Commentary: The Danger Behind Joe Walsh's 'Satirical' Call To 'Behead' Liberal Journalists
By John Dodge
CHICAGO (CBS) -- One-term wingnut former congressman Joe Walsh is standing by a recent posting on Twitter in which he called for the beheadings of news executives who have refused to show cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.
In the tweet, Walsh called the so-called cowardly liberal media "appeasers" to the terrorists for not airing the cartoons published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Depictions of Muhammad are seen as offensive to some who follow the Islamic faith. Terrorists last week rampaged Charlie Hebdo's Paris office, resulting in the deaths of 12 people.
Walsh said on his radio show, which can be heard in Chicago on AM-560, that the tweet was satire to prove a point.
Setting aside the idea that beheadings of journalists exercising their freedom to make editorial decisions is somehow funny, Walsh went on to say that refusal to show the cartoons will only lead to more terror attacks.
This makes no sense.
If the terrorists are so offended by the illustrations that they will kill to end the practice of political cartooning, wouldn't they put down their weapons and declare victory?
What the media does with the cartoons is totally irrelevant as it relates to stopping terrorism. The radical call for revenge over cartoons is just one of a litany of unfounded grievances against the West propagated by Muslim radicals.
Walsh said that he knows the terrorists will strike again.
Not because these fanatics hate America and the West and will continue to massacre innocents under the perverted logic that their religious beliefs require them to fight the infidels.
Nope it's because "the media" won't show a cartoon.
While Walsh can scream into a microphone and falsely claim that the terrorists have won the war over cartoons, Muslims have differing views on whether depicting their prophet is offensive.
The Koran does condemn idolatry, but it takes no position whether depictions of Muhammed fall under that definition. An excellent Christian Science article on the origins of these beliefs can be found here.
While extremists, such as groups tied to Islamic State or al Qaeda, have adopted this view as yet another reason to attack the West, paintings and drawing of the prophet have been done for centuries.
And too many non-Muslims like Walsh have somehow come up with the ridiculous idea that Muslims believe murder is a lesser sin than viewing a picture.
The reason? The views of the radicals are louder than the mainstream. This is dangerous. The same could be said for Mr. Walsh, and this is why his commentary cannot be dismissed as radical claptrap.
