This article in Little Atoms is a great put-down of cartoonist Garry Trudeau's recent speech in which he effectively blamed Charlie Hebdo for the murder of its own cartoonists. I wrote about this before.
It comes back into relevance with the news today that six writers are going to boycott a PEN gala that is to honor Charlle Hebdo.
Sadly, the Aussie author Peter Carey, is amongst those boycotting. That puts him in the same league as the deluded Garry Trudeau, both of them mouthing inane moral relativities that blame France and Hebdo, anyone but the murderers themselves.
Salmon Rushdie who knows a thing or two about these issues, was quoted on BBC radio this morning, "if PEN as a free speech organisation can't defend and celebrate people who have been murdered for drawing pictures, then frankly the organisation is not worth its name."
[There's a great video of Christopher Hitchens speaking at another PEN gala, which I'll dig out and post later]. LATER: here's the link to the Hitchens/Rushdie evening at PEN. Well worth sitting down, relaxing and spending an hour and a bit with these two towering and brave intellects.
Sent from my iPhone
It comes back into relevance with the news today that six writers are going to boycott a PEN gala that is to honor Charlle Hebdo.
Sadly, the Aussie author Peter Carey, is amongst those boycotting. That puts him in the same league as the deluded Garry Trudeau, both of them mouthing inane moral relativities that blame France and Hebdo, anyone but the murderers themselves.
Salmon Rushdie who knows a thing or two about these issues, was quoted on BBC radio this morning, "if PEN as a free speech organisation can't defend and celebrate people who have been murdered for drawing pictures, then frankly the organisation is not worth its name."
[There's a great video of Christopher Hitchens speaking at another PEN gala, which I'll dig out and post later]. LATER: here's the link to the Hitchens/Rushdie evening at PEN. Well worth sitting down, relaxing and spending an hour and a bit with these two towering and brave intellects.
Sent from my iPhone
