Time To Weigh In on Bugs vs. Mohammed

Although the issue has sort of run its course, there have been some minor concerns here in the States recently with the inability of any major media outlet to show a cartoon version of Mohammed, I thought it was time to add my own little red cent.

First off, as has been pointed out by John Hawkins over at RightWingNews and Newsbusters, South Park already ran a cartoon Mohammed in 2001. It was their "Super Best Friends" episode. Hilarious. Although even I occasionally groan at some of Matt Stone and Trey Parker's antics, I will always give them credit for having an equally big brass pair between them.

So where does that leave us? As the Danes are still reeling from their general stand behind the artists who drew the Mohammed cartoons, we saw a wave of publications and TV shows in the U.S. refuse to air them for fear of offending Muslims. More probably, they just didn't want to be added to the target list of the radical islamists (because they'll want to kill one infidel more than another).

Organizations that scream "free speech violation" over someone passing gas loudly in a crowded theater have run and cowered in fear of potential retaliation for simply reporting the news. They don't even get this worked up over George W. Bush, usually, which should give you some indication of just how far uncorked the media is over these Mohammed cartoons.

They were a message, and many of them couldn't even remotely be seen as "offensive", certainly not as offensive as some of the cartoons aimed at Christianity or Judaism. Christians and Jews, as it's often pointed out, aren't quite as sensitive as the Islamofascists over a cartoon portrayal of their major religious figure. Nor should we be about someone drawing Mohammed. They can draw him doing whatever they want him to do for all I care. That's the beauty of free speech in America.

And Muslims have every right to be offended, just as others are offended when their own religious figures are mocked. They do not have the right, though, to dictate to the rest of us how we should act or what we should do. The United States is not a Muslim nation. Muslims living in the United States are free to practice their religion without fear of persecution, but they suffer the delusion of much of the Hard Left if they think they also have the right not to be offended.

That Comedy Central has knuckled under and kowed like every other major media outlet when faced with such a controversial issue just shows that although many of them may profess a belief in freedom of speech and expression and may even truly believe in it, they simply don't want to fight for it.

When push comes to shove, they'd rather lose their freedom than their lives, a not altogether selfish thought mind you, but one they and others who feel the same should consider very carefully. If you let radical Islamists deny you your freedom today, will you let the U.S. government do it tomorrow, or China or North Korea? Where do you then draw a realistic line, or do you just give up and bend over?

I'm afraid, if they and others really want their freedom, they'll have to make a stand and truly defend it. If it means there's a certain risk to it, well what did they get in the media business for if not reporting the news no matter the cost? The major outlets certainly have no trouble reporting classified intelligence on the open waves? What are a few Bugs Bunny style cartoons compared to that? If they have no problem airing "Piss Christ" or "Elephant Dung Virgin Mary" (why the fascination with elephant dung, by the way?), then they should have no problem with a few political cartoons. Or they could just come out and admit they have no objectivity and are the pinnacle of hypocrisy and we can move on. Some how, I don't think we'll get either response, but at least they could be a little more like Stone and Parker and act like they've got a pair.