To the Indy:

I loved your cartoon creating a moral equivalency between Bin Laden and an average American. Really brilliant.

How about one contrasting Hitler and George Bush? It’ll be a stretch but you folks can do it.

How about a cartoon depicting something that actually happened. In the first drawing we show a Muslim Cleric, Ramsey Usef, in downtown Washington, D.C., speaking at a rally to raise money for Hamas. The date over the cartoon is January 10, and Usef is screaming “Death to America! Death to Israel!” The next drawing is of Usef standing next to George Bush a few days after the WTC attack. Usef says, “Islam is a religion of love and tolerance.”

Here’s a good one, also based on fact. In the first drawing we see a group of Arab students at the University of South Florida celebrating after the WTC attack. They’re jumping up and down and howling with delight. In the next drawing you can show these same Arabs at a forum to discuss discrimination and hatred again Muslims. One of the Arabs says, “Americans are so intolerant and hateful.”

Here’s another good one. We show a group of environmental radicals thrashing downtown Seattle, burning cars, attacking cops, and kicking out the windows of businesses. Under the drawing is the caption. “Legitimate moral outrage.”

The next drawing is of a group of average Americans holding a patriotic rally following the WTC attack. Under it we have the caption, “Illegitimate moral outrage.”

Samuel Zaffiri

John K. Wilson replies:

The cartoon by Matt Wuerker in the Oct. 4 Indy did not equate bin Laden and the “average American”—unless the average American agrees with the caricature presented that America should kill thousands of innocent people in revenge for the killing of thousands of innocent people.

The Indy did extensive searches on the internet and NEXIS, but was unable to find any evidence that a Ramsey Usef said what is quoted above, or that any Arabs at USF (or anywhere in America) celebrated the terrorist attacks. This is a common false rumor circulating around, and it has sparked some attacks on Arab-Americans.

As for the description of the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, the evidence shows that some cops were brutalizing peaceful protestors (not the reverse), and only a small group of anarchists engaged in vandalism, which was stupid and counterproductive. As for patriotic rallies, I have not heard anyone call them “Illegitimate moral outrage,” nor can I imagine why anyone would.