Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Yale under fire for removal of Muslim cartoons

Yale University has removed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad from an upcoming book about how they caused outrage across the Muslim world, drawing criticism from prominent alumni and a national group of university professors. Yale cited fears of violence.

Yale University Press, which the university owns, removed the 12 caricatures from the book The Cartoons That Shook the World by Brandeis University professor Jytte Klausen. The book is scheduled to be released next week.

So we are going to have a book about cartoons that shook the world and we are NOT GOING TO SEE THE CARTOONS?????? This is political correctness gone crazy.

As you remember, a Danish newspaper originally published the cartoons -- including one depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban -- in 2005. Other Western publications reprinted them. The following year, the cartoons triggered massive protests from Morocco to Indonesia. Rioters torched Danish and other Western diplomatic missions. Some Muslim countries boycotted Danish products.

Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors, wrote in a recent letter that Yale's decision effectively means: "We do not negotiate with terrorists. We just accede to their anticipated demands."

In a statement explaining the decision, Yale University Press said it decided to exclude a Danish newspaper page of the cartoons and other depictions of Muhammad after asking the university for help on the issue. It said the university consulted counterterrorism officials, diplomats, and the top Muslim official at the United Nations. "The decision rested solely on the experts' assessment that there existed a substantial likelihood of violence that might take the lives of innocent victims," the statement said.

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