I have been an admirer of Trudeau and Doonesbury since it appeared in the Toronto Star in 1970. I have just read his April 10th speech and while I sympathize with his point of view, I must side with Ruben and Salman Rushdie. The response to these murders always seems to include a “but” by some, such as, “We deplore violence, but they insulted our (pick your sacred cow)”. Sorry. No buts. When they declared a fatwa encouraging true believers to murder Rushdie, I heard a lot of buts. Now are we wringing our hands and saying the Hebdo cartoonists went “too far”? I don’t care if the cartoons were not funny, if no one laughed, if they were bad, crudely drawn or without wit or genuine satire. Go ahead and pan them with criticism. But please don’t back pedal or boycott PEN with these mealy mouthed apologies. Enough. There are absolutes, and good and evil in this world. These cartoonists were not “guilty” of anything that justified ANY violence, The murders were evil. Period. No buts. Greg Kokko, Toronto, Canada
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