( CNN ) It 's outrage time again . This time it 's over a `` Saturday Night Live '' commercial parody that aired over the weekend . The subject ( take a deep breath and prepare to be shocked ) : ISIS . Yes , that barbaric terrorist group was ridiculed in a parody of a Toyota Camry commercial . The original Toyota ad depicted a father driving his daughter to the airport . He then tearfully says goodbye as his daughter heads off to join the U.S. Army . In the `` SNL '' parody , the daughter is played by Dakota Johnson , star of the hugely successful S & M film `` 50 Shades of Grey . '' ( Good to see America has gotten over being offended by the mainstreaming of S & M . ) As the parody commercial ends , however , it 's revealed that the daughter is not joining the Army , but ISIS . We then see a pickup filled with ISIS fighters drive up as a worried Dad comments to his daughter : `` You be careful , OK ? '' Johnson replies reassuringly : `` Dad ! It 's just ISIS . '' The father then turns to an ISIS fighter and says , with emotion , `` Take care of her . '' In reply , the militant whispers : `` Death to America . '' And ... cue the outrage ! ! Twitter lit up instantly . Twitter user @ ematrudo called NBC and `` SNL '' `` Tasteless Scum ! '' And Steve Bucci of conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation even went as far as to tweet : `` SNL ISIS skit also draws a moral equivalence between ISIS murderers and the U.S. Military ( based on the spoofed commercial ) , that is wrong . '' Some , apparently in the minority if the media coverage is any indication , also praised `` SNL '' : . But my favorite tweet was this one : . @ kmorrison is 100 % correct . The sketch mocked ISIS and on some level those who would fall for its sales pitch , like , perhaps , the three young British girls who reportedly headed to join them . Comically skewering ISIS is exactly the right thing to do -- it should be done even more . In fact , in Lebanon , the United Arab Emirates and even in Iraq , where ISIS is slaughtering people , brave Muslim comedians are ridiculing ISIS on TV , in YouTube videos and in cartoons . And I can assure you that if ISIS were to catch these comedians , it would n't just tweet about its outrage , it would kill them . So why do these comedians take the chance ? Because , they say , it undermines ISIS , and also , for many , it is cathartic to laugh at the terrorists , as opposed to shivering in fear about them . This is the same reason Mel Brooks featured `` Springtime for Hitler '' in his hit musical comedy , `` The Producers '' : It was a way of using comedy as revenge . Brooks saw it as a way to rob Hitler of his power ( even if posthumously ) by causing audiences to laugh at him . What 's more , the `` SNL '' parody makes an important but subtle point . On the side of the ISIS pickup , the Arabic writing does not state a religious expression . Rather it says , `` I love cats . '' As someone who worked at `` SNL '' for eight years , I can assure you this was not happenstance , but rather was by design . To me , the `` I love cats '' line shows that `` SNL '' grasps what many on the right refuse to . As I heard firsthand when I attended the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism two weeks ago , ISIS will despicably use any means to recruit people . Consequently , as ludicrous as it may seem , saying `` we love cats '' to young girls is not beyond ISIS . When I look at the outrage over this `` SNL '' political parody , I have to wonder : Were n't we all `` Je suis Charlie Hebdo '' just a few weeks ago ? Remember when we stood firmly with political satirists . Well , apparently that sentiment ended for some as soon as they saw political satire they did n't like . I understand that some will be offended by political comedy with which they do n't agree . But in a time when freedom of expression is under attack , if you are offended by political satire on TV , then change the channel .
Dean Obeidallah : Twitter blew up over ` I love cats '' skit about girl joining ISIS . He says ridiculing and laughing at terrorists undermines them , diminishes their power .