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Opposing the Slaughter of Artists by Terrorists: A Controversial 'Political Position,' Apparently

The PEN American Center decided to give its annual Freedom of Expression of Courage award to Charlie Hebdo. The newspaper won the award after Islamic extremists, angry that anyone would dare defy their demands to write about Muhammed in only the most respectful manner possible, brutally slaughtered a number of the journalists who worked there. In other words, a free speech group gave an award to a group of people who literally martyred themselves for the cause of free speech—for the right to write whatever they want, to draw whatever they deemed necessary. Seems like a no-brainer, right?

Wrong! Some of PEN's leading lights have distanced themselves from the award. Here's the New York Times writeup of the event:

The novelists Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner and Taiye Selasi have withdrawn from the gala, at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. ...

In an email to PEN’s leadership on Friday, Ms. Kushner said she was withdrawing out of discomfort with what she called the magazine’s "cultural intolerance" and promotion of "a kind of forced secular view," opinions echoed by other writers who pulled out.

Uh huh. The best quote, though, has to be this one:

Mr. Carey, in the email interview, said that he had first contacted Peter Godwin, Mr. Solomon’s predecessor as PEN’s president, in mid-March, and then emailed Mr. Solomon on Friday to withdraw, after returning from a long stretch of travel.

"I wrote to Andrew to say that I did not wish to have my name, without my knowledge or prior approval, publicly linked to a political position I did not hold," he said.

Emphasis mine. I'm curious to know which "political" position, exactly, Mr. Carey disagrees with. That it's wrong for satirists to satirize violent religious extremists? That it's wrong for those violent religious extremists to murder writers and cartoonists for satirizing their violent, extremist tendencies? That it's wrong to reject the heckler's—nay, the assassin's—veto?

It's bad enough that Garry Trudeau is going around suggesting that Charlie Hebdo's skirt was too short. But I find it troubling that freedom of expression—freedom from persecution by the government, yes, but also freedom from murder by religious nutjobs—is considered by this novelist to be a mere "political" issue rather than a fundamental right to be defended at all costs. Is our artistic class so debased that it can no longer stand against evil without clearing its throat, uttering a "to be sure," and engaging in a lengthy round of victim-blaming?

On second thought: Don't answer that question. I'm already pretty depressed.