nnocence of Muslims is a crude and trashy video that portrays the Prophet Mohammad as a hate-mongering bum who approves of violence and sexual child abuse. Considered by Western audiences that adores the popular cartoon South Park, which mocks many religions on a regular basis, Innocence of Muslims is clearly insulting, but it’s too boring to be worth a second thought. By conservative Islamic standards it’s blasphemy. And, it’s sparked the murder of four American diplomats in Libya.
Largely ignored at first, for the simple reason that’s it’s really not very good by any standard, this YouTube video has now been seized as an excuse for protests and attacks on American embassies in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen.
Google, YouTube’s owner, but in no way, shape, or form the video’s creator, is stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, as part of the Western culture, they’re invested in freedom of speech. On the other, this shabby video has been used as an excuse for murderous attacks.