Another Deadly Sin

The indecency we’ve accepted from American television over the last four decades would be impossible in Muslim countries, not because of tyrannical theocrats, but because of the massive protests that would explode in the streets. I remember watching Forrest Gump in Cairo. All kissing had been cut out, and Jenny’s nude performance of Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind. We are wrong to dismiss criticisms we receive for our celebration of promiscuity, even when those critiques come from sources that are otherwise poor models for us. Any TV executive in Qatar who allowed the smut American producers promote would have a throng of angry Arabs outside his office screaming for his head...