"Offensive" Comics

Listening to npr this afternoon as I drove into the office, I heard a story about how the editors at The Washington Post had refused to run this installment (26 August) of the comic strip Opus
for fear of "offending" Muslims. The Ombudsman for The Post fortunately called the editors on the carpet for their decision. I cannot say how sick I am of this sort of insane over-senstivity on the part of both the press and various religious and political groups. But in this instance the entire episode seems to have been driven by a mix of paternalism and paranoia on the part of The Post editorial staff.