Cowardly Central's Surrender To Terrorism

Winston Churchill defined an appeaser as one who strikes a bargain with a crocodile, to feed his friends to the beast in exchange for the privilege of being the last one eaten. Today there seems to be a competition for the honor of being the last one beheaded.

On Wednesday evenings, Comedy Central’s animated South Park series issues a deliciously irreverent skewering of sacred cows. Whether it’s a celebrity whose cup of sanctimony runneth over or, a political cause deemed above criticism, the show brings the high and mighty down to earth. The self important, the pious and the pompous have known no greater scourge since H. L. Mencken terrorized their ranks early last century. The show’s iconoclastic creators make it a point to deflate whatever cause is currently taking itself too seriously. And when it is a religion or a religious figure that invites satire, the invitation is always accepted. Unfortunately, Comedy Central’s management does not share their courage.

After a dismal little website calling itself Revolution Islam threatened South Park’s creators, Matt Parker and Trey Stone, with death, Comedy Central decided to censor (again) references to Mohammed. The website didn’t even deserve to be taken seriously. It is maintained by a miserable little social misfit who now calls himself Abu Talhah Al-Amrike, but whose real name is Zachary Adam Chesser. From all appearances, he adopted Islam for the same reason that many children his age dye their hair purple and pierce their noses – to rebel against his parents.

He wrote on his website, “We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.”

For those of you who do not know, Theo Van Gogh was a Dutch film maker who was murdered after collaborating with Ayaan Hirsi Ali on a movie critical of Islam’s subjugation of woman. Hayaan Hirsi Ali eventually had to flee to the United States after the Netherlands fearfully informed her that it no longer wished to protect her from those same radicals.

Comedy Central crumbled and censored the show, elevating this pathetic loser beyond his wildest dreams. Ironically, the show was essentially a sequel to an episode that ran in 2001 that also portrayed Mohammed without the slightest upset. The world is a more easily frightened place these days.

Another Comedy Central show, Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, earned the plaudits of the easily impressed by supposedly standing with Stone and Parker. But that whole episode was just another exercise in pop culture cowardice. Stewart attacked the concept of issuing threats, but did not join South Park in directly challenging the specific origin of the threats. And perhaps more importantly, he did not stand up against the corporate cowardice of his employers – the people who tremblingly censored South Park in the first place.

This continues a pattern of cowardice in the decadent west. A few years ago there was a violent response to cartoon artists’ depictions of Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. United States newspapers reported the story, but fearfully declined to reprint the pictures. The pictures were not shown on television news. It was a craven blackout.

And a couple of decades ago, Indian born author Salman Rushdie penned a novel titled “The Satanic Verses,” that drew the ire of Iran’s theocracy. The mullahs not only pronounced a death sentence on Rushdie, but also threatened anyone who sold the book. The very same bookstores that every year celebrate their own courage for selling such subversive books as “Harry Potter” and “Huckleberry Finn” would not display “The Satanic Verses” on their bookshelves.

A Seattle cartoonist probably came up with the most appropriate response to threats. She declared May 20th “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day,” on the theory that “If each threat produces more blasphemers than it silences, then threats suddenly become counterproductive.”

This follows very nicely the “boobquake” experiment Monday. A couple of weeks ago, a mullah explained that earthquakes were caused by women who did not completely conceal their bosoms. So a student from Purdue University, Jennifer McCreight proposed that as many woman as possible should dress Monday in low cut blouses and dresses to test the theory.

This is how to confront threats – with scorn, ridicule and laughter, rather than cowering.