Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Whom Did Opus Offend?
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_09_09-2007_09_15.shtml#1189884249
The Washington Post ombudsman, Deborah Howell, [1]investigates the
reasons the Post and other papers refused to run two recent
installments of Berke Breathed's "Opus" comic strip. The purported
justification was that the strips could be offensive to Muslims. Yet
as Howell discovers, it does not seem that Muslims were offended.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, a civil rights and advocacy group, wasn't offended. "
'Opus' poked fun at the strip's characters, not Muslims or Islam. I
see hundreds worse on the Internet every day," he said.
Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic studies at American University, also
wasn't offended. He said there is a strong Muslim tradition of
satire and self-deprecation. "I think there is a danger of us
becoming so politically correct that we end up by blunting the
critics' bent and the satirists' wit. Muslims need to be sensitive
to the fact that in Western culture there is a healthy tradition of
not taking things too seriously."
References
1.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/14/AR2007091401935.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
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