Islam, ‘radical’ John Cleese and the tragicomedy of modern Britain

Britain’s hostility to free speech and perverse catering to barbarism just crossed into absurdity with a “radicalization” complaint against comic genius John Cleese.

Cleese has spent months sporadically giving Islam and some Muslim cultures the “Life of Brian” treatment — that is, pointing out apparent contradictions with civilized life when it comes to things like female genital mutilation, child marriage and “killing infidels.”

So somebody sent in a terrorism complaint — flagging him to Prevent, a program under the Counter Terrorism Policing unit that’s supposed to head off “radicalization.”

The actual threat is Islamist radicalization, though the Brit elite won’t say so out loud and in fact loudly pretends otherwise, to the point that they seem to find excessive displays of the Union Jack more troubling.

Anyway, the complaint charges Cleese with a “sustained pattern” of online activity that “demonizes, dehumanizes, and collectively attributes violence and criminality to Muslims and Islam.”

Even if that were so, it’s no more objectionable than similar charges against Christianity or any other faith — nor is there any real evidence that even baseless criticism of Islam leads to terrorism or mass violence.

“Criticism of Islam is not racist, it’s culturalist,” Cleese has argued; a civilized nation shouldn’t accept female mutilation, child brides etc.

And those who disagree with his claim that the “Koran’s teaching is ALL about acquiring power, killing ‘infidels’ and imposing Islam on everyone” are free to argue the point.

Calling out barbaric practices — as much of these are — is not only legitimate, it’s essential for preserving a civilized society.

Yet Britain has grown increasingly protective of Muslim sensibilities — in April, London police threatened to arrest an “openly Jewish” man for refusing to leave the area near a pro-Palestinian march. (They later admitted “being Jewish is not a provocation.”)

The British establishment is fixated on avoiding “Islamophobia” — to the point where police in multiple towns, fearing they’d be seen as insensitive racists, for decades enabled “grooming gang” rings of mostly Pakistani-immigrant men who sexually abused thousands of schoolgirls.

Off at the other end of the UK’s cloud-cuckoo-land, the Green Party just officially opposed Israel’s existence as a Jewish state, equating Zionism with racism and all but calling for an ethnic cleansing of Jews from the Holy Land.

Of course, with leadership like this it’s an open question whether Britain will outlast Israel: The country is turning further upside-down than anything the Monty Python ever imagined.

Except that this isn’t comedy, but sheer tragedy.