“CNN is Running Out of Religions to ‘Respect’”

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Well, this could be interesting:

The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has defended a controversial storyline in the comedy cartoon which sees Homer Simpson accuse his Muslim neighbours of terrorism.

In a forthcoming episode of the long-running show, dad Homer Simpson convinces friends that a Middle Eastern family are plotting to blow up a shopping mall but is proved wrong when it turns out the family’s father, Amid, works in demolition.

When the Simpson family have their Muslim neighbours over for dinner, Homer shows his ignorance of the Muslim faith calling Allah “Oliver” and holy book The Koran “The Corona”.

A spokesperson for Britain’s The Islamic Cultural Centre + The London Central Mosque has commented on the episode, telling U.K. newspaper the Daily Star, “I hope Muslims take no notice of the show.”

But Groening has come out in defence of the plot, saying, “Cartoons deal in stereotypes. We try to be sensitive.”

You do? Well, perhaps when there’s the possibility that one of your targets might actually fight back.

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No sign of Jay Sherman or Bart Simpson (though I think we know where Homer stands), but Debbie Schlussel spots one of the world’s biggest cartoon heroes in the tank for the world’s biggest celebrity. No word yet on whether they’ll be teaming up for a sequel to this Very Special Issue of Spider-Man.

Back in 2004, Power Line’s John Hinderaker wrote that comic books were “a medium in which the liberals will have a hard time competing”, but the left’s Long March Through The Institutions beginning in the 1960s and ’70s also included a stop there, alas.

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News you can use from Tim Blair:

If, on May 14, 1979*, you’d asked yourself, “How long must I wait until a cartoon cat uses the phrase ‘terrified asexual forcemeat?’”, the answer is 10,693 days.

* I think all of us were asking this question in 1979. Precise date selected at random.

And while such brilliant phrasing isn’t a part of “one of the best opening paragraphs ever written”, it’ll do until the next one comes along.

Update: More meaty, beaty, big & bouncy fun from the cartoon kingdom:

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The initial seeming near-blackout on the John Edwards scandal in the overculture notwithstanding, the American media aren’t the only ones with gaping memory holes: Canada’s CBC News profiles Syed Soharwardy, with nary a mention of this minor bit of unpleasantness.

(Via Kathy Shaidle.)

Related: Ezra Levant asks, “Is turn-around fair game?”

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This doesn’t surprise me in the least: “Clerics Who Started Cartoon Jihad Never Saw The Drawings“.

Father Andrea Santoro could not be reached for comment.

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News from the cartoon kingdom, as Berke Breathed’s “Opus” cartoon gets censored for exactly the reason you’d suspect.

As does….The Dreaded Ball of Blasphemy!

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Dilbert checks in on the War On Terror.

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Johnny Hart, the artist behind the long-running cartoon “B.C.” passed away today. Ed Morrissey has a warm encomium to Hart, whose cartoon was a favorite of mine, as well as my late father:

It seems especially fitting that Hart went to his Lord on Easter, and passed away at the storyboard. May the Lord accept Hart with open arms. Godspeed, Johnny, and thank you.

Incidentally, as I wrote in 2005, academia is working hard to ensure future generations won’t know what the cartoon’s initials stood for.

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I missed this when it first ran, but it’s a nifty piece of video journalism about an increasingly rare newspaper editor–a brave one:

Flemming Rose is an author and the cultural editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. He is the man principally responsible for the publication of the notorious Mohammed cartoons in that paper last year. On a recent visit to Washington DC, he spoke with Pajamas Media Washington editor Richard Miniter about the reality behind that controversy and its implications for Europe today.

If you missed it as well, click in and watch.

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The Great Cartoon Wars of 2006 open up a new front.

Update: But we can all breathe easier now–the UN is on the case!

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Back in February, at the peak of the Great Cartoon Riots of 2006, Glenn Reynolds wrote:

Once again, the message is that if you blow things up, or even look as if you might, we’ll be nice to you. And once again, I note that this is a very unwise message to send.

