Is it permissible to ridicule Jihad?

Stewart Baker at the Volokh conspiracy, pens an essay Will jihad jump the shark? in which he points out that it's becoming the "in" thing in certain circles to adopt Jihad as a fashion statment.

We’ve seen a rash of homegrown Islamist terrorists in recent years, and there has been a lot of agonizing about why. One explanation that I haven’t seen elsewhere still strikes me as plausible: The attraction that adolescents and the disaffected feel toward groups that their parents and teachers fear. If you’re feeling marginalized, after all, why not choose the margin? And while you’re at it, why not choose a marginalized group that inspires fear and unease on the part of mainstream society? At least then you’ll get a kind of respect.


In the past fifty years, adolescents have joined a host of marginalized groups their parents found dangerous – juvenile delinquents, mods and rockers, punks, skinheads, and Goths. So why not jihadis? Islamist terror certainly scares authority figures; why wouldn’t Western adolescents and misfits be attracted to violent Islamism — at least as a symbolic stance?


I’m sure that’s not the only explanation for the appeal of homegrown Islamist extremism to a handful of youngsters in this country.

He concludes:

Mockery may turn out to be the key to breaking the movement. That’s what finally destroyed the mystique of the KKK.

Well, perhaps, but I doubt it. There's one good reason why mockery won't be the path to making Jihad infashionable: the Political Correctness Police won't have it..

A comment following the essay by "A. Criminal" makes the point that

People who make fun of Islam and Ismlamists are typically called bigots or, illogically, racists by the sanctimonious people who infest government and the media. Islamists, and therefore Sharia and jihad, have protected status nowadays (just ask NASA) and it’s very naughty to make fun of them.