2182149 responses to “South Park…off the hook?”http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldinconversation.org%2F2010%2F04%2F23%2Fsouth-park-off-the-hook%2FSouth+Park...off+the+hook%3F2010-04-23+04%3A54%3A44Sam+Richardshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.racerelationsproject.org%2F%3Fp%3D2182
I watched the episode on Wednesday that was a continuation of last week’s episode. The thing about South Park that you have to keep in mind is that they are trying to make a point and deliver a message with all of the fun that they poke at different topics. The whole Muhammad thing may have had blasphemous connotation. But there is always a greater message behind it. Matt and Trey do not hate those who worship Muhammad, and as you may notice there were many other dietys whom were also made fun of. For example Buddha, Krishna, and Jesus were also included in the gods on the show. And, to top it off comedy central even edited the show that Matt and Trey had intended, bleeping out much of the commentary that was included in the end. Also, the creators pointed out that Muhammad was never shown in any form. At the point in the show where they may have shown Muhammad, it turned out to be a hoax and it was Santa Claus instead.
The deeper issue here is humility and a bit of ethnocentrism. This group in New York City who threatened the creators of south park in my opinion were very off target and out-of-line. In the United States of America I would not say that it is proper custom to send a threatening message to creators of a show that made outlandish comments toward one’s god. You cannot refer to gruesome pictures of a past film creator who did something similar and was brutally killed because of it.
I am all for voicing ones own opinion. If something offends you on South Park or another TV show or different publication, or really anything, then I think you have an obligation to speak out against it. But there is a right way and a wrong way to do everything. You cannot make life threatening messages over trivial opinions and jokes. Instead, you need to be assertive and make your opinions known, and ask south park to stop. From there, further decisions will be made, but to be rash and start threats, it belittles your argument.
So ok, lets say that this group in New York goes and kills Matt and Trey. Then what? The whole group and whoever was associated will be locked up and put in jail, or put to death themselves. I’m no lawyer, but aggravated homicide is not going to get you 3-5 years in jail. So I’m just saying, if this is really the avenue that those who worship Muhammad want to take in order to support their god, then good luck I guess, you’re gonna need it.
First off the creators of South Park are absolute geniuses in my book and are extremely good at poking fun at some of the stupid things that are occurring in the world (i.e.. sex addiction). In regards to the Muhammad episode, this is not the first time they have poked fun at Muhammad or any other religion. They have been doing this for a long time and they do it in a way to make some viewers very offended and then others like me can see the humor in it. In my own opinion people just need to relax and don't let a cartoon influence you too much. I know some people can't do this and that's why the creators of South Park got death threats but come on guys it’s a cartoon with third graders who cuss and zdo derogatory things…RELAX!
I just recently watched this episode since I have heard about it on the news recently and heard from a few friends about the newest South Park episode. I watch a decent amount of South Park so I know what humor they like to portray. This whole deal about Muhammad, personally, should not cause such a big deal. In past seasons there were plenty of episodes where they tried depicting Jesus Christ. One of which comes to mind is the one where Jesus is set up for a boxing match against Satan. I did not hear much controversy over that episode, but then again I was not very attune to the news like I am now. All the other religions are made fun of too so it is not just a sole attempt to bash the Muslim religion. Jesus is looking at porn online while Buddha is snorting a line of crack.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone are not exactly trying to make peace among people. They merely see a chance at humor to entertain the masses. You can’t tell me Muslims do not have their own jokes about other religions, but come on they definitely set themselves up for this with the last cartoon trying to portray Muhammad, Family Guy. Apparently that whole episode was controversial too but unfortunately I missed that one.
I can see how this is bad though, but it is just going in a circle with controversies and stereotypes. Assuming the censored item is Muhammad, then Muslims who speak out against stopping such media occur against their religion are just adding to the Muslim radical stereotype that most people seem to have. People need to learn to stop being offended by such things. It is like what Sam Richards said in class, “Something is only offensive, if you choose to make it offensive.” I take that to heart because that is totally true. If you think about it, things that really get people irritated are very little things, stuff that does not matter to most people, most of the time. These people that do get offended by it just make things very complicated. South Park has a reputation of making fun of stereotypes and celebrities. It is their humor and they are not going to change it because some people are outraged about it. If they are really that outraged do not watch it. No one should take a show such as South Park seriously because they are only trying to get people to laugh.
And what is this I hear about a radical group wanting the creators of South Park to be killed? If that is true, they are not helping their cause at all. So cliché but death is not the answer. People need to realize that; things do not need to be so radical.
Shows like South Park and Family Guy are there for pure entertainment. That is my opinion and I think this way because if it was not for entertainment, then it would not be on TV anymore. South Park has been running for 14 years and is still going strong. Family Guy has been taken off the air multiple times, but always seems to make its way back with success. Creators of these shows get threats all the time because the shows do cross lines sometimes. That is what they are on the television for and why they are so successful.
I think that South Park is a great show in terms of entertainment. It definitely pushes some people’s buttons on several occasions. Maybe not even just on several occasions – probably every single episode. The show is pretty much based on and was founded upon mockery of people and laughing at people, including celebrities’ misfortunes and fortunes.
To address the video post, I guess it’s pretty interesting that a Muslim group actually is angry with South Park at this point, because in the past South Park has mocked radical Muslim groups as being upset about them showing Mohammed. Now, it’s actually happened. Pretty ironic I think.
I’m not Muslim, I’m Christian, so I guess I don’t see the whole significance around showing Mohammed, nor do I even know if Muslim groups are actually against Mohammed being showed. In my eyes, it could just be all made up by South Park as another thing that they could work with, but I really don’t know.
I honestly don’t think that anyone should be offended by South Park’s mockery, for a few reasons. First of all, South Park picks on almost everyone. They don’t really discriminate, and when they make fun of people, I think it’s mostly as a joke. I mean, they even had a few episodes about our President, Barack Obama when he became the President. Secondly, I think that the whole mockery of anyone in South Park is not to be taken seriously. When they make fun of people and stuff, it’s normally just some kind of metaphor or something. Lastly, it’s just a television show, and not even a real television show – it’s a cartoon. It kind of makes me laugh, how much ruckus and controversy a cartoon can cause. Everyone is going to receive criticism in their life, so everyone is going to have to learn how to deal with it and know how to accept and work with that criticism. I understand that celebrities get it a lot – in the magazines, tabloids, on the news – and South Park is yet another thing that tacks on some more criticism. I’m not a celebrity, so I don’t know what it’s like, but like I said, you’re going to receive some criticism, so you should learn how to deal with it.
On a final note, I would have to say that South Park does go too far sometimes. Most recently, I remember the episode that picked on Sarah Jessica Parker pretty badly. I almost felt bad for her, because every line was just, “She’s so ugly” or “She’s hideous and gross”. Not to mention how her character in the show was pretty gross looking. So sometimes I do feel like South Park goes overboard. Oh well though.
I think that with episodes like South Park, family guy and the Simpsons they look for ways to push button without actually going there. It’s all for shock value it goes there without actually making the viewer that pissed. I seen that south park episode and pretty much what is was the “creators” of family guy where going to show the prophet Mohammad and the Muslims were upset with the family guy creators and threaten to do something to the creators I can’t exactly remember. But pretty much the kids from south park went to stop them. But they ended up censoring the image of Mohammad and everyone was happy. I thought the portrayal of the show was funny because south park for the most part picks on a lot of things in society for shock value and I think its kind of funny how things are portrayed. I think that it goes with the sticks and stones theory and you take it however you want to because regardless how you look at south park picks at everything within our society and doesn’t really hold back. And I guess it depends on what type of person you are to really take the message. I cant seem to help but think even thought amidst of the crude humor and the pokes and fun stuff that there really is an underlying message that is possibly involved in this show because there’s a method to madness whether you look at it or not. I have to say I don’t feel disrespected by the show and what goes on in I think its actually funny because they’re pretty much going off on what society is so sensitive about and taking it and putting it on the for front. I think the people who actually take offense to it are the people that are really sensitive who just consistently see a problem with everything in the world. I think they play of the role of free speech really well because they say what they want all the time and as a result whether or not u felt offended by it or you thought it was funny. You saw it and you listened and you got something out of it is what I think they’re ultimate goal is at the end of the say because some of the material that they bring is sometimes what I think of about society. I think that we kind of all need to take just a little insight of what they’re saying because regardless of the comical aspects of it they dod have a point underlying somewhere. You just have to be bright enough to actually pay attention and get the point.
I recently learned of the South Park episode where they poked fun at the Muslim religion by bringing Mohammad into the show. I think that people need to relax because they take things way too far. I know that the writers of the show are inappropriate, but there is no need for Muslims to react in such a way. Why would you threaten to take somebody’s life because they made fun of your religion? As a Jewish teenager, I always get the brunt of the jokes because people love to make fun of Jews. However, I laugh about it or brush it off because people are just messing around. They don’t truly mean what they say and they are just trying to get some laughs from their viewers.
South Park has been a show that has been around as long as i could at least understand humor. At first i just liked it because it was a foul dirty mouth show that my mom and dad didn't want me to watch and so of course that's the only reason i watched it. but as i got older i really recognized some of the message they were started to get across and by college time i was in amazement how they could take a situation that was going on in the world, and really nail it and show you how stupid it is and what the lesson you should learn from the stupidity of some people. Well when i heard about this episode of Muhammad i didn't think much of it until they said they could get bombed for showing Muhammad on their show. I think i remember laughing out loud when i heard that. i just can't imagine a group being so mad to kil someone because they are going to show their version of their prophet, not even their god, and its going to be in cartoon form!!!! what these ignorant douche bag rebels don't realize is they already showed MUHAMMAD IN ONE OF THEIR FIRST EPISODES WITH THE JESUS IN A SUPERHEROS EPISODE! So it boggles my mind to judge a television show that is completely unbiased and has even showed him before but now you want to kill him if they show your prophet. im sorry i get what Sam says about most Muslims but you don't see anyone else going to this extreme for showing something on television. and they live IN NEW YORK CITY! they say shit like this, they live where September 11th happened and can still get away with this? you know why? because we live in America where even their free rights matter. So, i guess i just will never understand how you can be so thick headed and to watch their show and now threaten them. The south park creators wanted to show it but comedy central censored it, which is crazy to think they felt that strong about it. But Seth McFarlane, creator of Family Guy talked about this issue with Larry king said "how far do you take it, if its the funniest joke in the world, is it worth dying for, sometimes its just not worth it" but south park creators also talked about it, and said if they dont show it, hen they would be contradicting themselves from what they have done all their lives. So im really torn what i would do, i guess every person would be different, but i know one thing i really hope that these radicals are found and get what they deserve for threatening to kill someone if they show a cartoon of someone. As Jon Stewart said on his show the other day, Hey revloution muslims, Go fuck yourselves!
This is a very interesting question. I was watching the second part of the episode and one of my friends told me that they are censoring the parts with Muhammad. He also told me the censorship is due to threats South Park producers have received from a Muslim group that felt disrespected. I was shocked by that explanation. South Park is a show with a reputation of making smears and jokes about everything and anything possible. I have seen many episodes of South Park that makes fun of religions and God. Jesus was part of this controversial episode and I didn’t hear anyone complaining or threatening anybody. I know a lot of young Americans take religion softly and do not feel the need to be upset if someone makes fun of their religion while in some countries, religion is your life and everything you do is based on the rules and guidelines set for you. If we take the Koran as an example, Muslims look at the holy book as the ultimate guide for their life. People eat, work, fast, bank by the Koran. Investors go as far as not getting any interest in their loans as it is forbidden by the sharia law. Muslim countries that follow the Sharia law take religion seriously and have the mentality that nothing is above their beliefs. It is out of their imagination that people will even consider making fun of a prophet that they respect and mimic every day. In the other hand, Americans especially our generation inherited their beliefs from their parents and don’t really practice it outside of their parents house. Freedom of speech is always going to be a factor as well since many will defend their constitutional rights. As we know, it’s very common for people to make fun of the President or anybody in power while in some countries, it is unthinkable. So the controversial episode comes down to the respect Muslims have for the prophet and the offense they feel when they see a comedian from the western world mocking their faith. In my perspective, if the US wants to improve their relations with Arab counties as a strategy against terrorism, episodes like this one cannot be aired. I also see a double standard as far South Park making fun of Jesus and other religions but taking an episode about Muhammad off air. Although religion is private in this country, many people consider it to be the vital piece in their life.
