Two gunman shot up a “Draw Muhammad” contest outside of Dallas on Sunday. Within hours of the attack, liberals criticized organizers of event for holding the contest, implying that they should have known better. Where is the outrage and unity from the press that we saw just a few months ago when the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo were gunned down by terrorists? Glenn had the story and his reaction on radio Monday.
On Sunday, TheBlaze reported:
A contest for cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in a Dallas suburb was put on lockdown Sunday night and attendees were being evacuated after authorities reported a shooting outside the building.
An officer dressed in SWAT gear took the stage toward the end of the event at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland and told attendees, including an Associated Press reporter, that a shooting had occurred. He said one officer — who was later released from the hospital — and two unidentified suspects were shot. Both suspects were reported dead on Sunday.
"Let me say the same thing that I said after Charlie Hebdo. Why you would [hold such a contest] is beyond me. I don’t support it. But you have the right to do it," Glenn said. "It’s free speech. I wouldn’t do it. But you have the right to do it. And because you have the constitutional right to do it, you have the right to do it without being shot or killed in a free society."
The lack of outrage over the attacks stunned Glenn. He said he woke up to see what The New York Times reported on the story, and it "was completely clean. There was no outrage. There was nothing."
Instead, some reporters, like foreign correspondent for The New York Times Rukmini Callimachi, implied organizer Pamela Geller and speaker Geert Wilders were to blame:
Free speech aside, why would anyone do something as provocative as hosting a "Muhammad drawing contest"?
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) May 4, 2015
"I can't put free speech aside. I mean, that's the point of this free speech event," Glenn said.
"It's freedom of speech. You absolutely have the right to do it," Stu said. "And in addition to that, you have the right to do it without the expectation of getting shot."