Death Threats from the Religion of Peace

What if there was one historical figure that just simply could not be lampooned? I’m not talking about a George Orwell book now. I’m talking about reality. What if people in the free world, who had the right to free speech, would not dare lampoon this figure, because so many people on the planet had become brainwashed into thinking he was a "prophet”? Maybe this seems just too mind-numblingly absurd to even entertain, but what if – what if the fear that these people would be offended, and then hurt you, or kill you, kept everyone silent – afraid to poke fun at the imaginary holy man – afraid to exercise their right to free speech? Is there even a word for something so absurd, so incredibly ridiculous? In fact there is. It is called being "Sharia-compliant”.

TUESAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2012: "Sharia and the Constitution” was the name of the panel I was speaking on the night before, in Orange County, California. I spent the night at a motel and got on to the freeway for a long drive home, after the traffic had let up.

A friend called and we started to discuss how the event had gone the night before. It had gone well, but we should be speaking to much bigger audiences, I said. "What’s it going to take?” she asked, "Seriously, what’s it going to take for people in America to realize that we aren’t all paranoid nutcases for pointing out that Political Islam is at war with us and on the rise?” Good question.

I thought about this and answered, "Hate to say it, but probably another 9/11. And come to think of it, Egypt has about enough rope to hang itself with, having elected a terrorist organization – The Muslim Brotherhood – to run their country. Sooner or later, the other shoe is going to drop, and when it does, perhaps people will rise from their slumber. It’s just a matter of time before the Islamists in Egypt go off their meds and start demanding the usual death to America kind of stuff.” There was an uneasy moment of laughter, followed by a mutual realization that this was probably indeed true.

When I got off at my exit in Los Angeles I said goodbye and we hung up. I turned on a talk radio program and listened, when I heard someone say that Islamic protesters were storming the Embassy in Egypt. Muslim men had scaled the sides of the Embassy and broken in. Crowds shook their fists yelling, "Death to America!” There was rioting. I turned up the volume. This was turning into one of those days where it just sucks to be right. Everything I had been saying was going to happen, as the result of the "Arab Spring” was beginning to happen. Then things took an even worse turn as the radio voice said, "… protesting an anti-Islam filmmaker in Los Angeles…” Uh-oh.

I am the only filmmaker I know of in Southern California who is known for expressing views which are critical of Islamic Law. Maybe there were other filmmakers who were opposed to Political Islam as well, but I was the only one writing articles about it, going onto the radio, television and speaking out at public events. This could not be good.

When I got home, I sat down in front of the computer to try to find out more of what was going on. The media was claiming that a YouTube video called "The Innocence of Muslims” had sparked all of this rage.

So I found the video on YouTube. It didn’t (yet) have that many views. The production quality was dismally awful. The storyline was incoherent and it promised to be a "trailer” for an upcoming Hollywood film. There is a saying in Hollywood, that showbiz is about 90 percent delusion. Still, there is no way any Hollywood studio would be connected to something like this. (continue reading...)