This hardly has to be said… but here’s another example of fanatical Islamists going nuts over humor. It’s just like the Danish cartoon controversy. Someone does a parody and suddenly hundreds of people are out on the streets causing trouble! The usual suspect, Hezbollah, is behind the latest street rioting in Lebanon, where a television station broadcasted a mock of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and they apparently got peeved.

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) – Hundreds of Shiite Muslims enraged by a TV comedy that mocked the leader of Hezbollah took to the streets of southern Beirut on Thursday night, burning car tires and blocking roads – including the highway to Lebanon’s international airport, police and witneses said.

The trouble began shortly after a TV show on Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. – a privately-owned Christian channel – in which an actor spoofed Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, wearing the Hezbollah leader’s trademark black turban and sported a similar beard and spectacles.

Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters immediately went out into the streets of southern Beirut, the stronghold of Hezbollah.

The totalitarian instinct of this group and its ardent followers is evident in the nature of these demonstrations. Politicians are mocked everyday, and no one else goes out and burns tires in the streets. But when Nasrallah, holy and benevolent leader, is joked about, that is much too far! Meanwhile, Jews/Americans/Christians/everyone/anyone/infidels are drawn with their heads on spikes. But that’s par for the course with Hezbollah. Double standards, anyone?

Raja sums it up pretty well:

I am confused. What exactly is Hassan Nasrallah to you? Is he your holy, sacred and revered spiritual leader? Or is he your political representative in a relatively democratic and plural political system? Oh yeah… you don’t need to answer those questions; I know: he has the privilege of being both.

Well let me convey the following to you: Hassan Nasrallah the politician is, in my book, subject to the same treatment afforded to Lahoud, Hariri, Franjieh, Aoun, Jumblatt and the rest of the clique!

I do not see Hassan Nasrallah as my spiritual leader. I see him as a politician – pure and simple: A Politician. I did not force him to become one. He chose that path, and just as a soldier must reconcile himself with death every day he is on the battle field, a politician (and his or her supporters) must reconcile themselves criticism.

I do not see Nasrallah as holy. He is not ???????muqaddas.??????? Your attempt to force that aspect of Nasrallah onto me smacks of tyranny, intimidation, bullying and everything that can go wrong in a democratic and plural environment. In the final analysis, if you want your ???????holy men??????? to represent you in the political system, I cannot do anything to stop you. You, on the other hand, need to accept the baggage that comes along with politics.

Taking things too serious isn’t good politics, but in a place like Lebanon that is still recovering from civil war, trying to define its own sovereignty, and establishing a plural democracy, it is an easy way to see the nature of the part itself. Good politicians use wit and humor to their advantage. The easily offended, like Nasrallah, go for a show of force instead. The result in Hezbollah’s specific case is that they are only hardening the resolve of the country’s other political forces to disarm the organization.