I saw the first episode of the controversial new Mohammad episodes and find the joking that the creators are trying to do as funny and childish. the idea that they would make fun of everything they could is the heart of the show and anyone that takes it too seriously is what they're looking for. the Muslim people that find it disrespectful should be angry it is they're religion that is being ridiculed in public for the amusement of the masses. but to send hate mail and even death threats is beyond ridiculous. write a letter start a protest or just stop watching the show, it's not about being serious but about being outrageous and getting attention. the show is not to be taken seriously and I think that the creators would respect the religious canon of the Muslim's so I don't think they would ever show Mohammad on T.V. for real. I strongly believe in the right to do and say what you want and to be censured by no one but your peers not legally or by intimidation so I would never support the idea that South Park should be stopped from portraying all the people they portray as long as they do it to all peoples and all groups equally. I support full freedom of speech and that is why I say what I say in this post.
I was quite disappointed to see that South Park had to edit their recent episode in order to avoid more threats. The show has spent many years pushing a lot of buttons, and it's sad to think this may be the one issue that has successfully managed to stifle the voices of the creators. Keep in mind that over the years these guys have skewered Christianity, Judaism, Atheism, abortion, priest molestation, mental and physical handicaps, race, ethnicity, immigration, torture, war, and many other potentially controversial topics. The creators have offended many people, but have always seemed to pride themselves on the fact that they are equal opportunity offenders. They make a point of the fact that they consider nothing sacred or untouchable–even when it hits close to home. Just a few years ago they actually lost one of their most prominent voice actors after making an episode that offended him.
I believe in being respectful of the beliefs of others in my own life, but I hardly expect everyone else to do the same. I also don't believe in censoring yourself; I don't think that anything or anyone should be held as being so holy or so untouchable that even someone saying a certain word would trigger a violent threat. And don't forget the fact that this is just a tv show. No one is making anyone watch. If someone thinks they will be offended by what they see, why don't they just change the channel or not watch? I remember one day in class, Sam asked if people thought that being offended was uncontrollable or if it was a decision we made. I personally believe that being offended is always a choice. There are things that offend me; there are things that I don't like to hear people say. But I know that I am making a choice to get angry, and that I have the power to control my feelings and walk away.
If you actually watch the South Park episode in question, you will see that no one was suggesting anything about Mohammed other than that mocking him is taboo–which I think we can agree is true. Mohammed was not even shown in the episode. Now, on the other hand, consider the portrayal of women in the media. Everyday I have to deal with being exposed to hundreds of images of women being objectified. Women are shown a single standard of beauty and encouraged to do their best to conform to it, even if their own body types are completely different. And unlike some silly episode of South Park, studies have shown that these images do have an actual effect on the way women view themselves. Just take for example the fact that 80% of American women report having gone on a diet to lose weight by the time they are 18.
Now, I could walk around all day with a chip on my shoulder about this. I could allow myself to become offended every time I'm faced with another ad or movie or television show featuring a hyper-sexualized woman. I could. But I choose not to. Because when I'm offended, I may feel like I'm being energized by some righteous anger, but really I'm just wasting my own energy whining about something I can't really change. I'd be much better off spending my energy reinforcing my own self-esteem in order to protect against these images, and encouraging other women to do the same. That's my choice.
At first, I did not really like South Park that much. I thought it was really stupid humor and not worth my time to watch it. However, last year I started watching it, and I realized I was completely wrong. I love the show now. It has definitely changed over the years. I feel like a lot of people like the older ones more, but I really enjoy the new ones. Matt Stone and Trey Parker do a great job of looking satirically at all of the top stories in the news. I used to think that they just cursed off a lot and talk about really weird topics, but they really touch on all of the big current events. I guess radical Muslims do not watch South Park because if they did, they would know that Stone and Parker do not give a shit about anything or anyone. They are not racist or unfairly critical because they rip every person, political party, religion, etc. apart equally. I think it is awesome that they do it because a lot of the time they write into their shows what everyone else is thinking. I also think it is funny that they use children to portray their messages. I know that radical people, whether they are Christian, Muslim, or a part of some other group, are not very logical. I understand that you cannot reason with an illogical person and me trying to understand them is sort of useless. I just think it is so interesting that radical Muslims are so mad about this. I really want to try to understand what and how they think. It just does not make any sense to me. First it is just a cartoon. I do not think anything said in a tv show or cartoon should be taken very seriously. Especially if it is one that made its name using satire. It is just humor. Also, they did not even show Muhammad. I know that they made it seem like they were going to, but they used a censor bar. I read that the Muslim radical group was upset because putting Muhammad in a bear suit was highly offensive. This is pretty stupid though because it was not even Muhammad in the bear suit. It was Santa Clause. Finally, I guess radical people are very serious about their beliefs, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but could they not see that other religions were also made fun of. Vishnu, Jesus, Moses, and Joseph Smith the Mormon prophet were all in the episode. These religions are maybe not as serious as Islam in not portraying their prophets or something, but I am Christian and did not really mind seeing Jesus in an episode. It is just harmless humor. I just don’t understand the radical mindset of wanting to kill or harm people because they mentioned your main prophet. They didn’t even make fun of Muhammad.
Did they actually threaten to kill them or something? If so, I think that's pretty funny. People need to calm down because it’s just a joke and more than one God was mocked. However, the Muslims probably do not understand the comedy of it because they are of a different culture and that's understandable. Once again, it was probably radical Muslims that did this and they make everyone else look bad. We only judge people by those who we think represent them. I’m sure Muslims or anyone else judges us by listening to the ridiculous things Sarah Palin said like talking about religion and war in the same sentence.
I think it’s bogus. What hasn’t South Park made fun of at this point? It seems like anything and everything the writers can make fun of, they already have or they certainly will. Nothing is safe from South Park. (Sounds like I’m treating them like a super-monster that can’t be destroyed.) I think what makes it “okay” for them to poke fun at everything is that they are doing it in good fun. I really don’t think there was any anti-Muslim sentiment behind anything that was on the show. Although I haven’t seen the show, judging on the previous episodes, I’m sure it was all in good fun with no need to get worked up over it, no matter what religion you practice.
Okay, as an avid South Park enthusiast, I was extremely pissed off at the editing Comedy Central used. I understand that Matt and Treys' lives were indirectly threatened but the Muslim prophet was never shown and he said maybe three words in an episode. The news report said the extremist group was angered by Muhammad being put into a mascot costume, but it turned out to be Santa in the costume. They had no reason to be angry and especially to go as far as to threaten their lives. Plus as other big South Park fans may know, Matt and Trey have used images of Muhammad on their show previously, when they used the Super Best Friends before. No one seemed to be offended then, so why the big change now, when even less about him was used?
People need to sit back and take it for what it real is. Entertainment, so yeah it is a little provocative, but isn't that what everyone is looking for. Not everyone will agree with what south park is really trying to depict. But the truth of the matter is there is so much history racked up into that show that if it was ever to be shut down there would be a outcry of protesters.
The show does an amazing job of putting a lot of political, racial, religious things into a more humorous and more laid back way. Which means that they like to poke fun of the people that take life way to seriously. I agree with "ratherawkward" They are making a big deal out of mocking him. which is to say that saying anything related to Mohammed is wrong. It is absolutely ridiculous that it reached the level it did. No threat should be made on such craziness. The same thing happened before when they last showed a episode that was threatening to have Mohammad in the episode/ family guy knock off. If i was to really consider the out come and weigh the options out i would not really care.
I am upset about them not airing the original episode because of the fact that it was pure genius. I could only imagine the faces of all the celebrities that are pissed off about how southpark is making fun of them complaining about the show. They do a wonderful job of making the most serious problems in the world have a little humor to it. example. Chatroulette.com (AMAZING) world of warcraft – hysterical. You have to take this though in there perspectives, they see us mocking them and making fun of their prophet. They have yet to bash Christianity in anyway. god has already been depicted to look like Saddam Hussein right? how many people were offended by that, or were looking to write threats about it. From there view point though, i say they feel unprepared to strike back with out violent actions and are pushed into a corner and feel that they have to do something to stop this before it gets out of hand. So they threaten lives, way to go. just another over reaction to add to southparks wonderful track record. When they had the Passion of the Jew episode, everyone loved it, at some points if felt that was the governments doing to help out economy out as far as informing us of what should be done. LOL or maybe im just stupid i don't know. All i know is the episode was funny and i hoping to see south park in its regular up to standard showings of awesomeness.
people should totally respect other peoples beliefs, but to take it to a new level as to threaten lives is just stupid. The show once again is for Our Entertainment. people need to just relax and take it for what it real is.
Really, I think the creators of south park handled themselves very well regarding that episode. The whole point of it was to show just how ridiculous things have become regarding the treatment of islam. It’s almost gotten to a point where the extremists have made it such that you can’t criticize the culture at all. And that sort of double standard is where inequality comes from. And it’s not like South Park plays favorites. Look what they’ve done with Christianity, from the pedophiliac priests to god being an…orangutan looking thing. So it’s ridiculous to bar them from being able to do the same to other faiths.
I agree with the sentiment of the majority of these posts. I am a huge South Park fan. Throughout the course of its run, the show has satirized literally every group I can think of. Matt Stone and Trey Parker have offered biting insights on some of America's biggest and most topical social issues. Included among them have been abortion, stem cell research, and global warming. Celebrities like Tom Cruise, Kanye West, and Al Gore have been targeted as well. In the famous episode "Imagination Land", dozens of fictional characters are satirized. Included among them is Jesus. I was born and raised Catholic, and I took no issue with it. Satirizing religious figures has been around as long as religion itself. People who fail to realize this are usually extremely close-minded. Jesus is depicted in countless South Park episodes, and most Christians realize that South Park is a show on Comedy Central and not to take it seriously enough to threaten the lives of the show's creators. Granted, there are probably a good amount who took extreme offense to Jesus's portrayal, but there has not been an outcry to the degree of Mohammed's portrayal in this past week's episode of South Park. I took a course that studied Islam in high school, so I have some degree of understanding regarding the religion and the culture. However, I think that taking such serious issue with a cartoon show on Comedy Central to the degree that you'd threaten the lives of the show's creators is outrageous and extremely radical. I really don't think any issue is taboo enough to warrant such an outcry. I honestly don't think I can be shocked by anything on South Park because I have realized that South Park is willing to explore some of the most controversial issues in society. However, it definitely speaks to our degree of ethnocentrism that we fail to comprehend the validity of Muslims' protests. One of the most important things I have learned from this class is how to see an issue from other people's point of view. I thought that Sam's lecture on Christian Invaders was very thought-provoking in this aspect. It's very easy to condemn another group as being fanatical, but you really need to step outside yourself and put yourself in their shoes in order to understand the world the way they view it. I had never thought about the degree to which we exploit the resources of other people. It is from this frame of mind that I can say this. I really do not believe that the radical outcries of some Muslim groups are valid or even warranted, but I can understand why they might get so upset.
In response to the South Park comment, I am an avid South Park fan. I have been watching South Park for basically my whole life. The writers of the show depict current events and make abstract situations in order to make the show more entertaining. The closest shows I can describe South Park as is the Simpsons. Instead of the whole family being the main characters, picture Bart, the son, being the main character. The comedy central hit, South Park, is about four third grade students in a Colorado Elementary School. Of course, to make the show funny, the elementary students curse obnoxiously. Essentially they don’t act like third graders at all; they act more like middle school students because of their intelligence levels. With that quick overview of the show, now comes the main discussion of their material.
