Lady Liberty: What Say You?

Iran showcases cartoons! No, not anime or Disney, but political cartoons, specifically in response to the depictions of Muhammad that appeared in the Dutch Jillen-Posten paper last year.

Organizers say displaying more than 200 entries from Iran's International Holocaust Cartoons Contest aims to challenge Western taboos about discussing the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews died but which Iran's president called a "myth."

"This is a test of the boundaries of free speech espoused by Western countries," said Masoud Shojai-Tabatabai, head of the Cartoon House which helped organize the exhibition, as he stood next to the Statue of Liberty drawing.

Iran's best-selling newspaper Hamshahri in February launched a competition to find the best cartoon about the Holocaust in retaliation for the September publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish and other European newspapers.

That Statue of Liberty mention above is from a particular cartoon highlighted in nearly every Western news report I found on this:

[T]he Statue of Liberty is pictured holding a Holocaust book while giving a Nazi salute.

You can just barely see her in this photo, which I've blown up for you, to give you a sense of the cartoon.

"Statue of Liberty ... holding a Holocaust book while giving a Nazi salute."

It reminded me of the kerfuffle in the local lefty blogosphere last month, wherein a huge variant Statue of Liberty erected by World Overcomers Church led to much consternation. PeskyFly called it "menacing." Jeff of Pesky Fly called it a "desecration," which the LeftWing Cracker repeated. Jim Maynard headlined "Statue of Theocracy."

Other than some comments on LWC's post about the history of the State of Liberty (which most folks mis-know) I didn't post on the WOC Liberty because I don't care so much what some folks do with their money on their property.

And it's very fair to point out that some obscure cartoon in Iran isn't on the same level as a huge statue on Winchester. They don't impact us the same way.

But I'd be curious to hear what the same bloggers mentioned above have to say about this "desecration" of Lady Liberty. After all, it's the same abuse of an American icon of liberty and democracy in the service of "oppressive theocracy." Iran is a sectarian Shi'a theocratic state seeking to violently spread its interpretation of oppressive, anti-democratic sharia law around the world. Functionally, in the worldview of much of the left, the WOC and Iran are the same thing, seeking the same end.

Does it not also offend you as much? Is there a difference? I'm curious to hear anyone's thoughts on this.