Chip Bok's Bokbluster

I like this column by Diana West about the South Park threats. In it Trey Parker and Matt Stone point out that “if everyone had done what they normally do in news organizations, which would have been to print the cartoons, they could have rallied together”. Instead, the guy who drew Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, Kurt Westergaard (warning: the video link contains an image of The Prophet) (even worse warning: it contains subtitles) was” left hanging out to dry”.

This has always been my complaint about the Danish cartoon crisis. By submitting to intimidation by Islamic extremists (an influential minority in a billion person religion) and not showing the cartoons, which were the basis of a major news story, a sliver of Sharia law was introduced to the U.S. A bunch of thugs insisted the image of The Prophet may not be displayed and so, for the most part, it came to pass.

If you’re off the grid and haven’t heard about the South Park episode you’re probably not reading this either, but just in case, here is the story in the L.A. Times. And here’s a Huffington Post piece featuring a video of Jon Stewart sort of taking on his bosses at Comedy Central (warning: bad words).