The South Park incident just goes to show the horrifying nature a radicalism (of anything). Despite how controversial South Park is, I think we all agree that no one deserves these kinds of threats over a cartoon television show that makes fun of EVERYONE. To be honest, I am surprised this doesn’t happen more often, as these radical followers don’t seem to have much leeway. The ironic thing in all of this is that it happened in America where freedom of speech is utilized everyday, often in much the same way the South Park producers use it on their show. This is America, this is how we operate and some people will inherently dislike that. My answer? Ignorance is bliss. Don’t come here. Don’t watch comedy central.
I think that south park is completely “off the hook”. I have never liked this show. It is completely offensive and ridiculous. All of my friends love to watch this show so I figured I would just give it a chance. However, by the end of the episode I was completely outraged and bothered. They made rude and offensive comments towards women, different races and religions. I think that this show should not even be allowed to be aired. I understand that some people may think it is funny, but they should really think about the people they are offending when they make those comments.
I just don't understand why a group would go as far as like threatening people because of a damn TV show. Like South Park makes fun of EVERYTHING. I can't even count how many times that show has made fun of Jewish people and definitely Jesus and Christian people. No one actually takes it seriously or gets angry enough about it to threaten.. like honestly, they are words. I just am completely astounded by this. Plus, why did the creators of South Park listen and bleep out the words and references to Muhammad? I mean yeah it might be scary to get threatened, but who gives a shit. It should be a free world when it comes to opinions and words. It's just so frustrating.
It is really difficult for me to empathize with the people who are threatening to kill people over this. I honestly can't think of a similar situation where a cartoon would want to make me kill someone. Maybe I am the weird one here. Who knows. But institutionalized theocracy has done some very odd things throughout history and it's really not even worth trying to justify the actions of extremist groups anymore. If southpark hasn't offended you at some point you haven't watched enough episodes. I think people need to grow some thicker skin… but maybe that's the easy thing to say here.
When I found out that people had taken offense to this episode, my initial reaction wasn’t very considerate of the people of the Muslim religion. I thought it was ridiculous that people could see the episode of South Park, and react in rage and threaten to kill the creators. South Park is a cartoon and it is not real life. When I was in elementary school my best friend and I had this joke about our invisible friend Muhammad. I had no idea that there was so much controversy over allowing this character to have a physical form. If I did, I probably would have poked more fun at it because I wouldn’t have (and still really don’t) understood the drama that comes along with a visual of a god. It’s not like it’s an accurate depiction of the god, nobody actually has an accurate depiction of his or her god.
Once I stepped out of my own shoes and tried to see this in the eyes of a Muslim who took offense, I began to see where this anger could come from. Many people have religious beliefs, much different than my lack of any, and these people hold true to these beliefs and live by these laws that their god has set forth for them. Holding onto something as strongly as many religious people do leads me to realize how this poking fun at their god could be offensive. It’s hard for me to put it into a perspective I can understand, though. I am not religious and I don’t have a god, let alone one that cannot be visualized. However, the anger these people must be feeling doesn’t justify threats to kill those who are simply making it into a joke. And it is also not as if this was the only religion they poked fun at, South Park is sure to leave nobody out of their jokes. What could make somebody who is religious and following the rules of their god, which include unconditional love and forgiveness, want to kill another person? People who feel that they are killing ‘for’ their god seem insane to me. How could a god that loves and accepts you be so willing to force you into murder? To me, this doesn’t seem to make any sense, especially if we are all welcome to become followers of this same god.
Sometimes I feel that religion accidentally leads to acts of violence and hate more than it should. People should practice what they preach. If people who strongly believe in a god or religion that teaches forgiveness and unconditional love, they should be able to forgive those and love those who believe in different things than they do. They should also not hate and want to kill those that offend them.
To start off we all know that south park and its creators push the envelope every episode when it comes to the material they use. They aren’t the only show to do this though and they are joined by the likes of the family guy, the Cleveland show, the Simpsons… and many others. The thing about south par though is that in every episode they are ALWAYS making fun of a certain individual and never let up. Now I’m not of Muslim decent or believe in their religion so I don’t know what their rules and values are, but if I had to guess they are the same as anyone else’s and they take their God and values very seriously. What they do on the show I do not always agree with but it is a very funny and long standing show so they obviously are not offending to many people otherwise it would be off the air. The episode in question however has the prophet Mohamed in a bear costume or something and is being disrespected in some fashion. Is this the right way to go about things considering how the Americans relationship right now with Islamic religion is, eh not really but at the same time Jesus is a main character on the show and they always poke fun at him. In my eyes, obviously, I see nothing wrong with this just a show doing what they always do, but I can see how some people would definitely take offense to these remarks. The thing here though is that this is not just a random group, it’s a group of radicals that have previsouly killed someone for the same action so this needs to be dealt with in a more serious manner. I believe they did the right thing by changing the ending of the show to prevent harm to them, whether the threat was real or not, and they should probably steer clear of offending these same people again. The big issue here though is the never ending issues that radicals have over all people not just the creators of South Park. It is definitely a shame that we have to censor what we want to say or do because we could be killed. I mean I certainly wont be making any remarks any time soon that will put my life in danger, at least I hope I don’t, but these creators were trying to give a lighter mood to a serious situation and it is a shame that they were out in a situation like this. They never meant to cause permanent damage to anyone’s ego or values but I guess in the end you have to take into consideration not everyone is going to find what you find funny, funny. In this case they pissed off a group of people who kill when this occurs that’s all. I definitely think it was the right move to edit the end of the episode and they should probably steer clear of this topic in the future.
I saw this issue on the news just the other night and was glad to see someone blog about it. Like many people have already said, South Park is a comedy show, it pokes fun at everyone and everything. This was not a serious news report to be taken seriously, its a cartoon making a funny joke. There have been many episodes that poke fun at Jesus. Did they not see that? If it were a serious talk show bashing on Muhammad I would understand why there might be some outraged people. But, again it was not. It is south park, and I am almost positive there have been spoofs on like the Simpson's about Islam and i do not think there was any threats in their direction? Yes religion is a serious topic and not one to joke about in a serious setting like a church, mosque or synagogue, BUT comedy central is none of those places. It is a place, as its name implies, a place for comedy. If you are looking for people to take issues like religion seriously you should not watch the channel. And it is not like Islam was the first time they ever made fun of anyone. It is a given that all issues that are in the media or not are fair game to make fun of. The people threatening the creators of the show need to realize how egocentric they are being. Focusing only on the fact that their religion was brought into a comedy sketch. It is like they had selective hearing, only picking out a certain episodes to focus in on. For example, the episode that made fun of the Jonas Brothers. The episode made a lot of fun of those three boys and everything they stand for, yet you did not see them sending out threats. I could probably go on for days with examples of all the people that South Park has picked out and made a considerable amount of fun of. I do not think there is really anything else to say other then, get over it , it was a joke, do not take it personally , just laugh. I am a christian and when they make fun of Jesus I know it is a joke and to not take it seriously. There is a time and a place for religion to be taken seriously and not to be joked about. If Muhammad had been made fun of in a context that was not suppposed to be funny then an uprising would be expected and more understood. And that is all I have to say about this topic today about South Park and religion.
South Park is a great show. However, any arguments about it that occur in the real world are just ridiculous. It's a cartoon and all of the characters are made by paper cutouts. I saw the episode that she's talking about and it's all about how they don't make fun of Muhammad. They blackout his character the entire episode. I really don't get why this is such a big deal. On top of that, in that episode they made fun of jesus and about a hundred celebrities. There are definitely better things to argue about than a south park episode.
I am a casual fan of South Park and I have to say I think the show is hilarious. Yes, they do really push some buttons to certain groups of people, but what they do in my eyes is usually just harmless. People get too serious and upset over things when they should realize that this show is just too poke fun at things and for humor. First of all why do these Muslims care about what a show like South Park or for any show for that matter say about their religion. If they truly believe in their own religion, why worry about what other people say. It’s almost like they are trying to blow this up into a big deal to get their own selves some attention. I think anybody who worries about what other people say usually don’t really believe that what they are doing is truly right. These Muslim’s just need to take a chill pill and relax. If everyone that this show has gone after and made fun of decided to come out and threaten them, then almost everyone in the entire world would be after them. They have poked fun at Jesus, Satan, Christians, Jews, fat people, skinny people, hicks, and even just America in general. You can just about name anything and I’m sure South Park has done some type of episode about them. When they made fun of Kanye West, he actually came out and said they he had to laugh about it because of the way he portrayed him. I know for sure that they made fun of him way more then they went after the muslims in the recent episode. So, what I’m trying to say is why are they so worried about what other people think? America is a country where freedom of speech is one of our special rights as people. These South Park episodes as well as Family Guy, The Simpsons all have the right to say exactly they way they fell. If you do not like, then maybe you should not be living in America, or better yet, just don’t watch or listen to what they have to say. That would take care of all problems. People just look for reasons to stir up controversy and these muslim people are no different. I don’t understand why they are so serious about there religion and how other people look at it. If that’s what they believe in then they should only be worried about that. To sum this up, South Park has the right to say what they want on their show due to the fact we live in a country that allows this to take place. I’m pretty sure South Park won’t change, so these people who are mad about it should just move on.
Well first it is important to point out that the episode of South Park in question does not actually make fun of Muhammad. It makes fun of the fact that every other religious figure is fair game, but Muhammad is not. This was referenced in an earlier episode as well, which was supposed to parallel the bombing that occurred in the Netherlands after a cartoon was meant to depict the prophet Muhammad. So what makes the episode so edgy is that Matt Stone and Trey Parker are actually attacking the means by which they are being threatened. So I just thought it was important to point out that they are not attacking Muhammad himself, but instead they are attacking how touchy the extremists are who are willing to kill because of a joke in a cartoon.
Having said this, they have openly made fun of other religious figureheads and in fact, in the episode at hand, they show Buddha snorting lines of cocaine, and make a reference that Jesus is addicted to online pornography. While I am sure that many people were potentially offended by this, and many more would have been offended if they were aware of the episode, but none of these groups have threatened Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Considering our discussion earlier in the week, I would be curious to hear what Sam has to say about this fact. It is a very interesting point that figureheads of other religions can be made fun of, while Muhammad has become off limits.
I personally think that it is ridiculous that we cannot mock Muhammad, but we can make fun of others. I guess most people would argue that it is really inappropriate to make fun of any of them, but one cannot deny that it is at least more taboo to talk about Muhammad than other religious leaders. Especially when it is at risk of a bombing. I actually feel a little proud that Matt Stone and Trey Parker didn’t back down, and went through with the episode. I do often believe that people shouldn’t always act in ways that are controversial, but I don’t think people should ever back down because of a threat.
So in conclusion, I think that Trey Parker and Matt Stone did the right thing by sticking to their guns. I also believe that exposing extremists to these things may be important, especially in the context of an episode of South Park, which makes fun of everyone. Humor is a beautiful thing. It teaches others how to laugh at oneself, and when one can do that, then one won’t lash out at others anymore. I think shows like South Park may actually save lives.
I personally love South Park. My favorite episodes are generally the ones that make fun of things that occur in the world today. I’m a Muslim who watched the episodes “200” and “201” and I thought it was great! The purpose of the episode was to not only poke fun at the Muslim religion, but to also bring back some memories from previous South Park episodes.
Here’s a brief story of what happened in the South Park episode (Spoiler Alert). The 4th grade kids of South Park Elementary go to a chocolate factory for a tour and find Tom Cruise packing chocolate by the conveyor belt. Tom Cruise was then offended when one of the kids said he was a “fudge-packer.” Tom Cruise and several other celebrities planned to sue South Park for being ridiculed. In order to avoid the lawsuit, Tom Cruise asked South Park to bring Muhammad to him. South Park is now caught in a dilemma between a huge lawsuit and getting bombed by Muslim radicals. Afraid of revealing Muhammad, South Park chose to keep him in a Bear suit, hidden inside a U-Haul truck. Throughout the show you see a large black box labeled “CENSORED” to not reveal Muhammad at all.
