Bleeping Mohammed

"Cowardly Central"--that's what an editorial in the New York Post calls a channel formerly known by a more comical name:

For nearly 13 years, the irreverent -- to put it mildly -- cartoon show "South Park" has ridiculed every sacred convention in the book, from major religions and celebrities to gays and the physically disabled.

Nearly every bit of over-the-top satire has outraged someone or some group and prompted calls for the show to be boycotted or even banned.

And each time, for better or for worse, the program's network, Comedy Central, has stood firmly behind creator-producers Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Except when it comes to Islam and the prophet Mohammed.

This week, to mark its 200th episode, "South Park" featured a bit in which the characters try to figure out how to portray Mohammed without actually showing him. The show ended up showing him dressed in a bear costume.

Even that prompted a posting on a New York-based Web site, Revolution Muslim, that "warned" Parker and Stone they would end up like Theo Van Gogh -- the Dutch filmmaker killed in 2004 by an Islamic terrorist after he made a film dealing with abuse of Muslim women.

The producers sought to address that threat in the next episode -- but Comedy Central ordered any mention and depiction of Mohammed bleeped.

Shamefully, a character's 35-second speech at the episode's conclusion, warning against "intimidation and fear," was bleeped out completely -- even though it didn't mention Mohammed at all...

The Koran commands the faithful to

fight those who have not faith in God, nor in the Hereafter, and (who) forbid not what God and His Prophet have forbidden and (who ) are not committed to the religion of truth, of those who have been brought the Book, until they pay tribute by hand, and they are the low. (9:29)

I'd say they're 9/10ths of the way there, wouldn't you? Also--I'm sure I'm not alone in saying: South Park has been on for 13 years?

Update: This is the dude CC lowered itself to like a timorous little dhimmi? What a laugh!

Update: CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper--who really deserves his own show on Comedy Central--speculates that the South Park threateners may actually be "conspiracists" who are trying to make Islam look bad.