Satire and news don’t always get along, of course.

Berkeley Breathed’s comic in its various incarnations, now Opus, previously Bloom County, etc., has satirized everything from right-wing Christian evangelism to Greenpeace. But apparently the strip has gone too far this time; it dared to pose a joke at which fundamentalist Islam was the butt end.

A few other folks on the same topic:

Fort Liberty:

If your local newspaper doesn’t print this cartoon, I recommend that you can your subscription and let them know why you are canceling your subscription. Freedom of Speech is a very important value for the American culture, and this is an important step in preserving that freedom.

Michelle Malkin (so I can say I linked to her once) has a characteristically intolerant way of saying something that I otherwise agree with:

According to Breathed’s syndicated, some 25 newspapers refused to run the strips.

Let’s have the names, shall we? If your paper regularly carried Opus, but didn’t run yesterday’s strip, speak now.

All of this illustrates a couple of things: everybody loves free speech sometimes and it’s weird, but this is one of those times when it appears to be funnier (to the editors who blocked the strip, I mean) when the joke’s on us.

Technorati tags: [ satire | opus | bloom county | censorship | freedom of speech ]