On "Turning Cartoonists Into Non-Persons"

I wrote that last header without checking: in fact, Rall has already been paged:

Why are so many right-wing newspapers like France Soir and right-wing blogs up in arms over this act of censorship? Because it's a chance to attack Muslims!

Dude, the cartoonists in question are in hiding because people are threatening to kill them. Thousands of people are marching in the streets waving placards that say "BUTCHER THOSE WHO MOCK ISLAM". It's not (yet) a censorship issue, because editors choosing not to run cartoons is not, in fact, censorship. What this is is large-scale violent intimidation, which is arguably even worse. You don't have to have a problem with Muslims qua Muslims to find this slightly disturbing, surely?

Where were these advocates for free speech when I was dropped by newspapers like the New York Times because of my anti-Bush politics?

Ted, honestly, it's not quite the same thing. You know, this is why I love the guy: every so often you get a definite indication that he's viewing the world through lenses of an entirely different type. The real villains of the piece here, for instance, are the people who aren't getting the names of the cartoonists out there enough (although the twelve cartoonists are conflated by Rall into a single, presumably really terrified Dane):

It's gross that word guys are so determined to turn cartoonists into non-persons. At least this guy might get a little PR out of this mess.

Yes, especially if their irate public finds them and kills them. For Christ's sake.