Monday, August 27, 2007

This Is Because Christian Fundamentalists Don't Detonate

I just saw this post: Washington Post, Other Newspapers Won't Run 'Opus' Cartoon Mocking Radical Islam. This comes a week after they did publish an "Opus" cartoon mocking Jerry Falwell.

Here's the interesting little tidbit. The Washington Post Writers Group is the syndicate for Berkeley Breathed, the author of "Opus." When they sent out the cartoon to the local papers, they warned that Muslims might find the cartoon offensive. Amy Lago said she flagged the strip and, of course, also claims she "do[es] that fairly regularly with materials that might pose issues for local areas."

Of course, Ms. Lago did not send out such an alert regarding the Falwell cartoon. Perhaps this is because, as much as they are vilified in the press, Christian fundamentalists don't detonate.

The Christian riot consists of people boycotting Disney for a month.

The Muslim riot consists of lots of burning objects and dead people.

The article of course ends with what can only be described as "a keen sense of the obvious":

As far as whether the Post and the Post Writers Group syndicate treated content about conservative Christians differently than it did content about conservative Muslims, it certainly could be taken that way.

"It appears on the surface to be a double standard," Burford said, "but at the same time, the climate of the world probably informs their decision with how to go forward with it."
(Of course, I cannot resist the temptation: "The climate of the world" informs editorial decisions? That Global Warming is so pesky!!!!)

In any case, it would be nice of certain individuals *coughcoughRichardDawkinscoughcough* would own up to the fact that not all religions are equal, and, in fact, mocking Christians is a much less successful method of suicide than mocking Muslims. But when your template is "All religions are evil" you can't even see that which is labled under the "keen sense of the obvious."

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