Whose ox gets gored?
I was always a big "Bloom County" fan growing up. I loved the idea of pear pimples for hairy fishnuts and the torrid affair between U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and Bill the Cat was hilarious. When cartoonist Berkeley Breathed made political points, he was never as overbearing and unfunny as Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury."
Breathed is in the news again because of the next two week's Sunday "Opus" comics have Lola Granola on a spiritual journey whose current stop is on "Radical Islamist."
Note to Opus readers: The Opus strips for August 26 and September 2 have been withheld from publication by a large number of client newspapers across the country, including Opus' host paper The Washington Post.
There's some debate as to whether the comics are being pulled because of the religion angle or a subtle sex joke that isn't something anyone under the age of 13 will get. Personally, my money's on the "radical Islamist" angle based on how too many newspapers cowered when the infamous Danish Muhammed cartoons were in the news.
Editor & Publisher put the count of cowardly publishers at at least 25. Though I haven't been able to find a list of the papers that refused to run the comics.
The double-standard is getting to be really annoying. Does anyone want to do a search of the Washington Post archives and take a look for articles on "Piss Christ" or the elephant dung-covered "painting" of the Virgin Mary?
It looks like the key to getting respect in much of the media nowadays is to keep them guessing ... if you're going to blow up their building.
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[...] I mentioned last week that at least 25 newspapers, including the Washington Post had declined to publish Berkeley Breathed’s “Opus” cartoon these last two Sundays because of its “questionable content.” The content in question being the mocking of “radical Islam.” [...]