It’s a shame to see that some Muslims will go as far as violence to defend the religion. The Muslim extremists are being a little too sensitive about the episode. They seem to feel that they’re the only ones being attacked. They should know that every religious figure is ridiculed at one point in South Park history like Jesus, Moses, and Krishna. The censorship was frustrating to watch. The last minute of the show was completely bleeped. And it wasn’t even about Muhammad! I didn’t see what the big deal was poking fun at Muhammad. South Park is one of the biggest satirical shows in the U.S and it WILL make satirical jokes about anything in the world. There was an episode where South Park made fun of Scientology. Unfortunately, one of the voices for the show left because he was offended by the episode. I don’t think anyone should get riled up over an episode like the recent two. I’m sure Stone and Parker (producers of South Park) tried their best to avoid crossing the line. I really hope nothing bad will happen to Stone and Parker. I read in an article, that their death isn’t a threat, but a prediction. They were sent a message with a gruesome image of the Dutch Filmmaker who was stabbed to death in 2004 for criticizing the Muslim religion. Some people just don’t joke around. A radical could do just about anything if he or she is offended.
I could understand if the Muslim people were mad at South Park for doing this if the writers of the show had not targeted every other religion or major public figure during their two hundred episodes, but they have targeted everybody. The writers of South Park use what is going on in today’s world to help make their show relevant and point out some of the wrongs that are going on. I can be offending to those that they are making fun of, but let’s face it, most of the time people are thinking about these issues and talking about already, the writer’s of South Park just have a bigger audience than the rest of us to talk to. In the end, it is only a cartoon and people are just looking to get a cheap laugh out it. I cannot believe these Muslims are making death threats to the writers of this show. In the episode, they did not even show Muhammad. They only talked about him. I am pretty sure that the Muslims do not want an image of Muhammad on TV and that did not happen. But even after the episode aired, the Muslims still complained and said they felt disrespected since they still inferred that Muhammad was in a bear costume and speaking. This is just ridiculous. In America, we have the right to free speech. That right is what protects the writers from getting in trouble when they make fun of the President, Jesus, Buddha, any other religious figure, any celebrity, and any politician. The Muslim group that had made these threats is actually located in New York City. They are here in America, enjoying all of our rights and freedoms and yet, still complaining and threatening us when we exercise those rights. I do not think this is right. So many groups have been targeted by this show and yet the writers have not been threatened throughout all of these years. These threats frightened the producers of Comedy Central so much that they actually altered the show after receiving it from the producers of South Park. They bleeped out Muhammad’s name any time it was said, any dialog that was thought to come from Muhammad, and even the speech at the end of the episode. The writers of South Park said that the speech at the end was about intimidation and fear and did not even mention Muhammad, yet the Comedy Central producers wanted to stay safe and bleeped out the entire speech to make sure the Muslims would not be offended. Being able to take a joke is part of growing up and these Muslims obviously still have a lot of growing up to do.
I may sound like an idiot, but I think that this is completely ridiculous. Now like a comment before mine, I can see how people in Muslim culture may be offended, but I mean, look at the show and what it’s made for. It was created solely to make fun of things. I mean it’s a story that surrounds fourth graders and it seems to me like they make it to show that these things they make fun of can be understood by fourth graders better than older people. Like, it’s a joke. These feelings are supposed to arise. Like I said, sensitivity is ridiculous when dealing with South Park. Sit back and laugh and realize that making fun of people isn’t all that bad, especially when it’s a blatant joke.
What I find so ridiculous about this controversy is that a few years ago South Park depicted Mohammad in an episode as part of a group of religious superheroes and no one noticed. Then this Dutch cartoon came out and all of sudden rules changed. The Dutch cartoons were definitely in bad taste and I could understand why a Muslim person would be offended, but after that controversy any depiction of the prophet was considered blasphemous and controversial. Even if South Park was specifically mocking Mohammad it should be expected because the creators set out to push buttons, but it is ridiculous that all they wanted to do is depict him in a cartoon and that is too much. The response of some Muslim groups has not helped Islam or Muslim people or helped deter Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Threats of violence from supposed Muslim group leaders only helps to misrepresent the true ideals of Islam. And as usual, the American media only adds fuel to the fire by making the episode a big deal.
I really think that everyone needs to take shows such as South Park, Family Guy, etc. need to take the episodes with a grain of salt. They have to realize that the sole purpose of these types shows are to shock and entertain through insulting all types of religions, cultures, races, etc. If you have ever watched South Park then you would know that they leave nobody out and insult as many different types of people as possible. I don't think that any one group should take so much offense to something on a stupid cartoon especially enough to make actual physical threats to the creators of the show. Based on freedom of speech we are able to say or write whatever we want and this is bound to offend some people however i feel that the reason for this show is simply to entertain and not truly hurt or degrade anyone. South Park is making fun of nearly every stereotype you can imagine and it seems that most people find it funny even if they are making fun of you. As a Christian I could take great offense to them using Jesus in their episodes, however, i know that its just a show and i still find it funny. And if you really are offended then i would suggest just not watching the show, it would never negatively affect your life if you just don't pay attention to it. I feel that any groups getting mad and speaking out about South Park will only feed them more and make them push the envelope further, i mean thats really all their trying to do, shock people. There have been a lot people who have spoken out about the show, such as red heads making youtube videos about being upset about them making fun of 'gingers', but in the end it just backfires because they end up using the videos as new material for the show anyway, so the best way to 'get back' at South Park if you really wanted to would just be to stop watching the show. As far as the most recent issues with the show using Muhammad its pretty surprising to me just how angry this is making people. Its obvious that some Muslims will be offended, just as many Christians or Jewish people would be offended when the show makes fun of their beliefs, however the physical threats are pretty serious especially saying that they will end up like the one playwright who was murdered for misrepresenting Muhammad. Those are pretty serious threats and I think its really not that big of a deal to want to issue such types of threats i mean its not like the show is singling out Muslims or anything like that its just one episode.
South Park is a satirical TV show. Everything brought up in the episodes are meant to joke about current issues that we are facing. They pretty much say what most people are thinking in a way that we can laugh about how stupid we are at times. People need to stop taking things so seriously. Everyone likes to laugh at a joke until the joke is on them. People need to loosen up and stop taking things so seriously. Like its on TV its meant to entertain people and if you don't find it entertaining change the channel and watch something that makes you feel better about yourself. There is no reason for anyone to be getting all upset over a TV show. I swear people take things so seriously nowadays. Lets all get over ourselves and live life to the fullest. So what if things on South Park upset you, get over it . Don't let it dictate how you go about your business. You can look at it as another hater that you have to prove wrong. At the end of the day as long as you can rest your head to know that you are living your life and not for anyone, than you have nothing to worry about or be upset about.
I think that south sark is one of the best shows on television right now. It stirs a lot of controversy which is a good thing, as people become more aware of what is happening in their own country. It is one show that is not afraid to make fun of things. Most of those jokes are based on stereotypes and should not be taken seriously, I can undertsand if some people feel offended with certain episodes that target a certain genre of people. As long as the show does not encourage violence or encourage criminals, its fine by me
I feel like those protesting South Park and other “politically incorrect” forms of media fail to realize several things about the freedom of speech. The first thing they forget is that freedom of speech cannot be selective. In a nation where these groups have the luxury to be able to protest without getting shot, they have the nerve to declare that other people can’t say anything deemed offensive to themselves. When freedom of speech is involved, one of the most important things to remember that it includes controversial opinions, even ones that express hatred or discrimination. We see images of Ku Klux Klan rallies and cross burnings, the Westboro Baptist Church protesting at the funerals of dead soldiers, and other forms of hatred at its worst. But while we may hate it, it is a right as an American citizen to be able to hold that right with no threat from the government. Naturally, we in turn have the right to disagree with them, and we have the complete ability to do so. Perhaps that’s something we forget sometimes. We have every right to say what we think, we just need to do that more. Otherwise, the ideals the United States stands for are at risk.
I was able to watch the new episode of South Park, and throughout the episode there were a series of censors on the screen where Mohammed should have been. The episode also bleeped out the word “Mohammed” and even completely censored a monologue at the end of the show. At first, I thought this was a well played meta joke that the South Park creators planned. But today I saw a statement on their website, noting that “Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle's customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn't mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too.” Looking for confirmation, I found several sources (including one from the New York Times website) that confirmed that Comedy Central had indeed heavily censored the episode prior to it airing. I was fairly taken aback to this decision. At first I reasoned that this was maybe a part of a marketing scheme to hype up the show, but I feel like that would be a fairly low thing to do. But I suppose this whole ordeal isn’t the right thing to do either. I’m fairly certain that this course of events is far worse. South Park lampoons everybody (even in the recent episode it portrayed Buddha ripping lines of cocaine and Jesus watching internet porn), but now at the sign of a threat everybody clamps shut and doesn’t support their own rights. Sometimes we need to fight for our basic constitutional rights to exist, otherwise they hold no merit.
The creators of South Park really like to push people’s buttons and see how far they can go without (illegally) crossing the line. I have to admit that it is an entertaining show, because it points out the flaws in humans and kind of shows us that there are so many angry people out there. I don’t know much about the Islamic religion but I believe that Muslims consider it blasphemy to show any physical representation of Muhammad, so whether it’s good or bad? I’m not saying that Muslims are uptight or anything, but a big deal is being made over a cartoon show.
I just feel like in America its just so hard to say what you want anymore. I feel like its just impossible for things that could be said before to be said today. People are a lot more sensitive to what is going on now and because of that no one is really aloud to say anything or make fun of anything just for fun. I think that when things are that sensitive in order to keep things from getting worse, people should not try and fight what is going on anymore. I think it just becomes hard to distinguish that point
South Park is a real funny show. They attempt to go about humor in so many different ways, I am starting to see that the main direction they go is political indirect humor. For instance the South Park writers try and push the limit on sensitive topics. They attempt to make their viewers laugh while still talking about an issue and teaching a lesson or morale or just having the viewers think wow thats interesting, yet funny. I saw the South Park episode that depicted the god Allah as something, I am not sure what He was. I can understand why muslims were mad at the shows writers. However, the show gets all religions not just Islam. They make fun of christianity and Jesus alot. Almost every episode. Christians for the most dont want to harm the writers if people feel they are offended then they simply stop watching it. I used to be very religious and after watching one South Park episode, I swore not to watch this show again. They skit that insulted me was degrading "my god" so I was like "F" this show its bull shit. I probably went about 10 months or so with out watching the show. After a while i realized the show has the right to make fun of what ever they want. Its up to me to either pout and be offended are laugh understand that other people dont think or have my beliefs. And thats ok. The thing thats wrong with the world today is that everyone feels like their beliefs and ideas and princples are above everyone else. Its the "I am right and you are wrong" concept. Thats what these Islams have that want to kill the writers of the show. They however, have it to an extremely expondential degree. Its sad because us humans thinking this way is the fundamental reason of why the world is in such as bad of a shape it is for so many people. We as humans dont accept what other peoples way, and if we do accept it then its done resistently. I think South Parks writers are good. I feel that they should be able to express making fun of any thing they want. I someone feels that they are getting offended then they can simply stop watching the show. America is FAR from perfect but the one thing that this country has going for it is that we have free speech. ( well not really but more than most other countries and its regulated very well). So I think those extremist need to attempt to understand everyone does not believe how/in what you believe in. And its ok for them to share there believes even its a direct opposite of what you believe.
South Park is designed to push peoples buttons and they once again did this. The people who threatened to kill the makers of the show need to realize that its a show. It's not real and its designed for humor. I didn't really find this episode to be that amusing because I knew how the extreme Muslims would react to someone making fun of their God. I do think that the extremists don't like being mocked along with any religion because they must feel like they are made to be less important to other religions. I really hope that the creators will be a little more careful though because some really think that this is wrong to be made fun of.
