Ah.
Y'know, actually, I hadn't considered that angle. There is indeed a disproportionate response here, which does make a difference. However -- and I can't stress this part enough -- it doesn't change the fact that Miss Norris should have expected this level of response, regardless of how disproportionate it is.
I mean, it's not as if the radical Muslim groups who were the target of her cartoons have a well-established history of tolerance and rational response to desecration of their sacred symbols. Rather the opposite, in fact.
What it comes down to is I feel Molly Norris deliberately and with malice made a statement and encouraged others to do the same, and while I feel that it was well-targeted and more-or-less deserved by those it criticized, I can't help but look at her subsequent actions and think to myself, "Really? You're surprised by this?"
Because, again, any forethought at all would point out that this is going to come back and bite you in the ass. At that point you need to decide if it's worth doing regardless of that fact -- and if it is, then do it and stand behind it.
If you just throw something out there, and then run away from the consequences of your actions, it makes you look like a bully. And we have enough problems with that already, as a country.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
Y'know, actually, I hadn't considered that angle. There is indeed a disproportionate response here, which does make a difference. However -- and I can't stress this part enough -- it doesn't change the fact that Miss Norris should have expected this level of response, regardless of how disproportionate it is.
I mean, it's not as if the radical Muslim groups who were the target of her cartoons have a well-established history of tolerance and rational response to desecration of their sacred symbols. Rather the opposite, in fact.
What it comes down to is I feel Molly Norris deliberately and with malice made a statement and encouraged others to do the same, and while I feel that it was well-targeted and more-or-less deserved by those it criticized, I can't help but look at her subsequent actions and think to myself, "Really? You're surprised by this?"
Because, again, any forethought at all would point out that this is going to come back and bite you in the ass. At that point you need to decide if it's worth doing regardless of that fact -- and if it is, then do it and stand behind it.
If you just throw something out there, and then run away from the consequences of your actions, it makes you look like a bully. And we have enough problems with that already, as a country.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs