Free speech for one – is not free speech for all, or is it?

This afternoon the VOA News came out with an article entitled “Cartoonist Defender Asks Muslims to Accept Free Speech Principles.”  The article states

A media rights activist who defends political cartoonists who come under attack for their work says Muslims should try to better understand the western idea of free speech, even if they find the message offensive to their religion.

The cartoon depicted Muhammad as a dog.  This is extremely offensive to any thinking intelligent human being.  One has to ask; if this same cartoonist drew pictures of Jewish people in such a disrespectful way, would this media activist be defending them?  Consider the fact that during WWII this very thing happened in Europe.  Take a look at a couple of them:

CAPTION: Ignorant, lured by gold, They stand disgraced in Judah’s fold. Souls poisoned, blood infected, Disaster broods in their wombs.

CAPTION: Life is not worth living When one does not resist the parasite, Never satisfied as it creeps about. We must and will win.

CAPTION: ‘I put them all on stage at the same time, but Stalin is worn out anyway.’ International Jews are pulling the strings that control all the Allied powers. Source: Lustige Blätter,  Issue #5/1942.

What is the reader’s first thought?  Will the author of these cartoons be given the same right to Free Speech?  Will activists rally to their side?  How about back in February 2009 when the NY Post published a cartoon comparing President Obama to a dead monkey?  There was a public outcry!  In fact, Al Sharpton had quite a bit to say about it.  Where were the media advocates?   See the cartoon in question below.

The New York Post cartoon that depicted police shooting a chimpanzee

Rupert Murdoch apologized for the cartoon not long after this cartoon was published due to the public outcry.  Public Outcry:  Because Obama is African-American and it is verboten to ridicule African Americans, as well it should be.  It should also be vertboten to ridicule Muslims.  Why the double-standard?  

Please consider this double-standard.  It applies not just in cartoons but in all the Islamophobic articles, right wing extremist sites, and the offhand remarks that you hear from time to time.  Just put “African-American” or “Jew” in place of whatever Muslim slur – and this point will be evident.