Religion is always a sketchy subject to satirize. Recently, Seth MacFarlane was on Larry King talking about this same issue. What he said was that when you're a writer of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's genre, poking fun of religion is a matter of weighing out pros and cons; is this joke so funny and so worth it to make when you know that people are going to be completely offended, and maybe even regard your joke as blasphemous? Members of Revolution Muslim, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are all United States citizens which gives them both the rights to threaten those who mock the faith that they believe in so passionately, and broadcast their 'offensive' cartoon on cable television. Whether or not violence will be inflicted upon the two writers is to be seen.
South park is always out of line. They really hold nothing back, and there is no way you should take offense to what they say. They trash everyone, and I mean everyone. I am Jewish, and when they say something extremely offensive to Jews, I start to get upset, then I remember that they do it for an effect. They do it for people that have incredibly and disgustingly crude humor. Even shows like Family Guy and the Simpsons do not take it to a level that South park does. I try not ot watch the show, because I know it is written by a bunch of people that get high together and try to write things that people will find funny.
Let me start off this blog post by saying that I am a huge South Park fan. It is a hilarious show and has always been one of the best cartoons and programs on television. However, it's not just hilarious but it is brilliant. Nearly every episode has a message and every episode is a satire. It is not created just to have foul mouth jokes and inappropriate language. But rather, it pokes fun on current events and the craziness that is today's 21st century society and America. Having said that, this past week's two part episode about Muhammad and the muslims was great. It was in my opinion one of the best episodes in South Park history. Again, having said that, people need to lighten up and learn how to take jokes. That is what South Park is. It is a satirical joke with a message. South Park's creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone aren't making fun of Muslims, the islamic religion or Muhammad. They are just using the episode for a greater message and to be funny. Today's society with the radical Christians and Muslims, whoever it may be, need to take a chill pill and relax. People need to learn how to take jokes and lighten up a little bit at times. Laughter makes this world such a better place and South Park's creators helps a better mood. Yeah, the show may cross the line at times. I could name 20 episodes off the top of my head that people would consider too racy and crossing the line. But you know what, who the hell cares. It is funny. It is a comedy. Whether it is censorship and stuff like this or whatever, people need to just relax, smile and have a good time. In my opinion, this is just a small representation of people caring too much. The FCC, the christian conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, everyone. People are too damn serious. Life is short and we should have fun and laugh. I know this doesn't necessarily answer the question directly but I'm using this blog post to just tell people to live and laugh. People always say carpe diem and sieze the day and life life to the fullest. Well, the best way to live life to the fullest is to smile and laugh and have some fun. South Park has fun and it makes me smile and laugh. So Trey Parker and Matt Stone, keep making fun of Muhammad and whoever the hell you want to because I want to laugh some more. People will complain, it's a fact. People complain about everything. Sarcasm and satire make life fun. Being uptight just makes everyone unhappy and I don't want to be unhappy. I want to laugh ans South Park is all about laughing.
I’ll watch South Park occasionally, but I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Matt Stone and Trey Parker. I know they put out episodes that offend various groups and that they attempt to push the envelope. However, I’ve taken issue with them every since their episode “The F Word”.
This episode that’s causing so much controversy is one that features a depiction of the prophet Mohammed. In Islam it’s frowned upon to create visual images of Mohammed because they want to deter idolatry of said image. The rule basically wants to stop people from worshipping the image as opposed to actually worshipping the idea and person beyond the image. That’s why I’m a little eh over people saying “They showed Jesus, Buddha, etc!” Well, those religions don’t have a problem with depictions of their prophet, etc. Of course I’m not excusing the few crazies who want to kill over a depiction. There are many more liberal Muslims who don’t have an issue with depictions of Mohammed, but as the case with the South Park guys shows, there are people who take issue with images being shown. It’s the same with every religion I suppose. There are liberal and rational people in each religion, but the few crazies are the ones who are given media attention and as a result, people associate the crazies with every single person in the religion.
The South Park episode aired recently and the image of Mohammed was blocked out because Comedy Central decided to censor it. They did it without the South Park guy’s permission and I suppose it was due to the death threats the producers were facing. I’m not a fan of censorship and as people have repeated over and over, South Park makes fun of every group. I think it’s ridiculous to censor an image just to please one group. You can’t make a death threat because you’re offended by something. I understand that South Park is offensive at times and blatantly pushes the creator’s beliefs, but you’re only giving yourself a bad image by threatening to kill over something you disagree with.
An episode they had that really offended me was their episode about the f word and how it’s basically alright to use it because the meaning is changing. I’m changing the topic a bit but it relates to my previous opinion on the Mohammed episode. I quite like what someone said on another blog regarding this episode. “The privileged group does not get to make a statement for the oppressed group.” There are people who will argue that the Mohammed episode is a joke and shouldn’t be taken seriously, but half the time they’re the ones who use South Park as their go to political show. Kinda sad.
Regardless, many people will watch South Park and believe everything is says is incredibly clever, but a few episodes are nothing more than a way for the creators to push their beliefs. Someone(outside of this blog) mentioned a few episodes such as “Cartman’s Silly Hate Crime 2000” where they attacked hate crime laws despite the facts that prove certain groups ARE targeted and hate crime laws are designed to protect them. It makes me sick when people try to say its special privileges. Or the episode about Mr. Garrison which basically poked fun at transgendered issues. The show isn’t really that brilliant (in my opinion) but it does have its funny moments that shine a light on important issues.
Also, some of the comments here scream “ethnocentrism”. The comment that bashed Islam as bogus because of its background. I’m pretty certain the people that bash Islam have no background or any information on it save for a quick glance at Wikipedia or the minutes they can spare to watch Fox News. The fact that someone says Islam is bogus while ignoring the fact that Christianity claims Jesus was born to a virgin and came back from the dead screams of hypocrisy and nothing more than ethnocentrism. People need to get over themselves and realize that making death threats won’t solve anything, but neither will acting as if your point of view is the only correct one.
I think this is a ridiculous story. The fact that South Park makes fun of people is such an old story, everybody has stopped caring what they say. At this point, the makers of South Park should not be subject to any more criticism. They should be allowed to say whatever they want about anybody, it’s a little thing we call freedom of speech.
Over the years, South Park has made fun of many different types of people. They have said things such as “Fucking Jew” and “People who are annoying…Niggers!” I mean these are some pretty ridiculous things to say on a cable television show, but South Park has been doing this for over 10 years. The general public should understand what this show is and how they are going to write the show. You don’t hear about the Jewish community complaining anymore about the derogatory comments they make about Jews. And you don’t hear about black people threatening the producer of South Park do you?
So why does the Muslim community feel like they have the right to threaten South Park for making fun of Muhammad? Is Muhammad such a sacred figure that they feel the need to protect him more than Jewish people need to protect themselves? I don’t get this at all. The Muslim community needs to suck it up and not get really mad about situations like this. People watch South Park because they like the show and they think it is hilarious. That’s why the show is still on the air. The producers of this show get paid to do make people laugh, and they are very good at what they do.
There is no way that South Park should even concern themselves with apologizing to anybody for this incident. They have worked out of worse situations than this one, and there is no reason this should be any different. I mean what are the Muslims going to do to the producers, murder them. There is no way these people are going to be killed over a cartoon episode. What has this world that we live in come to when people are being threatened over a cartoon show?
What I find interesting is that also on the episode, South Park made fun of all of the other major religions in some way. Why hasn’t the Christian community come out and threatened the producers for making fun of Jesus? Why does the Muslim community have to be so radical and intense in everything that they do. Maybe it would be okay if they said they were upset with the way Muhammad was depicted in the episode in a professional way. But they threatened the producers physically? That’s ridiculous.
I think that it is ridiculous that there are so many groups who take offense to TV shows especially ones like South Park. This show makes fun of everything you can possibly think of and any scandal that comes up in the media. For Muslims to take so much offense to one episode because it makes fun of their culture and they don’t get riled up when our culture makes comments just seems hypocritical to me. There are so many people that probably do take offense and make comments about what is said on this show and others but it isn’t talked about as much because they aren’t such a smaller group of people.
I feel like this is another example of racism but in an alternative way. If someone who was catholic had mad a big deal about an episode then it would not have been such a public showing in the media and people probably wouldn’t have cared as much. I think it is also in a way showing how people in smaller religions who feel as if they are being attacked make things seem like that all the time even if that wasn’t the original intention. I am not saying that what was said on South Park isn’t wrong and that it isn’t slander but it shouldn’t always be made to be such a huge deal.
I realize that there as been a lot of emphasis and criticism of Muslims especially since 9/11 and the events that have happened since then and they are probably on their guard. I have no idea how it would feel to be lumped in with a group of people for that reason but I do know how it feels to be lumped in with a group of people. There are always stereotypes that come with different cultures and religions and even here on campus there are stereotypes that go with groups. I am in a sorority and there are some very obvious assumptions made about us such that we are sluts and only care about alcohol and are ditsy. Also, even within sororities specifically there are tiers and people are lumped in with their tier and are surprised when someone is prettier than they should be according to their tier.
Overall, I think that it must be very hard for Muslims to take on so many hits just for following a religion that has a lot of radical people in it that are terrorists. However, I don’t think that this means that they should always be so on the offensive about things especially about a show like south park that makes fun of anything that can breath for the most part.
I am a young man who grew up watching the hilarious famous TV series which is known as South Park. I was laughing at their jokes way before I could even understand what some of it meant. Even up to this day I find it really appealing and hilarious, which is the main purpose of the show. This show falls under the same category as other wildly popular adult and mature audience intended cartons such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, and Kin g of the Hill, with South Park most definitely being the most highly offensive to any particular audience.
I think this issue about the mocking of the prophet Muhammad is being blown out of proportion. The show South Park is notorious for making fun of everything, from actors to religion, and for people to take it this seriously is ridiculous. Comedy Central censoring the episode is also ridiculous, because they make fun of christianity and judaism too but they aren't censored. To censor this episode because it is making fun of Islam is offensive, what makes their religion any better than other peoples. I can understand people being upset with the show and how they are mocking their religion, but those people do not need to watch the show. The show makes fun of a lot of sensitive issues and none of them are censored, but as soon as Muhammad comes into it they censor the show. That is one of the big things I disagree with, if you make fun of all those things, then turn around and censor one that implies that the censored subject is more important than all the others, which is absolute bullshit. If they are going to censor insults to the Islam religion, than the channel should censor all the religious insults put into the show. The fact that they are treating Islam more important than any other religion is insulting all the people that belong to the other religions. I also think that the people that made this issue a big deal should relax, because they are blowing the subject way out of proportion.
The whole thing about the creators of the show being warned about mocking the religion of Islam is also ridiculous. I don't care what they say about the comments and how it should be taken as a threat. When someone suggests the possibility of you being murdered, because you made fun of something in a show that makes fun of everything, then I would consider that a threat. I am not saying that all Islam is ridiculous, but I am saying that the radical sects of Islam that threaten the creators of a cartoon because they made fun of their religious leader are acting exactly as most non-islamic people see them as. If they want to be taken seriously then they need to stop making death threats as a way to stick up for their religion. The fact that they made “threats” to the creators with a graphic picture of van gogh, makes me personally wish that the creators keep making the show the way they are. I understand that it is only the radical groups of Islam that start these issues, but it makes me angry that everytime Islam is made fun of it is blown out of proportion. This is a more minor case of the cartoon making fun of Muhammad in Europe that started riots and that man also received death threats. That a relatively minor thing makes this big of a deal is not right. This issue proves that relations between Islam and the western world are still a sensitive area.
South Park has been an extremely controversial show for years. My brother and his friends used to always want to watch it when they were in like 7th and 8th grade (now they are 22), and my parents would never let him because they thought it was so inappropriate. South Park is extremely inappropriate, but it is what makes it humorous. They usually relate the topics to events that are going on in the world today and what people can relate to. The thing that South Park does, it targets ALL forms of races, religions, people, and groups. It never singles out and targets one and only one group. It ranges with the various episodes. It is unnecessary for people to take offense to this show because it is not meant to be offensive, just funny and making almost a parody off of certain people. Its a group of supposed third graders, that curse, know more about sex than most, but are still children at heart.
