Nothing to fear but fear itself?

The BBC this morning reported that a Berlin opera company has cancelled a Mozart production over security fears because it features the severed heads of the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus.

Deutsche Oper said "incalculable" security risks would be posed by staging Idomeneo.

"We know the consequences of the conflict over the (Muhammad) caricatures," the opera company said in a statement.

"We believe that needs to be taken very seriously and hope for your support."

The opera was staged in Berlin in 2003, drawing criticism over a scene where the king presents the heads of Greek sea god Poseidon, Muhammad, Jesus and Buddha.

The director, Kirsten Harms, said security officials had now warned of possible problems if the production went ahead, and that it was in the best interests of performers and opera-goers to cancel it.

Berlin's mayor, Klaus Wowereit, said the director had made the wrong decision to scrap the production.

"Our ideas about openness, tolerance and freedom must be lived out on the offensive," he told the Associated Press.

"Voluntary self-limitation gives those who fight against our values a confirmation in advance that we will not stand behind them."

It is a sad day when the work of one of the world's most respected composers is rejected because it may provoke people to violence on the basis of religion. The unpalatable truth of the matter is that they're probably right. If this production were to go ahead you can almost guarantee a bunch of fanatics would hit the streets from Berlin to Baghdad screaming for revenge.

Does anyone expect a bunch of old school Greeks, Tibetan monks or bolshy protestants to pour into the streets screaming blue murder? Of course not. Unfortunately, a violent and completely over the top reaction from Muslims is a very real possibility and at least part of me understands the concerns of an opera company who doesn't want to put its performers at risk.

But are we really going to be frightened into submission and have our freedom to enjoy art curtailed by threats of violence? What the hell is going on here? If somebody grabbed a high ranking Imam, lopped his head off and stuck it on a pike out the front of the Berlin Opera House I'd understand if people were a tad miffed. But if the decapitation of a deity and a couple of prophets occurs in a work of fiction, written by one of history's greatest ever composers and sung by fat people in frilly clothing you need to take it with a grain of fucking salt.

Now look here you savage bastards, if you expect people to tiptoe around your absurdly delicate sensibilities, how is it that you don't see any need to afford anyone else the same courtesty. For a while there you lot were the most progressive, enlightened and advanced civilisation on the planet. This at a time when Christians spent an awful awful lot of time running around burning each other and praying in a language they didn't speak. What happened? Where did it all go wrong?

Am I on the money here or am I just turning into a right wing talkback host? After all if we let these Sharia Law abiding cunts have their way, there would be a complete ban on singing, dancing, music and pretty much anything which might be considered fun. You know what I don't understand? If you lived in some shitsville country like Afghanistan or Somalia and spent your days roasting your your arse off and eating dirt in between having your village annihilated by natural disasters, wouldn't you want a bit of song and dance to lighten your heart every now and then? It's not like your everyday life is so crash hot you can't possibly deal with the idea of any more fun is it?