Hollywood Bravery?

As a conservative American, there are many social depravities that bother me (abortion as contraception, drug use, treatment of women in hip-hop culture, etc.), but expressions of humor, for the most part, do not.  In fact, shock humor is rather relaxing to the brain.  So when Sacha Baron Cohen's new film, "Bruno", hits the cinema, I would happily go see it as I did his 2006 hit, "Borat".  I actually admire the creative genius of Trey Parker and Matt Stone with not only their incredibly funny "South Park" series, but for one of my all-time favorites, "Baseketball".  Even in print media, I found that the best of Gary Larson's "The Far Side" comics were his unpublished parodies of God and Jesus Christ.

But here lies the conundrum.  It seems that Hollywood for the most part (and print media for a smaller part) focuses on shock comedy where the subject of their antics are solely targeted to groups that do not physically fight back.  Yes, occasionally, you get some conservative groups without a sense of humor filing law suits against entertainers and their producers for depraving Christian or Jewish religions and other conservative icons.  But that is actually quite rare and you do not see thousands of conservatives in the streets calling for the death of these entertainers.

So why do Hollywood actors and directors in particular, and entertainers in general, claim to be brave when creating a film trashing conservative Judeo-Christian culture.  Just listen to Bill Maher after his "Religulous" movie was released.  You would have thought that he narrowly escaped death at the hands of violent Christians for being so courageous with his audacity to make such an exposing film.  And how about all the recent Hollywood flops bashing American soldiers, the Iraq war, and the war on terrorism in general?  Oh, those actors and directors were so brave to expose the "truth" about American imperialism.

Brave?  Is George Clooney hiding?  Are Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie locked in a secret bunker?  Of course not.  Their targets of humor, Judeo-Christian conservatives, are not going to put a hit on them and will most likely watch their movies, enjoy their TV shows, and listen to their music, completely capable and open to laughing at themselves and shrugging off insults.

You want brave?  You want to see courageous?  Talk to Brigitte Gabriel about courage in her exposures of Islamic terrorism and the treatment of Muslim women.  Talk to the producers of Danish paper Jyllands-Posten for their published satirical cartoons of Mohammad.  Talk to the family of Theo van Gogh who was assassinated by Islamic terrorists for the awful crime of Theo Van Gogh.  His crime?  Making a film called "Submission" which portrayed Islamic violence against women.  For this he had to die.

And Hollywood has the nerve to call actors like Sean Penn brave for portraying a gay man in the movie, "Milk"?  Really?  Courageous?  Was Sean Penn going to die from a conservative fatwa for his portrayal of a gay man?

I have a challenge for Hollywood, the print media, and the music industry here in America.  It is time to be brave.  It is time to be courageous.  I challenge Hollywood to make satirical movies about Mohammad.  I want to see more cartoons and caricatures about Mohammad.  I want to hear rap songs against the oppression of Islam.  The hip-hop culture thinks they are "brave" as well for their "stand against the man".  Conservatives do not care about hip-hop nor lash out against rappers violently.  Again, there are the occasional law suits; big deal.  Conservatives in general ignore hip-hop because they rap about gratuitous sex, abusing women, doing drugs, and hating police.  Be courageous and rap about fatwas from Islamic leaders for the death anyone drawing a picture or writing a book or singing a song against Mohammad.  Sing a song against Mohammad if you have the guts.

Entertainers know they are safe to criticise conservatives and conservatism because they know there are no physical repercussions.  They win most of their law suits due to freedom of speech and expression, so there really is no threat to them.  Knowing this, would Hollywood, the music industry, and the print media please stop with this self admiration of your supposed "bravery"?

Cartoonists, opinion column writers, film makers, actors, musicians, you all have plenty of serious material that can be turned into humorous satirical exposure that will definitely prove your courage:  Mohammad at 49 marrying Aisha at 6 years old, Islam being peaceful until its numbers grew more than the local Jews then it was forever war, more Muslims die at the hands of other Muslims than all causes of death combined, treatment of women, "honor" killings, the fact that Muslims hate Palestinians more than Jews do, people are killed for drawing Mohammad, people are killed for leaving Islam, and on and on.  All that seems serious but all of that and much more could easily be turned into parody by Sacha Baron Cohen, Bill Maher, Saturday Night Live, South Park, Sean Penn, Woody Allen, etc.  But they don't.

"Schindler's List" was an amazing movie and the story had to be told, but Steven Spielberg knows that the Germans are not going to riot against him, so this movie was not courageous to make.  Why not create a movie about the be-headings of Americans and the killing of women for the high crime of being raped, since rape meant they had sex with someone other than her husband?  Mr. Spielberg would be truly brave for that.  Sasha Baron Cohen makes fun of European countries in "Borat" because it is easy to make fun of countries that do not want to kill us.  Try making a "Mohammad" movie next time, Sasha?  Let's see you wear your "Bruno" outfits with a Mohammad wig and beard preaching from the Kuran in broken Arabic.  That would not only be absolutely hilarious, it would be incredibly brave (not to mention the most watched movie in the history of the world!).  Bill Maher makes "Religulous" because it is easy and completely safe to trash Judeo-Christian religions and values.  He is no hero.  Want to be a real hero, Bill?  Make your next movie undercover in Islamic countries interviewing Mullahs in mosques the way you did in "Religulous".  That would be brave and that would make for an entertaining, thought provoking movie.

What the entertainment community fails to understand is that the entire world needs this.  Islam is converting millions not by the sword anymore, but by the gun, with no chance for escape without death.  The mere drawing of Mohammad causes riots in America and around the world resulting in dozens of murders.  Yet, the beheading of Daniel Pearl resulted in exactly zero protests from so-called moderate Muslims.  More needs to be done to expose the radical elements of Islam around the world and force Islam to go through what Judaism and Christianity went through hundreds of years ago - a true reformation.  It is time to determine the true moderate Muslims from the Islamists.

The entertainment industry in America can lead the world in this effort to reform Islam and make this world a more peaceful place simply by not being afraid to produce both dramatic and satirical movies, songs, drawings, and articles about Islam and the prophet Mohammad.  The world is scared to death to speak against Islam and to parody Mohammad.  It is time to be brave, Hollywood.  It is time to stand up for true free speech and freedom of expression.  Islamists around the world are suppressing it.  We are the last best hope of the world.  Prove to the world that America still stands for freeom and liberty, and that we can openly discuss and even poke fun at Islam without repercussions.

Will you truly be courageous?  Who will be first?