| | Here is the cartoonists response to the controversy. He make some good points, but it comes across as a whine from a leftist who is hurt that he is being misperceived.
In the cartoon where he responds, instead of Mohammed on the therapist couch whining about his followers not having a sense of humor (which I think is hilarious), it is a lengthy cartoon about the cartoonist on the couch whining to his therapist:
Therapist: Tough week?
Cartoonist: You have no idea.
Therapist: Didn't you realize the risk?
Cartoonist: Call me naive, but I thought the cartoon was quite mild... Not like the Danish Turban-bomb cartoon!
Therapist: The issue is DEPICTING the prophet... It's that simple!
Cartoonist: That's for adherents of Islam! Why should non-believers be censored? ... And there's the contradiction of all those ancient Iranian and Turkish Mohammad drawings... Drawn by devout Muslims! There's irony in being roasted by Muslims who supported me for doing pro-Palistinian cartoons that angered my fellow Jews.
Therapist: Are you sorry?
Cartoonist: I'm sorry I'm being likened to that juvenile Islamophobic FaceBook campaign! And I'm sorry if anyone's likened me to the Islamophobia of the U.S. "War on Terror"!... Or, the Burca and minaret bans in Western Europe!
Therapist: But we are in South Africa. Here Muslims are empowered.
Cartoonist: Muslim clerics told me this week they're all for freedom of expression... Except for drawing the Prophet! Making exceptions for religious censorship is hard for a cartoonist.
Therapist: Can you live with the contradictions?
Cartoonist: I may have to. (his cell phone rings) It's my editor... Gotta take it.
Editor: Hope you're not doing another Mohammad drawing?!
Cartoonist: No way! Just a 188-word Muhammad essay.
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It took me a second to realize that the word count for what the cartoonist says in this cartoon is probably that 188.
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