BE FEARLESS in Adventures From Prison

The more I pay attention to the strange little blips of intuition that have happened to me in here, the more I wonder if there isn’t some credence to the Global Consciousness theory. The last time I wrote, I had not seen a television, heard a radio, or spoken to anyone, yet something turned my pen towards freedom of speech. About three hours later the USA Today arrived featuring the shooting in France. I was totally in the dark until that moment. I read the article in stunned and angry silence. How had my subconscious led me to write something so relevant without my knowledge of the situation? The shooting of 12 people over an expression of satire perfectly illustrates what I was talking about. Not the event itself, but the aftermath. Fear of repercussion seriously has become an issue. The New York Times refused to run a photo of an inflammatory cover published in response to the shooting which featured a cartoon image of Muhammad. The New York Times!! I thank God that the USA Today’s editors had the balls to publish the photo (albeit they did have a disclaimer). We, as writers – who should be more concerned in the conveyance of thought, truth and emotion over popular opinion – need to stand up against inappropriate censorship, but never more so than when it is brought about by fear.
Twice this winter, major players of media have backed away from a challenge and the message it has sent will undoubtedly have lasting effects. The precedent set by Sony and now The New York Times has, in my opinion, severely weakened American Artistic Integrity upon the global scene. It seriously pisses me off. Being stuck in here certainly weakens my voice, but it does not silence me completely. I have no idea if my opinion is shared, but I hope to God that it is.
In the face of a terrorist act upon the artistic world the response should be immediate and intense. If the radicals feel that the depiction of their prophet is worth innocent life then we need to take that away from them by proliferating that image and skewering those who feel scribbles of ink are grounds for murder. Everywhere these radicals turn they need to see those images, to the point where they cannot possibly retaliate. These people already hate Western culture, so why are we coddling them. Do we really care what they think? These same people who will kill over art have been burning American flags and our culture in effigy for as long as I can remember. So turnabout is fair play, any child can tell you that.
Yes, I am aware that some honest, peaceful, good Muslims will take offense, but many of those do understand our plight. They condemn the extremist groups and bloodshed, so until they do something to stop it themselves, they will have to deal with it. The French aren’t apologizing, neither should we. If the Muslim’s have an issue, then they can speak out as we are – peacefully. Freedom of speech isn’t meant to make everyone happy. We need to stop thinking it does and create without fear.