Brokeback Mohammed

Thursday, February 09, 2006 Latest Update: 2:32 a.m., Monday, February 13, 2006 In the news: The National Endowment for the Arts has granted $100,000 to artist Andres Serrano to create an art work to be called "Piss Mohammed." * * * The Brooklyn Museum will sponsor an exhibit by British artist Chris Ofili, in which the Prophet Mohammed is covered in dung and magazine cut-outs of male genitalia. * * * Playwright Terence McNally’s new show will soon appear on Broadway. In Brokeback Mohammed, Mohammed and his early followers are depicted as homosexuals whose idea of prayer was to form “daisy chains” facing Mecca. The play could not have been produced without the support of fellow playwright Tony Kushner. McNally and Kushner have both said that they will brave fatwas against them, if necessary, in the fight against religious intolerance and on behalf of freedom of expression. * * * New York Times columnist Frank Rich has celebrated the Brooklyn Museum exhibit and the coming McNally play, and the Times editorial page has published the Danish editorial cartoons mocking the Prophet. Moreover, the newspaper has announced that, for the rest of the year, it will give a gift of a copy of Salman Rushdie’s novel, The Satanic Verses, to every new subscriber. * * * In the ACLU’s newest campaign, it demands that the federal government revoke the tax-exempt status of all mosques that criticize the government or attack America. The organization has also threatened to sue any and all public schools promoting Islam, and demands that any school board and/or administrator guilty of continuing such propagation, be arrested. * * * Members of the Jewish Brotherhood have been firebombing the embassies and consulates of Moslem nations, calling for the death of Moslem editors, in protest against the blaspheming of Judaism and the anti-Semitic cartoons routinely published in Moslem newspapers, and brandishing signs with messages like “Massacre those who insult Judaism.” * * * Jews around the world are demanding that Moslem nations change their laws to respect Judaism, and apologize for blaspheming Judaism. * * * Steven Spielberg has apologized for Munich, and says he will redo the movie to make it more realistic, without the present phony moral equivalence between the Mossad operatives and the terrorists, or the guilt that his fictional operative presently feels about exacting vengeance for the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. * * * Meanwhile, Spain has announced that it will be dynamiting the new, Great Mosque of Granada, and forcing all Moslems to leave the nation for the second time since 1492. * * * And out of Israel today, came the third videotape this week of Jewish activists beheading a kidnapped Hamas leader. Israel has said that the kidnappings and beheadings will continue, until all Moslems leave Israel, including the West Bank and Gaza. The Jewish state also leveled the Dome of the Rock, and said that all remaining mosques in Israel will be converted for use as latrines. * * * Last, but not least, George W. Bush has announced his Crusade to invade all Moslem nations, and forcibly convert their inhabitants to Christianity. He calls it "The Ann Coulter Plan." Jonah Goldberg wrote a syndicated column praising the plan. * * * None of the above "news flashes" is true. But why should individuals, agencies, propaganda organs and governments not work to make them true? Islam is the world's most intolerant, bellicose religion; for Moslems, “tolerance” is but a euphemism for submission to Islam. And so, why should non-Moslems not give Moslems a dose of their own medicine, or at the very least apply their usual practices to Islam?