25 April 2010

(art by Norman Mingo, MAD, 1964)

What is it about certain Muslims and cartoons?

A tiny, pin-prick of a group in Manhattan called "Revolution Muslim" put some troubling text on its website last week. It seems the 200th episode of South Park -- a cartoon show -- was to include a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad disguised in a bear suit. The Revolution Muslim poster, a young man formerly known as Zachary Adam Chesser, but who now calls himself "Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee," and, according to FBI chatter, "Tiffany," alluded that the South Park creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, "will probably end up" like Theo van Gogh, the Dutch documentary producer who was slain in 2004 after releasing a film showing Islam's medieval treatment of women (take time to see his film, Submission).

While saying someone you don't like "will probably end up" murdered isn't an actual "death threat," it's also not an Arabic "attaboy."

Keep in mind that no one knows what Muhammad looked like. In fact, that was South Park's premise: how do you show Muhammad without actually showing him? Thus, the bear-suit disguise.

(art by J. Allen St. John, Weird Tales, 1933)

Comedy Central, which runs South Park, opted to bleep any mention of the Prophet Muhammad and also bleeped a speech at the end of the show about facing up to intimidation (the speech made no mention of Muhammad, Muslims, Islam, vodka, or BLTs.), but apparently, standing up for free speech gets a bleep at CC.

Hey Chesser/Al-Amrikee, I'm not a complete fan of South Park (though I have enjoyed some moments), but if I wanted everyone I didn't like DEAD, I'd be considered a whack job (whack as in crazy, not whack as in "to whack someone").

Hey Comedy Central: your network is gutless. South Park and many other shows and movies you present make fun of Christians, Jews, conservatives, stay-at-home moms, pro-lifers, and now Tea Partiers. The only reason you don't censor "humor" about these folks is because these folks won't blow themselves up next to your catered studio buffet.

But why the angst? Don't you have enough cash to hire security for your talent? Are you both cowardly and cheap?

(art by H. J. Ward, Spicy Adventure Stories, 1935)

I know what you may be thinking. Shouldn't we respect other people's beliefs? Sure, but as I already pointed out about Comedy Central, for the most part, media outlets only respect two kinds of belief:

1) those it agrees with (decidedly leftist)

2) those where it doesn't have to fear for its life (no matter how slight the actual threat)

Scott Collins and Matea Gold wrote this for The Los Angeles Times, "The incident provides the latest example that media conglomerates are still struggling to balance free speech with safety concerns and religious sensitivities" (23 April 2010). Well, that's certainly rich. The Times rarely "struggles" with this balance. Its belief system on free speech falls squarely under number 1 above. If it's concerned about free speech, then it could, like Comedy Central could, provide more security for its staff so they can "speak freely." It also wouldn't be a bad idea for journalists and comedy writers to make their own safety a priority by learning something like this, this, and this.

Why don't Christians react as Muslims do when the Lord is mocked? Because they have Jesus and His words and the Muslims do not:

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

Note: depictions of the prophet weren't always forbidden. For a rather exhaustive examination of this (the good, the bad, and the silly) visit the indispensable ZOMBIE page: South Park is the least of Islam’s problems: The Mohammed Image Archive displays every Mohammed portrait ever created. Page does contain some profanity (supplied by people responding to the page).

Thomas J. Clement

(art by Jack Kamen, Dagar, Desert Hawk, 1948)

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