I don't want to be offensive but....

Aren't they taking it a bit too far?

I am sick of reading articles about how Muslims are taking everything to be offensive. Recently I just watched a youtube video of one of my favourite vloggers BenLoka who recently appeared on a British TV Show. He was warned prior to airing that he would not be allowed to play any of his Hare Krishna songs that he is famous on youtube for because the Muslims find it offensive.

Then there's the whole Doritos factor. Muslims are now upset because some brands of Doritos contain trace amounts of alcohol.

Now Pakistan has blocked youtube because it contains some videos offensive to Islam. I'm pretty sure that you can find a video on youtube that is offensive to any sentiment, religion, politic standing, etc.

Muslims are also boycotting Wikipedia for having images of Muhammad.

Then there was that fiasco where the kids chose to name the teddy bear Muhammed.

I just read that they found some Burger King ice cream cones to be offensive because, if you look at them in the right light and from the proper angle they look somewhat similar to the word for Allah.

A book called "The Three Little Cowboy Builders" which was originally shortlisted to win an award was completely cast off the list because it might be offensive to some Muslims.

You can actually find a full list here: http://amboytimes.typepad.com/the_amboy_times/2007/02/the_list_of_thi.html

I just think the whole thing has been taken a little too far.

I am well aware that the Muslim concerns are heightened since the Iraq war but this is no excuse to demand that everyone bend to your will. Ray Bradbury wrote once that we will no longer have anything to write about if we are afraid of stepping on people's toes. We can't write books about cats because it will offend people who like dogs yet we can't write a book about dogs because it will offend the people who like cats. "For it is a mad world and it will get madder if we allow the minorities, be tey dwarf or giant, orangutan or dolphi, nuclear-head or water-conversationalist, pro-computerologist or Neo-Luddite, simpleton or sage to intefere with aesthetics. Fire-Captain Beatty, in my novel Fahrenheit 451, described how the books were burned first by the minorities, each ripping a page or a paragraph from the book, then that, until the day came when books were empty and the minds shut and the library closed forever". This is applicable in a larger sense. We have got to stop being afraid of stepping on toes. Get out there and charge!!!!!!

-C.S.