The topic South Park chose to do was use Mohammed as their next "victim" as some people might want to say. It is simply making fun of muslims and discussing their religion. It is making the show funny and for people to enjoy. Laugh at yourselves and know that it is not supposed to be directed towards any individual. People can be very closed minded. If they honestly have such a problem with the show, they should not watch it at all. South Park has been on for years and there should not be so many issues over one topic, when there has been far more controversial topics in the past.
South Park is such a popular show and people are overreacting and taking this to extreme measures. Other shows have done just as worse. So many stand up comedians use stereotypes, race, religions, and groups to make their skits funny and to make fun of people. Other shows such as Family Guy and the Simpsons also do this. Why is it such a big deal now? Why is this episode more offensive than others? The writers of the show are the creative minds behind the show and have the right to say what they feel necessary. It does not mean that it all necessarily true.
As I talked about my brother not being able to watch the show as a kid, my dad now loves the show. He is strict and kind of uptight. He became open minded and loves the show. He waits for a new episode each week and you can hear him laughing for across the house. It is entertaining. People need to give the show a chance and stop taking everything so literally. Its absurd and obnoxious when people take things that are so unimportant and blow them out of proportion.
I watched the episode on Wednesday that was a continuation of last week’s episode. The thing about South Park that you have to keep in mind is that they are trying to make a point and deliver a message with all of the fun that they poke at different topics. The whole Muhammad thing may have had blasphemous connotation. But there is always a greater message behind it. Matt and Trey do not hate those who worship Muhammad, and as you may notice there were many other dietys whom were also made fun of. For example Buddha, Krishna, and Jesus were also included in the gods on the show. And, to top it off comedy central even edited the show that Matt and Trey had intended, bleeping out much of the commentary that was included in the end. Also, the creators pointed out that Muhammad was never shown in any form. At the point in the show where they may have shown Muhammad, it turned out to be a hoax and it was Santa Claus instead.
The deeper issue here is humility and a bit of ethnocentrism. This group in New York City who threatened the creators of south park in my opinion were very off target and out-of-line. In the United States of America I would not say that it is proper custom to send a threatening message to creators of a show that made outlandish comments toward one’s god. You cannot refer to gruesome pictures of a past film creator who did something similar and was brutally killed because of it.
I am all for voicing ones own opinion. If something offends you on South Park or another TV show or different publication, or really anything, then I think you have an obligation to speak out against it. But there is a right way and a wrong way to do everything. You cannot make life threatening messages over trivial opinions and jokes. Instead, you need to be assertive and make your opinions known, and ask south park to stop. From there, further decisions will be made, but to be rash and start threats, it belittles your argument.
So ok, lets say that this group in New York goes and kills Matt and Trey. Then what? The whole group and whoever was associated will be locked up and put in jail, or put to death themselves. I’m no lawyer, but aggravated homicide is not going to get you 3-5 years in jail. So I’m just saying, if this is really the avenue that those who worship Muhammad want to take in order to support their god, then good luck I guess, you’re gonna need it.
First off the creators of South Park are absolute geniuses in my book and are extremely good at poking fun at some of the stupid things that are occurring in the world (i.e.. sex addiction). In regards to the Muhammad episode, this is not the first time they have poked fun at Muhammad or any other religion. They have been doing this for a long time and they do it in a way to make some viewers very offended and then others like me can see the humor in it. In my own opinion people just need to relax and don't let a cartoon influence you too much. I know some people can't do this and that's why the creators of South Park got death threats but come on guys it’s a cartoon with third graders who cuss and zdo derogatory things…RELAX!
I just recently watched this episode since I have heard about it on the news recently and heard from a few friends about the newest South Park episode. I watch a decent amount of South Park so I know what humor they like to portray. This whole deal about Muhammad, personally, should not cause such a big deal. In past seasons there were plenty of episodes where they tried depicting Jesus Christ. One of which comes to mind is the one where Jesus is set up for a boxing match against Satan. I did not hear much controversy over that episode, but then again I was not very attune to the news like I am now. All the other religions are made fun of too so it is not just a sole attempt to bash the Muslim religion. Jesus is looking at porn online while Buddha is snorting a line of crack.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone are not exactly trying to make peace among people. They merely see a chance at humor to entertain the masses. You can’t tell me Muslims do not have their own jokes about other religions, but come on they definitely set themselves up for this with the last cartoon trying to portray Muhammad, Family Guy. Apparently that whole episode was controversial too but unfortunately I missed that one.
I can see how this is bad though, but it is just going in a circle with controversies and stereotypes. Assuming the censored item is Muhammad, then Muslims who speak out against stopping such media occur against their religion are just adding to the Muslim radical stereotype that most people seem to have. People need to learn to stop being offended by such things. It is like what Sam Richards said in class, “Something is only offensive, if you choose to make it offensive.” I take that to heart because that is totally true. If you think about it, things that really get people irritated are very little things, stuff that does not matter to most people, most of the time. These people that do get offended by it just make things very complicated. South Park has a reputation of making fun of stereotypes and celebrities. It is their humor and they are not going to change it because some people are outraged about it. If they are really that outraged do not watch it. No one should take a show such as South Park seriously because they are only trying to get people to laugh.
And what is this I hear about a radical group wanting the creators of South Park to be killed? If that is true, they are not helping their cause at all. So cliché but death is not the answer. People need to realize that; things do not need to be so radical.
Shows like South Park and Family Guy are there for pure entertainment. That is my opinion and I think this way because if it was not for entertainment, then it would not be on TV anymore. South Park has been running for 14 years and is still going strong. Family Guy has been taken off the air multiple times, but always seems to make its way back with success. Creators of these shows get threats all the time because the shows do cross lines sometimes. That is what they are on the television for and why they are so successful.
I think that South Park is a great show in terms of entertainment. It definitely pushes some people’s buttons on several occasions. Maybe not even just on several occasions – probably every single episode. The show is pretty much based on and was founded upon mockery of people and laughing at people, including celebrities’ misfortunes and fortunes.
To address the video post, I guess it’s pretty interesting that a Muslim group actually is angry with South Park at this point, because in the past South Park has mocked radical Muslim groups as being upset about them showing Mohammed. Now, it’s actually happened. Pretty ironic I think.
I’m not Muslim, I’m Christian, so I guess I don’t see the whole significance around showing Mohammed, nor do I even know if Muslim groups are actually against Mohammed being showed. In my eyes, it could just be all made up by South Park as another thing that they could work with, but I really don’t know.
I honestly don’t think that anyone should be offended by South Park’s mockery, for a few reasons. First of all, South Park picks on almost everyone. They don’t really discriminate, and when they make fun of people, I think it’s mostly as a joke. I mean, they even had a few episodes about our President, Barack Obama when he became the President. Secondly, I think that the whole mockery of anyone in South Park is not to be taken seriously. When they make fun of people and stuff, it’s normally just some kind of metaphor or something. Lastly, it’s just a television show, and not even a real television show – it’s a cartoon. It kind of makes me laugh, how much ruckus and controversy a cartoon can cause. Everyone is going to receive criticism in their life, so everyone is going to have to learn how to deal with it and know how to accept and work with that criticism. I understand that celebrities get it a lot – in the magazines, tabloids, on the news – and South Park is yet another thing that tacks on some more criticism. I’m not a celebrity, so I don’t know what it’s like, but like I said, you’re going to receive some criticism, so you should learn how to deal with it.
On a final note, I would have to say that South Park does go too far sometimes. Most recently, I remember the episode that picked on Sarah Jessica Parker pretty badly. I almost felt bad for her, because every line was just, “She’s so ugly” or “She’s hideous and gross”. Not to mention how her character in the show was pretty gross looking. So sometimes I do feel like South Park goes overboard. Oh well though.
I think that with episodes like South Park, family guy and the Simpsons they look for ways to push button without actually going there. It’s all for shock value it goes there without actually making the viewer that pissed. I seen that south park episode and pretty much what is was the “creators” of family guy where going to show the prophet Mohammad and the Muslims were upset with the family guy creators and threaten to do something to the creators I can’t exactly remember. But pretty much the kids from south park went to stop them. But they ended up censoring the image of Mohammad and everyone was happy. I thought the portrayal of the show was funny because south park for the most part picks on a lot of things in society for shock value and I think its kind of funny how things are portrayed. I think that it goes with the sticks and stones theory and you take it however you want to because regardless how you look at south park picks at everything within our society and doesn’t really hold back. And I guess it depends on what type of person you are to really take the message. I cant seem to help but think even thought amidst of the crude humor and the pokes and fun stuff that there really is an underlying message that is possibly involved in this show because there’s a method to madness whether you look at it or not. I have to say I don’t feel disrespected by the show and what goes on in I think its actually funny because they’re pretty much going off on what society is so sensitive about and taking it and putting it on the for front. I think the people who actually take offense to it are the people that are really sensitive who just consistently see a problem with everything in the world. I think they play of the role of free speech really well because they say what they want all the time and as a result whether or not u felt offended by it or you thought it was funny. You saw it and you listened and you got something out of it is what I think they’re ultimate goal is at the end of the say because some of the material that they bring is sometimes what I think of about society. I think that we kind of all need to take just a little insight of what they’re saying because regardless of the comical aspects of it they dod have a point underlying somewhere. You just have to be bright enough to actually pay attention and get the point.
I recently learned of the South Park episode where they poked fun at the Muslim religion by bringing Mohammad into the show. I think that people need to relax because they take things way too far. I know that the writers of the show are inappropriate, but there is no need for Muslims to react in such a way. Why would you threaten to take somebody’s life because they made fun of your religion? As a Jewish teenager, I always get the brunt of the jokes because people love to make fun of Jews. However, I laugh about it or brush it off because people are just messing around. They don’t truly mean what they say and they are just trying to get some laughs from their viewers.
South Park has been a show that has been around as long as i could at least understand humor. At first i just liked it because it was a foul dirty mouth show that my mom and dad didn't want me to watch and so of course that's the only reason i watched it. but as i got older i really recognized some of the message they were started to get across and by college time i was in amazement how they could take a situation that was going on in the world, and really nail it and show you how stupid it is and what the lesson you should learn from the stupidity of some people. Well when i heard about this episode of Muhammad i didn't think much of it until they said they could get bombed for showing Muhammad on their show. I think i remember laughing out loud when i heard that. i just can't imagine a group being so mad to kil someone because they are going to show their version of their prophet, not even their god, and its going to be in cartoon form!!!! what these ignorant douche bag rebels don't realize is they already showed MUHAMMAD IN ONE OF THEIR FIRST EPISODES WITH THE JESUS IN A SUPERHEROS EPISODE! So it boggles my mind to judge a television show that is completely unbiased and has even showed him before but now you want to kill him if they show your prophet. im sorry i get what Sam says about most Muslims but you don't see anyone else going to this extreme for showing something on television. and they live IN NEW YORK CITY! they say shit like this, they live where September 11th happened and can still get away with this? you know why? because we live in America where even their free rights matter. So, i guess i just will never understand how you can be so thick headed and to watch their show and now threaten them. The south park creators wanted to show it but comedy central censored it, which is crazy to think they felt that strong about it. But Seth McFarlane, creator of Family Guy talked about this issue with Larry king said "how far do you take it, if its the funniest joke in the world, is it worth dying for, sometimes its just not worth it" but south park creators also talked about it, and said if they dont show it, hen they would be contradicting themselves from what they have done all their lives. So im really torn what i would do, i guess every person would be different, but i know one thing i really hope that these radicals are found and get what they deserve for threatening to kill someone if they show a cartoon of someone. As Jon Stewart said on his show the other day, Hey revloution muslims, Go fuck yourselves!