In an article by Cathy Seipp celebrating the tenth anniversary of a show that’s a riot of a cartoon, South Park’s producers echo Glenn’s instapoint:

Their philosophical position about the Mohammed cartoon is that a free society shouldn

Filed under: The Cartoon Kingdom, The Future and its Enemies, War And Anti-War

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Putting the P.C. back into PC video! Hey, remember all the talk from starry-eyed pundits who predicted Internet video would be free from the same deadly-dull uniformity that has crippled the television networks? Dream on, dream on…

(Incidentally, I wonder how many people in YouTube’s management had to scramble for a dictionary or Google to figure out what the heck the word “dhimmi” means, after watching this video.)

Update: More video-dhimmitudery spotted here.

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The New York Times, a newspaper that within the space of a year hired the photographer who created the infamous “Piss Christ” monstrosity andcompared a Christmas movie to Triumph of the Will feels that it can tell the Pope what to say. And as Allahpundit writes:

From the miserable bastards who not only wouldn

Filed under: Muggeridge's Law, Oh, That Liberal Media!, The Cartoon Kingdom, The Return of the Primitive

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While Borders was quick to ban little known secular humanist-oriented publication Free Inquiry in March when it ran The Cartoons That Dare Not Show Their Face, it apparently has no problem carrying the latest issue of liberal stalwart Harper’s, which has the same cartoons in it.

Now that these cartoons are in Borders’ stores, will the riots that Borders claimed they feared back in March promptly ensue? And if so, can Harper’s editor Lewis Lapham use his famous time machine to clean up the mess retroactively?

Fire up the Tardis, Lew!

Of course, it’s worth noting that Robert Bidinotto’s The New Individualist beat both magazines to the punch; hopefully Bidinotto will have some thoughts on Border’s recent flip-flop.

Update: Robert’s posted his thoughts:

Borders could have climbed one rung out of hell, in my estimation, had the company publicly acknowledged something to the following effect: “We over-reacted in March to security concerns in our decision not to carry Free Inquiry. We apologize to that magazine, and to those customers who were inconvenienced by our decision. We realize and affirm the importance of standing up for fundamental rights to free expression. Therefore, we will not make the same mistake in the case of Harper’s, whose June issue we are carrying on our newsstands.”

Such crow-eating might regain the company a small measure of respect and credibility: after all, it’s the least they owe to Free Inquiry.

Indeed, to coin an adverb.

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TigerHawk writes:

I don’t blame Comedy Central, or Border’s Books, or the world’s media organizations, for refusing to depict Mohammed out of fear of retaliation. Their job is not to defend freedom of speech, but to earn profits for their stockholders. Acting as a fiduciary, I would make the same decision. But let us not tolerate these same organizations claiming that they also support freedom of speech. They are lying when they say they do, because in order to defend freedom of speech, you have to be willing to protect speech against the inevitable threat of violence.

But watch both of these organizations quickly return to patting themselves on the back for how much they do support freedom of speech, and how hip and transgressive they are–in exactly the same way that movie industry superstars believe they’re on the cutting edge of controversy as well.

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In early March, Jim Geraghty wrote that America had reached was in its post-tipping point phase:

In the USA Today poll, when asked,

Filed under: Oh, That Liberal Media!, The Cartoon Kingdom, War And Anti-War

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If it actually airs, that is–The Officers’ Club writes that South Park is about to air those cartoons, if Viacom doesn’t get the willies first:

From what I could gather from the cliffhanger ending [of this week's episode], South Park creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone have forced Comedy Central to stand at the same crossroads that hundreds of newspapers and periodicals across America stood at not a month ago. Next week they will guest star Mohammed in all of his animated glory, and they have let Muslims know in advance that it’s a-coming.

Comedy Central has a choice. They can either stand by their longtime stars in Parker and Stone, or succumb to cheap threats from petty thugs. Should Comedy Central make a decision endorsed by the First Amendment, I will be glued to my tv next Wednesday at 10pm.

Over to you, Sumner Redstone!

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Because the controversy over the Mohammad cartoons doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon (just ask Borders), I decided to create a new category to tie all of our related posts on the topic together.

Eventually, I’ll go back and include other cartoon-related topics in this category, including coverage of the South Park TV series and Brian Anderson’s related South Park Conservatives book. But for now, as you’ll see if you scroll to the beginning of the category, it begins, appropriate enough, with A Word From Piglet…

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Charles Johnson writes, “Irony, Thy Name is Borders“:

In an advertisement for a book festival called Wordstock, sponsored in part by Borders Books, here

Filed under: The Cartoon Kingdom, The Future and its Enemies

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