Zerbisias versus Shaidle, round one

Antonia Zerbisias took some cheap shots at Kathy Shaidle in her Toronto Star column:

Toronto-based blogger Kathy Shaidle (a.k.a. Relapsed Catholic) whose religious politics would have easily qualified her as chief judge and bonfire builder during the Spanish Inquisition. The woman never misses an opportunity to insult Islam. And so, it was hardly surprising that, not only did she publish the offending cartoons, she giddily took up the torch and ran with it.

On Sunday she posted a Tom McMahon cartoon claiming that when it comes to skyscrapers Muslims "destroy" them, and when it comes to cartoons Muslims "riot about them" — as if this applies to every single Muslim every single minute.

Why she doesn't call her blog the Daily Auto Da Fe — for the public burning of heretics in Spain — is beyond me.

Kathy responded in this post, titled "The Daily Cougar: So Very Creative":

Funny for so many reasons.

Who are the actual "heretic burners" around today? Me, for publishing some cartoons, or . . . a bunch of crazy Muslims demanding that cartoonists get their hands chopped off?

And yes, I really am morally superior to people like that, thanks muchly.

[. . .]

The "every single Muslim every single minute" line is about the level of argumentation you'd expect from a kindergartener, not a professional journalist. I can just as easily and petulantly respond that I don't "blog about crazed Muslim terrorists and their welfare bum/crack dealer supporters every single minute of every single day" to prove her wrong. And that would be just as lame.

She — and remember, this is a salaried journalist at Canada's largest paper, who, on every other issue, like allowing Al-Jazeera on Canadian tv, is all for free speech — explains that publishing the cartoons in North American papers "was not necessary to understanding the story. As many editors have explained, merely describing the cartoons is sufficient for making the point."

The gloves are definitely off in this fight. It's probably going to get much, much more violent after this exchange. Stay tuned, fight fans!

H/T to NealeNews for the URL to Zerbisias' column.