The Jewel of Medina

This is a pretty apt description of the lefties whose apologism to Islamist radicals has gotten so out of hand, that publishers, theatres, and art venues have all started pre-censoring just about anything critical of Islam from Mozart to the new book “The Jewel of Medina” by Sherry Jones.

(note: the link to Amazon above results in a dead search)

Mick Hume writes for the Times Online, and published an article recently decrying this abandonment of our freedoms.  He writes:

The threat to freedom here does not come from a few Islamic radicals, but from the invertebrate liberals of the cultural establishment who have so lost faith in themselves that they will surrender their freedoms before anybody starts a fight.

Indeed, though the Islamists are responsible for initially causing a great deal of noise about the publication of various cartoons and pictures, it is the Left that has buckled, along with corporations fearful for their profits and employees’ safety.

Hume goes on to say: “Of course, such pre-emptive grovelling only encourages any zealot with a blog to demand even more censorship.”

And this is the crux of the argument.  Had the West from the very outset been unapologetic about publishing freely as they always have, had we stood up for that freedom of speech that we hold so dear, then it is likely the Islamists would have given up, tried a new tact, perhaps gone and gotten some poor sap to blow himself up in protest.

We have been bullied by the Islamists, and now we’re being choked by the liberal fear-mongers who at

the mere suggestion of causing offence to some mob of imagined stereotypes is enough to have them scurrying for a bomb shelter, their creative imaginations blowing up small protests into the threat of a big culture war.

Hume says it all so well.  His prose is powerful, clear.  His argument is forceful.

“Who needs book burners” he asks, “if ‘offensive’ books are not allowed to be published in the first place?”

Here is the statement by Randomhouse regarding the axing of “The Jewel of Medina”

After sending out advance editions of the novel THE JEWEL OF MEDINA, we received in response, from credible and unrelated sources, cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.

We felt an obligation to take these concerns very seriously.  We consulted with security experts as well as with scholars of Islam, whom we asked to review the book and offer their assessments of potential reactions.

We stand firmly by our responsibility to support our authors and the free discussion of ideas, even those that may be construed as offensive by some.  However, a publisher must weigh that responsibility against others that it also bears, and in this instance we decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel.  The author and Ballantine subsequently agreed to terminate the agreement, with the understanding that the author would be free to publish elsewhere, if she so chose.

The statement says “we received in response, from credible and unrelated sources, cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.”

Well good Lord!  Muslims may find it offensive.  Since when do Muslims get such special treatment?  Are all animals created equal, only some more equal than others?  Do we now stop publishing critiques of Christians?  Should we have never published that awful trash The Davinci Code?

Salman Rushdie was haunted for decades after his publication of The Satanic Verses.  Yet his sacrifice in the name of free speech is being burned by the cowards in the publishing industry, by the apologists in government, and by a new culture of moral relativism that will allow the radicals to take what they want, while voluntarily casting aside our own rights and freedoms.

Americans and lovers of freedom the world over need to stand up to the censors and apologists.  If we can’t stand up to them, how will we ever stand up to the violent lunatics in the Islamist movement?

[hat tip: NetWMD]

Kain's major subjects of focus at NeoConstant are international strategy; support of Israel; the failure of the international community to stop genocide; the spread of American power and democracy; historical analysis; and current events both domestically and abroad. He writes here, Newsvine and his blog, IndiePundit.