Way back in March—a veritable eon, in Internet Outrage time—the Very Serious People were Very Seriously Upset that ABC Family planned on producing Alice in Arabia, a show in which, horror of horrors, Saudi Arabia was going to be portrayed as a place that wasn't terribly keen on things like "gender equality" and "human rights." As I noted at the time, outlets like ThinkProgress were denouncing it for framing the show's "central conflict would be 'backwards East' versus 'liberated West.'"
Of course, that is the central conflict in the world right now. It's a conflict between those who would kidnap girls and sell them into marriages for $12 and those who wouldn't. It's a conflict between those who believe in the enlightenment and those who think that "diversity" means refusing to point out that Saudi Arabia is a medieval theocracy that rejects human rights.
Consider the news out of the "The Kingdom" today:
Amnesty International is calling on Saudi Arabia's authorities to quash the outrageous sentencing today of Raif Badawi in connection with an online forum for public debate he set up and accusations that he insulted Islam.
Raif Badawi, co-founder of the "Saudi Arabian Liberals" website, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals (about US$266,631).
Goodness gracious, though, we wouldn't want ABC Family to air a program that might hurt the feelings of the backwards people who would engage in barbarism such as this. That would be really outré, wouldn't it?