Danish paper refused “offensive” Jesus cartoons
From Reuters by James Kilner

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – The Danish newspaper that first published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad infuriating Muslims worldwide previously turned down cartoons of Jesus as too offensive, a cartoonist said on Wednesday.

The cartoonist is wrong. They were offensive only in that they were badly done. That is, he’s a bad cartoonist.

Sure, this is what I would do as an artist. Try to capitalize on the current media frenzy just to be publicly told, by an editor, that you are not very good. To wit:

Jens Kaiser, the former editor of Jyllands-Posten’s Sunday edition who turned down the cartoons three years ago, said he had done so because they were no good.

“Having seen the cartoons, I found that they were not very good. I failed to see the purportedly provocative nature,” he said in a statement.

…

“Perhaps explaining my story of three years ago in its proper context at least won’t make matters any worse,” Zieler said.

First, Mr. Zieler is the cartoonist. Bringing this up now is just a way to get his name in the headlines.

Second, explaining his story won’t work. These people are offended by everything we do. If you said the sky was blue they would be offended. Christianity, Judaism, freedom, women, you name it, they’re offended. Until we are subjugated or converted they will continue to be offended.

So Mr. Zieler, continue to speak freely. We are who we are, just don’t expect that your explanation will not make matters worse.