Radical Muslims now specifically targetting libertarians: Death Threats to South Park creators

by Eric Dondero

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are longtime self-proclaimed "libertarians." Indeed, Parker is actually a registered Libertarian Party member. They are friends of Reason Magazine. And they have used explicit libertarian themes in numerous episodes.

In the early 2000s, a movement was born out of their series, called "South Park Republicans." They are described as center-right Republicans, mostly suburban fans of the show, with moderate libertarian-leanings. There was even a book released by author Brian C. Anderson called "South Park Conservatives."

And now, like European Free Speech advocating Cartoonists, they have been specifically targeted with a serious Death Threat from a major Islamic Website.

From FoxNews.com "'South Park' Creators Could Face Retribution for Depicting Muhammad, Website Warns" :

A radical Islamic website is warning the creators of "South Park" that they could face violent retribution for depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode broadcast on Comedy Central last week.

RevolutionMuslim.com posted the warning following the 200th episode of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's "South Park," which included a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad disguised in a bear suit. The Web posting also included a graphic photo of Theo van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker who was murdered in 2004 after making a documentary on violence against Muslim women.

"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show," the posting reads. "This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."

Reaching by phone early Tuesday, Abu Talhah al Amrikee, the author of the post, said he wrote the entry to "raise awareness." He said the grisly photograph of van Gogh was meant to "explain the severity" of what Parker and Stone did by mocking Muhammad.

"It's not a threat, but it really is a likely outcome," al Amrikee said,

Ironically, both Parker and Stone were guest speakers at a conference in Amsterdam in 2006 on the topic of Free Speech Rights, sponsored by Reason. Editor Nick Gillespie said at the time:

One of the reasons we were interested in having a conference in Amsterdam is that it’s not only the birthplace of tolerance but the site of one of the most brutal crimes related to free speech in recent memory: the 2004 murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who was stabbed to death in the street after making a 10-minute film critical of Islam’s treatment of women.

Parker commented to Reason in a resulting interview, Dec. 2006 isue:

This is what happened. I was on my honeymoon in Disney World. I turned on the television, and there were thousands of rioting Muslims, and the caption said, “Muslims enraged over cartoon.” And I said, “Oh, shit. What did we do?”

We actually did an episode five years ago with Muhammad in it. It was an episode called “Super Best Friends,” and Muhammad had super powers and turned himself into a beaver and then killed Abraham Lincoln. I thought, “They finally just saw it, and they’re all pissed off.” But no, it was those other cartoons that they were mad about.

Reached for a comment, Gillespie told Libertarian Republican yesterday:

To say that semi-veiled death threats against the creators of a cartoon show that spoofed Mohammed demonstrates the need for an Islamic reformation is self-evident. The threats, especially the invocation of the brutal murder of Theo van Gogh by a religious nutbar, should shame all serious Muslims the same way the pope's behavior in sexual-abuse scandals shames true Catholics. Whether religious or secular, ideologies that try to suppress dissent and free expression through violence always lose, and always make themselves more abjectly pathetic on the road to the dustbin of history.

Editor's Note - Michael W. Dean contributed to this story.