This is a very interesting question. I was watching the second part of the episode and one of my friends told me that they are censoring the parts with Muhammad. He also told me the censorship is due to threats South Park producers have received from a Muslim group that felt disrespected. I was shocked by that explanation. South Park is a show with a reputation of making smears and jokes about everything and anything possible. I have seen many episodes of South Park that makes fun of religions and God. Jesus was part of this controversial episode and I didn’t hear anyone complaining or threatening anybody. I know a lot of young Americans take religion softly and do not feel the need to be upset if someone makes fun of their religion while in some countries, religion is your life and everything you do is based on the rules and guidelines set for you. If we take the Koran as an example, Muslims look at the holy book as the ultimate guide for their life. People eat, work, fast, bank by the Koran. Investors go as far as not getting any interest in their loans as it is forbidden by the sharia law. Muslim countries that follow the Sharia law take religion seriously and have the mentality that nothing is above their beliefs. It is out of their imagination that people will even consider making fun of a prophet that they respect and mimic every day. In the other hand, Americans especially our generation inherited their beliefs from their parents and don’t really practice it outside of their parents house. Freedom of speech is always going to be a factor as well since many will defend their constitutional rights. As we know, it’s very common for people to make fun of the President or anybody in power while in some countries, it is unthinkable. So the controversial episode comes down to the respect Muslims have for the prophet and the offense they feel when they see a comedian from the western world mocking their faith. In my perspective, if the US wants to improve their relations with Arab counties as a strategy against terrorism, episodes like this one cannot be aired. I also see a double standard as far South Park making fun of Jesus and other religions but taking an episode about Muhammad off air. Although religion is private in this country, many people consider it to be the vital piece in their life.
I saw the first episode of the controversial new Mohammad episodes and find the joking that the creators are trying to do as funny and childish. the idea that they would make fun of everything they could is the heart of the show and anyone that takes it too seriously is what they're looking for. the Muslim people that find it disrespectful should be angry it is they're religion that is being ridiculed in public for the amusement of the masses. but to send hate mail and even death threats is beyond ridiculous. write a letter start a protest or just stop watching the show, it's not about being serious but about being outrageous and getting attention. the show is not to be taken seriously and I think that the creators would respect the religious canon of the Muslim's so I don't think they would ever show Mohammad on T.V. for real. I strongly believe in the right to do and say what you want and to be censured by no one but your peers not legally or by intimidation so I would never support the idea that South Park should be stopped from portraying all the people they portray as long as they do it to all peoples and all groups equally. I support full freedom of speech and that is why I say what I say in this post.
I was quite disappointed to see that South Park had to edit their recent episode in order to avoid more threats. The show has spent many years pushing a lot of buttons, and it's sad to think this may be the one issue that has successfully managed to stifle the voices of the creators. Keep in mind that over the years these guys have skewered Christianity, Judaism, Atheism, abortion, priest molestation, mental and physical handicaps, race, ethnicity, immigration, torture, war, and many other potentially controversial topics. The creators have offended many people, but have always seemed to pride themselves on the fact that they are equal opportunity offenders. They make a point of the fact that they consider nothing sacred or untouchable–even when it hits close to home. Just a few years ago they actually lost one of their most prominent voice actors after making an episode that offended him.
I believe in being respectful of the beliefs of others in my own life, but I hardly expect everyone else to do the same. I also don't believe in censoring yourself; I don't think that anything or anyone should be held as being so holy or so untouchable that even someone saying a certain word would trigger a violent threat. And don't forget the fact that this is just a tv show. No one is making anyone watch. If someone thinks they will be offended by what they see, why don't they just change the channel or not watch? I remember one day in class, Sam asked if people thought that being offended was uncontrollable or if it was a decision we made. I personally believe that being offended is always a choice. There are things that offend me; there are things that I don't like to hear people say. But I know that I am making a choice to get angry, and that I have the power to control my feelings and walk away.
If you actually watch the South Park episode in question, you will see that no one was suggesting anything about Mohammed other than that mocking him is taboo–which I think we can agree is true. Mohammed was not even shown in the episode. Now, on the other hand, consider the portrayal of women in the media. Everyday I have to deal with being exposed to hundreds of images of women being objectified. Women are shown a single standard of beauty and encouraged to do their best to conform to it, even if their own body types are completely different. And unlike some silly episode of South Park, studies have shown that these images do have an actual effect on the way women view themselves. Just take for example the fact that 80% of American women report having gone on a diet to lose weight by the time they are 18.
Now, I could walk around all day with a chip on my shoulder about this. I could allow myself to become offended every time I'm faced with another ad or movie or television show featuring a hyper-sexualized woman. I could. But I choose not to. Because when I'm offended, I may feel like I'm being energized by some righteous anger, but really I'm just wasting my own energy whining about something I can't really change. I'd be much better off spending my energy reinforcing my own self-esteem in order to protect against these images, and encouraging other women to do the same. That's my choice.
At first, I did not really like South Park that much. I thought it was really stupid humor and not worth my time to watch it. However, last year I started watching it, and I realized I was completely wrong. I love the show now. It has definitely changed over the years. I feel like a lot of people like the older ones more, but I really enjoy the new ones. Matt Stone and Trey Parker do a great job of looking satirically at all of the top stories in the news. I used to think that they just cursed off a lot and talk about really weird topics, but they really touch on all of the big current events. I guess radical Muslims do not watch South Park because if they did, they would know that Stone and Parker do not give a shit about anything or anyone. They are not racist or unfairly critical because they rip every person, political party, religion, etc. apart equally. I think it is awesome that they do it because a lot of the time they write into their shows what everyone else is thinking. I also think it is funny that they use children to portray their messages. I know that radical people, whether they are Christian, Muslim, or a part of some other group, are not very logical. I understand that you cannot reason with an illogical person and me trying to understand them is sort of useless. I just think it is so interesting that radical Muslims are so mad about this. I really want to try to understand what and how they think. It just does not make any sense to me. First it is just a cartoon. I do not think anything said in a tv show or cartoon should be taken very seriously. Especially if it is one that made its name using satire. It is just humor. Also, they did not even show Muhammad. I know that they made it seem like they were going to, but they used a censor bar. I read that the Muslim radical group was upset because putting Muhammad in a bear suit was highly offensive. This is pretty stupid though because it was not even Muhammad in the bear suit. It was Santa Clause. Finally, I guess radical people are very serious about their beliefs, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but could they not see that other religions were also made fun of. Vishnu, Jesus, Moses, and Joseph Smith the Mormon prophet were all in the episode. These religions are maybe not as serious as Islam in not portraying their prophets or something, but I am Christian and did not really mind seeing Jesus in an episode. It is just harmless humor. I just don’t understand the radical mindset of wanting to kill or harm people because they mentioned your main prophet. They didn’t even make fun of Muhammad.
Did they actually threaten to kill them or something? If so, I think that's pretty funny. People need to calm down because it’s just a joke and more than one God was mocked. However, the Muslims probably do not understand the comedy of it because they are of a different culture and that's understandable. Once again, it was probably radical Muslims that did this and they make everyone else look bad. We only judge people by those who we think represent them. I’m sure Muslims or anyone else judges us by listening to the ridiculous things Sarah Palin said like talking about religion and war in the same sentence.
I think it’s bogus. What hasn’t South Park made fun of at this point? It seems like anything and everything the writers can make fun of, they already have or they certainly will. Nothing is safe from South Park. (Sounds like I’m treating them like a super-monster that can’t be destroyed.) I think what makes it “okay” for them to poke fun at everything is that they are doing it in good fun. I really don’t think there was any anti-Muslim sentiment behind anything that was on the show. Although I haven’t seen the show, judging on the previous episodes, I’m sure it was all in good fun with no need to get worked up over it, no matter what religion you practice.
Okay, as an avid South Park enthusiast, I was extremely pissed off at the editing Comedy Central used. I understand that Matt and Treys' lives were indirectly threatened but the Muslim prophet was never shown and he said maybe three words in an episode. The news report said the extremist group was angered by Muhammad being put into a mascot costume, but it turned out to be Santa in the costume. They had no reason to be angry and especially to go as far as to threaten their lives. Plus as other big South Park fans may know, Matt and Trey have used images of Muhammad on their show previously, when they used the Super Best Friends before. No one seemed to be offended then, so why the big change now, when even less about him was used?
People need to sit back and take it for what it real is. Entertainment, so yeah it is a little provocative, but isn't that what everyone is looking for. Not everyone will agree with what south park is really trying to depict. But the truth of the matter is there is so much history racked up into that show that if it was ever to be shut down there would be a outcry of protesters.
The show does an amazing job of putting a lot of political, racial, religious things into a more humorous and more laid back way. Which means that they like to poke fun of the people that take life way to seriously. I agree with "ratherawkward" They are making a big deal out of mocking him. which is to say that saying anything related to Mohammed is wrong. It is absolutely ridiculous that it reached the level it did. No threat should be made on such craziness. The same thing happened before when they last showed a episode that was threatening to have Mohammad in the episode/ family guy knock off. If i was to really consider the out come and weigh the options out i would not really care.
I am upset about them not airing the original episode because of the fact that it was pure genius. I could only imagine the faces of all the celebrities that are pissed off about how southpark is making fun of them complaining about the show. They do a wonderful job of making the most serious problems in the world have a little humor to it. example. Chatroulette.com (AMAZING) world of warcraft – hysterical. You have to take this though in there perspectives, they see us mocking them and making fun of their prophet. They have yet to bash Christianity in anyway. god has already been depicted to look like Saddam Hussein right? how many people were offended by that, or were looking to write threats about it. From there view point though, i say they feel unprepared to strike back with out violent actions and are pushed into a corner and feel that they have to do something to stop this before it gets out of hand. So they threaten lives, way to go. just another over reaction to add to southparks wonderful track record. When they had the Passion of the Jew episode, everyone loved it, at some points if felt that was the governments doing to help out economy out as far as informing us of what should be done. LOL or maybe im just stupid i don't know. All i know is the episode was funny and i hoping to see south park in its regular up to standard showings of awesomeness.
people should totally respect other peoples beliefs, but to take it to a new level as to threaten lives is just stupid. The show once again is for Our Entertainment. people need to just relax and take it for what it real is.
Really, I think the creators of south park handled themselves very well regarding that episode. The whole point of it was to show just how ridiculous things have become regarding the treatment of islam. It’s almost gotten to a point where the extremists have made it such that you can’t criticize the culture at all. And that sort of double standard is where inequality comes from. And it’s not like South Park plays favorites. Look what they’ve done with Christianity, from the pedophiliac priests to god being an…orangutan looking thing. So it’s ridiculous to bar them from being able to do the same to other faiths.
I agree with the sentiment of the majority of these posts. I am a huge South Park fan. Throughout the course of its run, the show has satirized literally every group I can think of. Matt Stone and Trey Parker have offered biting insights on some of America's biggest and most topical social issues. Included among them have been abortion, stem cell research, and global warming. Celebrities like Tom Cruise, Kanye West, and Al Gore have been targeted as well. In the famous episode "Imagination Land", dozens of fictional characters are satirized. Included among them is Jesus. I was born and raised Catholic, and I took no issue with it. Satirizing religious figures has been around as long as religion itself. People who fail to realize this are usually extremely close-minded. Jesus is depicted in countless South Park episodes, and most Christians realize that South Park is a show on Comedy Central and not to take it seriously enough to threaten the lives of the show's creators. Granted, there are probably a good amount who took extreme offense to Jesus's portrayal, but there has not been an outcry to the degree of Mohammed's portrayal in this past week's episode of South Park. I took a course that studied Islam in high school, so I have some degree of understanding regarding the religion and the culture. However, I think that taking such serious issue with a cartoon show on Comedy Central to the degree that you'd threaten the lives of the show's creators is outrageous and extremely radical. I really don't think any issue is taboo enough to warrant such an outcry. I honestly don't think I can be shocked by anything on South Park because I have realized that South Park is willing to explore some of the most controversial issues in society. However, it definitely speaks to our degree of ethnocentrism that we fail to comprehend the validity of Muslims' protests. One of the most important things I have learned from this class is how to see an issue from other people's point of view. I thought that Sam's lecture on Christian Invaders was very thought-provoking in this aspect. It's very easy to condemn another group as being fanatical, but you really need to step outside yourself and put yourself in their shoes in order to understand the world the way they view it. I had never thought about the degree to which we exploit the resources of other people. It is from this frame of mind that I can say this. I really do not believe that the radical outcries of some Muslim groups are valid or even warranted, but I can understand why they might get so upset.
