On the Advice of the FBI, Cartoonist Molly Norris Disappears From View

[The Straight Story]

On the Advice of the FBI, Cartoonist Molly Norris Disappears From View

You may have noticed that Molly Norris' comic is not in the paper this week. That's because there is no more Molly.

The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully. But on the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she is, as they put it, "going ghost": moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity. She will no longer be publishing cartoons in our paper or in City Arts magazine, where she has been a regular contributor. She is, in effect, being put into a witness-protection program—except, as she notes, without the government picking up the tab. It's all because of the appalling fatwa issued against her this summer, following her infamous "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" cartoon.

Norris views the situation with her customary sense of the world's complexity, and absurdity. When FBI agents, on a recent visit, instructed her to always keep watch for anyone following her, she responded, "Well, at least it'll keep me from being so self-involved!" It was, she says, the first time the agents managed a smile. She likens the situation to cancer—it might basically be nothing, it might be urgent and serious, it might go away and never return, or it might pop up again when she least expects it.

We're hoping the religious bigots go into full and immediate remission, and we wish her the best.

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2010-09-15/news/on-the-advice-of-the-fbi-cartoonist-molly-norris-disappears-from-view/

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

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[mjane]

6. that is usually what people who have nothing intelligent to say

resort to. name calling.

you are right. by implication. it is NOT a bad thing that one cannot criticize ONE religion out of all, without death threats, or for that matter death.

how could that possibly be a bad thing?

[Quantess]

8. That is hard to deny.

Right now there seems to be an increased sensitivity to perceived islamophobia on DU, mailnly because of the very real increase in islamophobia in the US lately. However, what you said is true. Welcome to DU.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Am I supposed to feel sorry for her?

What about that Klan member who won the Darwin award by shooting himself at that drunken party a couple of years ago?

[mjane]

3. No, you don't have to feel sorry for her.

You can be perfectly happy that somebody expressing their first amendment rights has been forced to go into hiding.

I personally support her right to free speech and think it's abominable that she should be forced to go into hiding because she advocated free speech.

Scorcese, Serrano et al did not have to go into hiding.

That's a good thing.

I can think Serrano is a piece of garbage for dipping a cross in urine. One can also think this woman is a piece of garbage for promoting a draw mohammed day.

Imo, nobody that loves liberty can be happy that by doing so, she is forced to go into hiding.

The heckler's veto will simply be strengthened. Whether it's South Park, or Draw Mohammed Day, the adherents of only one religion have this kind of power.

[The Straight Story]

4. And that is related to this how? Or are you comparing critics of one particular faith with the Klan?

:shrug:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. I'm comparing "critics of one particular faith"

to critics of one particular skin color.

[Luminous Animal]

14. Oops wrong place.

See here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9141726&mesg_id=9143098

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Is Pastor Terry Jones a bigot?

Or do you support him too?

[Luminous Animal]

18. I know nothing about Terry Jones other than he wanted to burn a Qu'ran.

Based on that info alone, I can't conclude he's a bigot. I'd say the same about people who burned Beatles albums. My daughter ate a page out of the Bible. Whatever. Both are examples of freedom of expression.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. OK, you can't conclude Terry Jones is a bigot.

Thanks for playing.

[Luminous Animal]

20. It is all sound and fury, signifying nothing.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. It's bigotry.

If you're interested in an honest conversation, you don't have to be absurd and pretend it isn't.

[The Straight Story]

17. Nice way to label and dismiss - call someone a nazi, racist, etc, and ignore the argument

Whatever gets you through the night. Kind of like saying someone who believes the earth revolves are the sun is a heretic - label them and shut them up and pay no heed to their argument.

[Luminous Animal]

12. Or how about that gay guy who gets bashed for walking around gay?

What was he thinking?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. You're comparing being gay to being a bigot?

Your analogy would work if you were talking about some homophobe getting comeuppance for his/her bigotry.

[Luminous Animal]

15. She's a bigot because she criticizes a freely chosen ideology?

Then I guess we are all bigots here on DU because we criticize Republicans... those that adhere to another freely chosen ideology.

[BlueCheese]

7. From Salman Rushdie to Molly Norris...

Who issues a fatwa ordering someone's death because of some writing or drawing?

[Juche]

9. Then they won

This is what they want (right wing extremists in Islam), to use terror to intimidate the public. Jihadists are the Islamic equivalent of the Christian KKK and if people don't stand up for their rights they are never going to stop using terrorism and intimidation to force their ideas on other people.

Would DU be siding against someone who pissed off the Klan so badly that she had to go into hiding? Why is this different? Religious extremist right wing authoritarians using violence and intimidation to push their backwards ideology against people's wills. Same thing.

[guyton]

11. Dr. George Tiller

I don't see that much difference between the fatwa issued against Molly Norris and the frequent references to Dr. Tiller as "Tiller the Baby Killer" on the O'Reilly Factor.

Both are (were) calls for murder in the name of religion.