudeau rewrites history here, so that the contempt shown by Team Obozo in not sending the emperor to the memorial service in Paris becomes not merely an innocent "oversight" but is "now starting to look smart."  That is, Obama was smart to stay home because...why?  Wouldn't want to support free speech or condemn Muzz terrorism, perhaps?  If not that, tell us how in the world not sending at least the VP could possibly be viewed as "smart"?

What free speech absolutists have failed to acknowledge is that because one has the right to offend a group does not mean that one must. Or that that group gives up the right to be outraged. They’re allowed to feel pain. Freedom should always be discussed within the context of responsibility. At some point free expression absolutism becomes childish and unserious. It becomes its own kind of fanaticism.

You can understand Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler saying something like this, but to hear someone who's gotten fame and fortune from drawing cartoons satirizing his political enemies say that "At some point free expression absolutism" becomes "childish" and "unserious" is surreal.

I'm kind of surprised that he didn't take this line of "reasoning" to its logical conclusion:  that the Democrats should create a government agency to rule on whether any proposed "speech" or cartoon may be uttered or drawn.  And of course said agency will rule that it's ok to satirize Christianity and conservatives, but never Muslims or liberals.  Surprise.

Garry, you're one hypocritical, clueless asshole.  But rich and liberal.  And you're invited to all the A-list parties.  And the media supports your view.  So rock on.