It’s been several months since any Muslim terrorists have tried to kill people for creating art that offends them. Which means it’s been several months since anybody has tried to tell me that offending religious people is wrong, and that those blasphemers deserve whatever happens to them.
Which makes it a perfect time for this news. Whitney Friedlander, Variety:
AMC has given a series order to “Preacher,” the comic book adaptation that was developed by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and “Breaking Bad” alum Sam Catlin…
The project is based on the Vertigo series by Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon and was written by Catlin. It stars Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer, a preacher who struggles with relating to the parishioners in his small Texas town as well as finding his own way with God. Other roles include Ruth Negga as Jesse’s danger-loving ex Tulip O’Hare, Lucy Griffiths as his sister Emily and Joe Gilgun as Cassidy, an Irish vampire who happens into town and befriends Jesse.
Preacher is coming to AMC! @evandgoldberg @SamCatlin123! The beginning is nigh!!! pic.twitter.com/xVgqYrkEK9
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) September 9, 2015
Now, okay: I’m looking forward to this show, despite Seth Rogen’s involvement, because I read every single issue of the comic (and all of its many spinoffs) and it was great. Joe Gilgun as Cassidy is perfect casting, if you’ve ever read the comic and you’ve ever watched Misfits. Garth Ennis is a terrific writer, and I’m glad his work will finally be presented to a wider audience.
But — and it’s a big ol’ but — I know a lot of people are going to be offended by this show. If it’s anything like the comic was, it will be unbelievably blasphemous. It will treat the whole of Christian dogma like a big joke, it will shock for shock’s sake, and it’ll be completely unrepentant about it. Which is fine by me, because I have a sick sense of humor and I know He does too. We can take a joke.
But it’s inevitable that some Christians are going to complain about this show. (Fat stupid Bill Donohue is going to defecate masonry when it’s time to get some publicity from this, without ever defiling himself by actually watching a single minute of it.) And it’s equally inevitable that our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters on the left will heckle those devoutly religious people for not having a sense of humor about themselves. They’ll be told to shut up because they’re big babies, which is basically true.
But then, the next time Muslim terrorists try to kill somebody for pissing them off with a cartoon — or a movie, or a novel, or whatever — those same MEIBs will go back to calling it “hate speech.”
That’s different, you see, because Muslims are the designated victims. Christians should know better than to complain about blasphemy, but Muslims don’t need to know better than to kill people over art. They must be coddled. We need to give them a soft warm blankie and a juicebox to soothe their precious feewings. “Did the bad man draw a mean cartoon? Awwwwww! No wonder you threw a tantrum. There, there. (Please don’t kill me.)” The murderous savagery of Islamist maniacs is much more understandable than the prim disapproval of those inbred flyover morons with their “In Case of Rapture, This Car Will Be Unmanned” bumper stickers.
Keep in mind all the people who complained about this:
Because they’re about to tell you not to complain about this:
Somebody tried to kill Bosch Fawstin for that first image. What are the odds that’ll happen to anybody involved with the second one?
I’ll defend ’em both. I like free speech and I cannot lie!