The trumped—up Danish cartoon crisis in which three vicious and pornographic cartoons were secretly spread around the Islamic world, claiming that they were published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands—Posten, throws a harsh light on the moral cowardice of our mainstream media.

We have learned in the last few years that the media have no problem with spreading obviously forged documents, as in the Rathergate affair. We have discovered from CNN's Eason Jordan that his media company was in bed with Saddam Hussein for a decade, broadcasting Baathist propaganda to keep its Baghdad office running.

And now, when a brave Danish newspaper tested the extent of European self—censorship by publishing a dozen mild cartoons of Mohammed, we see our media falling all over themselves not to publish these harmless cartoons. Instead, they are falling for a planted slander against Jyllands—Posten: that it published three viciously pornographic cartoons of Mohammed, one showing a dog anally penetrating a praying Muslim, another of Mohammed wearing a grotesque pig mask, and a third showing a sketch of an Arab with the Danish word "pedophile."

These are truly vicious cartoons, meant to provoke hatred, and they seem plainly to be forgeries produced by Islamists to whip the open hatred we see today. The guilty party is apparently the Danish resident Imam Abu Laban, who helped to circulate a 43—page document to the Muslim world in December.  The media are not telling us that these mob actions are plainly organized and politically directed ——— as in the "spontaneous" burning of the Danish Embassy in Damascus, where the Assad dictatorship keeps an iron lid on any real protest. 

Where are our media in this worldwide fraud? They are helping to spread the lie, and censoring themselves at the same time. These are the same heroes who are constantly trumpeting their dedication to free speech and "speaking truth to power."

They specialize in slandering good and decent people like Clarence Thomas and George W. Bush, and spreading fearful rumors about Christian conspiracies to turn the US into a Christian theocracy. Free speech drowns out any pain caused to religious people when a tax—funded museum proudly displays a crucifix in a jar of urine. But today, the media have suddenly discovered a great sensitivity to religious symbols. They are curiously silent about today's worldwide campaign to impose Islamic censorship on the international media. Evidently our journalistic heroes are quite not as brave when it comes to facing a true enemy of free speech, the most reactionary possible version of Islam.

Our media are run by a sorry bunch of cowardly demagogues. They run fraudulent campaigns against American soldiers who are risking their lives ——— for real ——— every single day to protect our security. When the US Army discovered and prosecuted a small group of abusive soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison, the media engaged in a classic slander campaign, suggesting that abuse of prisoners was a Bush administration policy. Without quite saying so, millions of readers came away with the impression that it was courageous journalists, rather than the Army itself, that caught the abusive soldiers. The media thereby purposely inspired years of anti—American rage and hatred around the world, based on plain lies. They have spread false rumors of Korans being flushed down toilets in Guantanamo. Our mainstream media will stop at nothing to encourage our fanatical enemies, and they will do nothing to strengthen civilized values against barbaric assaults.

It is time for consumers to fire the media ——— and switch to the burgeoning alternative media, which truly represents the decent majorities of Denmark, the United States, and the rest of the civilized world.

Boycott the media. Let the truth prevail.

James Lewis   2 06 06