By John M. Rogitz

Is Comedy Central really prepared to prove to the world that the European press has more huevos than we do?

Many of you have probably heard the news: The hit television show South Park has been censored by its own network from showing an image of the prophet Mohammed.

In the first episode of a two-part special that aired last week, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker chose to depict Mohammed as a stick-figure on a piece of paper and then hiding in goofy-looking bear costume.  The end of the show left viewers with the impression that this week’s episode would show Mohammed taking off the bear-costume and revealing his face.

Being the opportunists that they are, this gave radical Muslims another reason to get offended and impose their fascist agenda on us.  That’s when Comedy Central intervened by putting a black box with white letters saying “Censored” on the screen where Mohammed should have been in this week’s show.

Avid watchers of South Park know two things about Mohammed’s depiction by Matt and Trey: (1) This is not the first time they’ve been censored by Comedy Central from showing Mohammed (although they did show him in a pre-9/11 episode) and (2) They have taken aim at every other religion, but only Islam and Scientology have been self-righteous enough to feel they’re above satire.

Color me shocked.

The last time South Park tried to show Mohammed was in 2006 with another two-part series.  The first episode of that one left viewers with the same impression – that South Park would show Mohammed in the next episode.  Challenging Comedy Central, South Park’s narrator ended that episode by saying, “Will television executives fight for free speech, or will Comedy Central puss out?”

Well, they pussed out…twice now.  Not only did Comedy Central black-out Mohammed on every shot in Wednesday night’s show, they also bleeped out the word “Mohammed” every time one of the characters said it.

Comedy Central was obviously scared off by the radical Islamic website that threatened Matt and Trey’s life last week for the bear-costume Mohammed.  The website, RevolutionMuslim.com, reacted to the first show by saying “We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show.  This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will happen to them.”  The site accompanied that “non-threat” with a graphic picture of Theo Van Gogh dead in the street and Matt and Trey’s home addresses.

Not a threat?  In case you don’t know, Theo Van Gogh was an artist who was brutally murdered in Amsterdam for offending Islam back in 2004.  Yup, “Revolution Muslim” sounds like an organization that would call only for protests and not violence against people like Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

Last year, one of Revolution Muslim’s founders was interviewed by CNN.  Younes Abdullah Mohammed said on video that, “We’re commanded to terrorize the disbelievers.”  Younes made sure to repeat that multiple times for the shocked reporter, and then he cited the Koran as his source.

Ironically, the ending monologue of this week’s South Park (which was also bleeped out even though it did not mention Mohammed, according to Matt and Trey) summed up the moral of their story.  The entire Mohammed ordeal was about not bowing down to intimidation and fear.

I’m with Matt and Trey on that one.  But besides cowardly American television producers, there’s something else that has been bothering me about all this.  I have yet to see any Muslim organization condemn the veiled threat made against Matt and Trey.

Where is their outrage?  They’re always offended by our behavior.  Moderate Muslims go on and on about how they value many of the same things other Americans do.  I want to see them take a stand and support free speech.  It’s time they became offended at the behavior of their radical counterparts.

Well you know what?  This entire escapade offends me.  That’s right, it’s my turn to be offended.

One of the reasons the Muslim world hates us so much is because of our perceived arrogance.  Well, there’s nothing more arrogant than coming to some one else’s country, telling them to disregard their bedrock principles and then imposing your own intolerant, oppressive beliefs on them.

Who cares about South Park’s Muslim backlash?  It’s time for some American backlash.

COPYRIGHT 2010 JOHN M. ROGITZ