Sky Dancers

Sean Davis at The Federalist applies C.S. Lewis' description of men without chests in his Abolition of Man to that segment of our modern media which has allowed themselves to be intimidated into dhimmitude by Islamic violence.

Here's an excerpt:

Following the Charlie Hebdo attack, CNN allegedly issued a memo to staff detailing what types of images and words would be banned by the network and what would be allowed:

"Although we are not at this time showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet considered offensive by many Muslims, platforms are encouraged to verbally describe the cartoons in detail. This is key to understanding the nature of the attack on the magazine and the tension between free expression and respect for religion.

"Video or stills of street protests showing Parisians holding up copies of the offensive cartoons, if shot wide, are also OK. Avoid close-ups of the cartoons that make them clearly legible.

"It’s also OK to show most of the protest cartoons making the rounds online, though care should be taken to avoid examples that include within them detailed depictions of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons."

Where to begin? For starters, note that the network is apparently afraid of even using the word Muhammad. Instead, the Islamic religious figure is referred to by CNN merely as “the Prophet.” Not a prophet. And not even the prophet. “The Prophet,” with a capital P.

If we are to take CNN’s memo at its word, no other prophets existed before or after Muhammad. He is literally the only one. Forget Moses. Forget Abraham. Forget that both are major prophets for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Nope. Muhammad is the only one (even if that statement itself is heretical to the ideology they’re desperately trying not to offend) and he will be faux-respected by fearful news executives, even if that faux respect results in the blatant disrespect of other religions that outright reject Muhammad’s alleged teachings. Your offense is only worthy of note if comes packaged with a death threat.

I look forward to CNN referring to Jesus Christ as “the Messiah” from now on. I look forward to CNN referring to God as “G-d” out of respect for Jews who believe it is sinful to utter His name. And I really look forward to never seeing another historically illiterate Easter-time screed masquerading as news about how Jesus is just a silly myth who never really existed and that people who put any stock in the most well-attested historical documents in all of antiquity are just a bunch of nutty kooks.

I mean, if we’re talking about respect for religion, surely that must mean respect for religions that don’t send masked terrorists to gun down your news bureau whenever it publishes something stupid and insensitive, right? Or do my views only deserve respect insofar as they refuse to acknowledge your right to even exist?

For the Men Without Chests, however, history, theology, and even grammar must bow low before the altar of terrorism.

It's surpassingly ironic that a media and arts culture which praises Andres Serrano's photos of Jesus Christ on the cross immersed in a jar of urine, which admires Chris Ofili's painting of the virgin Mary covered in elephant dung, which mocks the Catholic priesthood because of pedophile priests, which scoffs at religious believers who dare question the creation myths of the metaphysical naturalists, which produces scores of books seeking to debunk and deride Christian belief, nevertheless wriggles and twists like journalistic sky dancers trying to explain why they won't show the cartoon images published by the Parisian magazine Charlie Hebdo that so outraged the Muslim psychopaths.

Even so, I don't fault our cultural elites for their fear nor their reluctance to give offense, and I can understand why devout Muslims might be offended at some of those cartoons. What I fault the elites for is their sanctimonious self-congratulation for their "bold" and "daring" "transgressions" against Christian piety while cowering in fear of doing anything that might provoke angry Muslims. I fault them for their punctilious regard for the sensibilities of intolerant devotees of the Prophet and their complete disregard for the sensibilities of Christians. They know they can mock the pope and even the Christ whom Christians believe to be God incarnate, and the most unpleasant consequence that'll befall them will be that Christians will pray for them. They also know, on the other hand, that if they publish a cartoon of Mohammed in an unflattering light they may find their workday interrupted by automatic rifle fire aimed in their direction.

Given those realities they choose to mock Christ and profess reverence for Mohammed. Wouldn't it be more virtuous and less cowardly to just show respect for both?