The Prophet as a Bear

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of the U.S. cartoon series “South Park,” have received indirect death threats from radical Islamists. The banal reason: In the recently broadcast 200th episode, the prophet Mohammed made an appearance in a bear costume, being transported in a delivery van.

The website Revolutionmuslim.com, which recently went offline, posted a warning that read, “We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid, and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh airing this show.” The Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was stabbed to death by a Muslim in Amsterdam in 2004 for criticizing Islam.

So now what? A fatwah against comic strips? It took considerable effort to get over the Victorian age when even piano legs were considered highly erotic and had to be covered in public. This current iteration of Middle Ages 2.0, where holy warriors play a media keyboard tune that conflates modern communication technology with an archaic lack of humor, is far more unpleasant.

Don’t these Islamists know that “South Park” — the irreverent cartoon series produced and broadcast by the Comedy Central television network — has been ridiculing every world religion much to the delight of agnostics big and small all this time? Whether Christians or Jews, Scientologists or Mormons, “South Park” revels in highlighting the absurd aspects of their existence.

Cartman and his friends have already dealt with phenomena like homophobia in rap music, after which Matt Stone said he was sure he would have to fear for his life. But the rappers stayed cool. We probably can’t expect that much from religious fanatics.