Trigger warning! ISIS cartoons may be offensive for those who tolerate evil

12/22/2015 / By D. Samuelson

A picture is worth a thousand words. This well worn phrase certainly applies to the imagery from the hand of Bob Gorell, a visionary cartoonist and artist from Greensboro, North Carolina. Gorell’s decades of creating award-winning cartoon and commentary have culminated into simple images that mourn the loss of freedom, while calling out the evil tyranny that kills, steals and destroys. The mocking tone of his most recent work gives pause to consider those who took their freedom of speech and cartoons seriously enough to die for it.

In January 2015, the editorial offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was attacked. Twelve people were murdered, including four cartoonists. Their crime was publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed.

A decade before the Charlie Hebdo attack, periodicals in Norway and Denmark did the same. World-wide protests ensued. Vebjoern Selbeek was chief editor of Magazinet, an evangelical Christian paper in Norway that reprinted the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons. He and his family received 300 death threats, yet through it all, he fought for the rights of freedom of speech and artistic expression. The Danish Free Press Society held a conference in September 2015 entitled “The Danish Muhammed Cartoon Crisis in Retrospect.” Selbekk gave an impassioned speech of what happened to his family and faith during that time, and how his upbringing behind the Iron Curtain was pivotal in giving him strength.

In today’s eroding world of truth and freedom of speech, this presentation is a must see.