Once again, back by popular demand, is yet another Berkeley Breathed Sunday comic strip that a fair number of newspaper editors across the country were apparently too afraid to run for fear of offending Muslims. Other than the fact that it’s tangentially about Islam, I can see nothing even remotely offensive about the strip. If anything, I might be able to see how clueless, intolerant Right-wing American males might be offended, but what purpose could possibly be served by censoring this sort of humor? Hell, I’m offended by the news of Americans continually being shipped home from Iraq in flag-draped boxes. I’d never expect that news to be censored for risk of causing offense. What is it about Muslims that so terrifies newspaper editors? This is America; we can manage to find humor in just about anything. If you happen not to like that idea, you’re free to not consume the offending media…or lock yourself in a box…or go back to wherever you came from…Iraq, Idaho, Alabama, I really don’t much care.
Post-9.11, we’ve certainly become a collection of nervous nellies, haven’t we? Who says the terrorists haven’t won??
