AL.com Opinion
Coward! Where's your cartoon of Muhammad? The only way to stand up to the Muslim terrorists is to attack Muhammad!
Thanks for the suggestion, my anonymous friends. I get an ironic thrill from being called a coward by brave scribes who cast stones from behind a fake name and tiny fake face. It's so cute!
For what it's worth, my Charlie Hebdo tribute cartoon -- featured #2 in the gallery above -- depicts Lady Liberty raising a pen in honor of the Parisian journalists killed by Islamic extremists last week.
Why didn't I draw a nasty cartoon of Muhammad?
Why would I?
The offender wasn't the Prophet Muhammad. The offenders were the murderous jihadists who dragged the prophet's name through their bloody rampage.
When the Westboro Baptist goomers protest military funerals with signs that say God Hates Fags, we don't draw insulting caricatures of God. Or Baptists. We go after the sick perpetrators of the offense. Sometimes we draw the late Fred Phelps in lingerie ... pretty sure he liked it.
The one thing Islamic extremists fear most is being laughed at. We should attack them with humor. Point 'em out and laugh at 'em, folks.
Business-as-usual with a big dose of satire is the proper response to terror.
For Charlie Hebdo, business-as-usual means drawing more insulting cartoons about political and religious figures. That's their gig.
Though I wholeheartedly support Charlie Hebdo's freedom of expression, their aim is to be offensive - much more offensive than what you see in traditional American newspapers and web sites.
But from where I sit as a political cartoonist in Alabama, business-as-usual doesn't include taking pot shots at the Prophet Muhammad.
Oh sure, I'll chastise elected leaders who play politics with religion - it happens a lot in this great state. But I rarely draw cartoons of religious figures for the sole purpose of insulting their followers. On issues of faith, most of my work is fairly respectful.
Now, if y'all really want me to draw cartoons of Muhammad, elect him to any office in Alabama. Perhaps he could replace the current prophet who is now the state's chief justice?
Folks, I work in Alabama. If I want death threats I don't have to draw a scathing cartoon about Muhammad. A whimsical drawing about Nick Saban does the trick.