Admit it, newspapers: You’re scared of Muslims

This is really how these gut-checks work. A boundary-stretching case comes before you, and suddenly everyone’s an art critic. (Rainey: “I didn’t find the panel especially powerful or witty.”) I’ll never forget how many people reacted to the fatwa against Salman Rushdie by saying that, the thing is, Satanic Verses really isn’t a very good book, and it’s understandable that Muslims would take offense, etc. Faced with the fear of being blamed for (or the target of) a mysterious cartoon dog whistle that sends 1 billion of the planet’s humans into a homicide-bombing frenzy, editors bring to the table levels of scrutiny literally never used on the media in question.