In response to the South Park comment, I am an avid South Park fan. I have been watching South Park for basically my whole life. The writers of the show depict current events and make abstract situations in order to make the show more entertaining. The closest shows I can describe South Park as is the Simpsons. Instead of the whole family being the main characters, picture Bart, the son, being the main character. The comedy central hit, South Park, is about four third grade students in a Colorado Elementary School. Of course, to make the show funny, the elementary students curse obnoxiously. Essentially they don’t act like third graders at all; they act more like middle school students because of their intelligence levels. With that quick overview of the show, now comes the main discussion of their material.
The South Park incident just goes to show the horrifying nature a radicalism (of anything). Despite how controversial South Park is, I think we all agree that no one deserves these kinds of threats over a cartoon television show that makes fun of EVERYONE. To be honest, I am surprised this doesn’t happen more often, as these radical followers don’t seem to have much leeway. The ironic thing in all of this is that it happened in America where freedom of speech is utilized everyday, often in much the same way the South Park producers use it on their show. This is America, this is how we operate and some people will inherently dislike that. My answer? Ignorance is bliss. Don’t come here. Don’t watch comedy central.
I think that south park is completely “off the hook”. I have never liked this show. It is completely offensive and ridiculous. All of my friends love to watch this show so I figured I would just give it a chance. However, by the end of the episode I was completely outraged and bothered. They made rude and offensive comments towards women, different races and religions. I think that this show should not even be allowed to be aired. I understand that some people may think it is funny, but they should really think about the people they are offending when they make those comments.
I just don't understand why a group would go as far as like threatening people because of a damn TV show. Like South Park makes fun of EVERYTHING. I can't even count how many times that show has made fun of Jewish people and definitely Jesus and Christian people. No one actually takes it seriously or gets angry enough about it to threaten.. like honestly, they are words. I just am completely astounded by this. Plus, why did the creators of South Park listen and bleep out the words and references to Muhammad? I mean yeah it might be scary to get threatened, but who gives a shit. It should be a free world when it comes to opinions and words. It's just so frustrating.
It is really difficult for me to empathize with the people who are threatening to kill people over this. I honestly can't think of a similar situation where a cartoon would want to make me kill someone. Maybe I am the weird one here. Who knows. But institutionalized theocracy has done some very odd things throughout history and it's really not even worth trying to justify the actions of extremist groups anymore. If southpark hasn't offended you at some point you haven't watched enough episodes. I think people need to grow some thicker skin… but maybe that's the easy thing to say here.
When I found out that people had taken offense to this episode, my initial reaction wasn’t very considerate of the people of the Muslim religion. I thought it was ridiculous that people could see the episode of South Park, and react in rage and threaten to kill the creators. South Park is a cartoon and it is not real life. When I was in elementary school my best friend and I had this joke about our invisible friend Muhammad. I had no idea that there was so much controversy over allowing this character to have a physical form. If I did, I probably would have poked more fun at it because I wouldn’t have (and still really don’t) understood the drama that comes along with a visual of a god. It’s not like it’s an accurate depiction of the god, nobody actually has an accurate depiction of his or her god.
Once I stepped out of my own shoes and tried to see this in the eyes of a Muslim who took offense, I began to see where this anger could come from. Many people have religious beliefs, much different than my lack of any, and these people hold true to these beliefs and live by these laws that their god has set forth for them. Holding onto something as strongly as many religious people do leads me to realize how this poking fun at their god could be offensive. It’s hard for me to put it into a perspective I can understand, though. I am not religious and I don’t have a god, let alone one that cannot be visualized. However, the anger these people must be feeling doesn’t justify threats to kill those who are simply making it into a joke. And it is also not as if this was the only religion they poked fun at, South Park is sure to leave nobody out of their jokes. What could make somebody who is religious and following the rules of their god, which include unconditional love and forgiveness, want to kill another person? People who feel that they are killing ‘for’ their god seem insane to me. How could a god that loves and accepts you be so willing to force you into murder? To me, this doesn’t seem to make any sense, especially if we are all welcome to become followers of this same god.
Sometimes I feel that religion accidentally leads to acts of violence and hate more than it should. People should practice what they preach. If people who strongly believe in a god or religion that teaches forgiveness and unconditional love, they should be able to forgive those and love those who believe in different things than they do. They should also not hate and want to kill those that offend them.
To start off we all know that south park and its creators push the envelope every episode when it comes to the material they use. They aren’t the only show to do this though and they are joined by the likes of the family guy, the Cleveland show, the Simpsons… and many others. The thing about south par though is that in every episode they are ALWAYS making fun of a certain individual and never let up. Now I’m not of Muslim decent or believe in their religion so I don’t know what their rules and values are, but if I had to guess they are the same as anyone else’s and they take their God and values very seriously. What they do on the show I do not always agree with but it is a very funny and long standing show so they obviously are not offending to many people otherwise it would be off the air. The episode in question however has the prophet Mohamed in a bear costume or something and is being disrespected in some fashion. Is this the right way to go about things considering how the Americans relationship right now with Islamic religion is, eh not really but at the same time Jesus is a main character on the show and they always poke fun at him. In my eyes, obviously, I see nothing wrong with this just a show doing what they always do, but I can see how some people would definitely take offense to these remarks. The thing here though is that this is not just a random group, it’s a group of radicals that have previsouly killed someone for the same action so this needs to be dealt with in a more serious manner. I believe they did the right thing by changing the ending of the show to prevent harm to them, whether the threat was real or not, and they should probably steer clear of offending these same people again. The big issue here though is the never ending issues that radicals have over all people not just the creators of South Park. It is definitely a shame that we have to censor what we want to say or do because we could be killed. I mean I certainly wont be making any remarks any time soon that will put my life in danger, at least I hope I don’t, but these creators were trying to give a lighter mood to a serious situation and it is a shame that they were out in a situation like this. They never meant to cause permanent damage to anyone’s ego or values but I guess in the end you have to take into consideration not everyone is going to find what you find funny, funny. In this case they pissed off a group of people who kill when this occurs that’s all. I definitely think it was the right move to edit the end of the episode and they should probably steer clear of this topic in the future.
I saw this issue on the news just the other night and was glad to see someone blog about it. Like many people have already said, South Park is a comedy show, it pokes fun at everyone and everything. This was not a serious news report to be taken seriously, its a cartoon making a funny joke. There have been many episodes that poke fun at Jesus. Did they not see that? If it were a serious talk show bashing on Muhammad I would understand why there might be some outraged people. But, again it was not. It is south park, and I am almost positive there have been spoofs on like the Simpson's about Islam and i do not think there was any threats in their direction? Yes religion is a serious topic and not one to joke about in a serious setting like a church, mosque or synagogue, BUT comedy central is none of those places. It is a place, as its name implies, a place for comedy. If you are looking for people to take issues like religion seriously you should not watch the channel. And it is not like Islam was the first time they ever made fun of anyone. It is a given that all issues that are in the media or not are fair game to make fun of. The people threatening the creators of the show need to realize how egocentric they are being. Focusing only on the fact that their religion was brought into a comedy sketch. It is like they had selective hearing, only picking out a certain episodes to focus in on. For example, the episode that made fun of the Jonas Brothers. The episode made a lot of fun of those three boys and everything they stand for, yet you did not see them sending out threats. I could probably go on for days with examples of all the people that South Park has picked out and made a considerable amount of fun of. I do not think there is really anything else to say other then, get over it , it was a joke, do not take it personally , just laugh. I am a christian and when they make fun of Jesus I know it is a joke and to not take it seriously. There is a time and a place for religion to be taken seriously and not to be joked about. If Muhammad had been made fun of in a context that was not suppposed to be funny then an uprising would be expected and more understood. And that is all I have to say about this topic today about South Park and religion.
South Park is a great show. However, any arguments about it that occur in the real world are just ridiculous. It's a cartoon and all of the characters are made by paper cutouts. I saw the episode that she's talking about and it's all about how they don't make fun of Muhammad. They blackout his character the entire episode. I really don't get why this is such a big deal. On top of that, in that episode they made fun of jesus and about a hundred celebrities. There are definitely better things to argue about than a south park episode.
I am a casual fan of South Park and I have to say I think the show is hilarious. Yes, they do really push some buttons to certain groups of people, but what they do in my eyes is usually just harmless. People get too serious and upset over things when they should realize that this show is just too poke fun at things and for humor. First of all why do these Muslims care about what a show like South Park or for any show for that matter say about their religion. If they truly believe in their own religion, why worry about what other people say. It’s almost like they are trying to blow this up into a big deal to get their own selves some attention. I think anybody who worries about what other people say usually don’t really believe that what they are doing is truly right. These Muslim’s just need to take a chill pill and relax. If everyone that this show has gone after and made fun of decided to come out and threaten them, then almost everyone in the entire world would be after them. They have poked fun at Jesus, Satan, Christians, Jews, fat people, skinny people, hicks, and even just America in general. You can just about name anything and I’m sure South Park has done some type of episode about them. When they made fun of Kanye West, he actually came out and said they he had to laugh about it because of the way he portrayed him. I know for sure that they made fun of him way more then they went after the muslims in the recent episode. So, what I’m trying to say is why are they so worried about what other people think? America is a country where freedom of speech is one of our special rights as people. These South Park episodes as well as Family Guy, The Simpsons all have the right to say exactly they way they fell. If you do not like, then maybe you should not be living in America, or better yet, just don’t watch or listen to what they have to say. That would take care of all problems. People just look for reasons to stir up controversy and these muslim people are no different. I don’t understand why they are so serious about there religion and how other people look at it. If that’s what they believe in then they should only be worried about that. To sum this up, South Park has the right to say what they want on their show due to the fact we live in a country that allows this to take place. I’m pretty sure South Park won’t change, so these people who are mad about it should just move on.
Well first it is important to point out that the episode of South Park in question does not actually make fun of Muhammad. It makes fun of the fact that every other religious figure is fair game, but Muhammad is not. This was referenced in an earlier episode as well, which was supposed to parallel the bombing that occurred in the Netherlands after a cartoon was meant to depict the prophet Muhammad. So what makes the episode so edgy is that Matt Stone and Trey Parker are actually attacking the means by which they are being threatened. So I just thought it was important to point out that they are not attacking Muhammad himself, but instead they are attacking how touchy the extremists are who are willing to kill because of a joke in a cartoon.
Having said this, they have openly made fun of other religious figureheads and in fact, in the episode at hand, they show Buddha snorting lines of cocaine, and make a reference that Jesus is addicted to online pornography. While I am sure that many people were potentially offended by this, and many more would have been offended if they were aware of the episode, but none of these groups have threatened Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Considering our discussion earlier in the week, I would be curious to hear what Sam has to say about this fact. It is a very interesting point that figureheads of other religions can be made fun of, while Muhammad has become off limits.
I personally think that it is ridiculous that we cannot mock Muhammad, but we can make fun of others. I guess most people would argue that it is really inappropriate to make fun of any of them, but one cannot deny that it is at least more taboo to talk about Muhammad than other religious leaders. Especially when it is at risk of a bombing. I actually feel a little proud that Matt Stone and Trey Parker didn’t back down, and went through with the episode. I do often believe that people shouldn’t always act in ways that are controversial, but I don’t think people should ever back down because of a threat.
So in conclusion, I think that Trey Parker and Matt Stone did the right thing by sticking to their guns. I also believe that exposing extremists to these things may be important, especially in the context of an episode of South Park, which makes fun of everyone. Humor is a beautiful thing. It teaches others how to laugh at oneself, and when one can do that, then one won’t lash out at others anymore. I think shows like South Park may actually save lives.
I personally love South Park. My favorite episodes are generally the ones that make fun of things that occur in the world today. I’m a Muslim who watched the episodes “200” and “201” and I thought it was great! The purpose of the episode was to not only poke fun at the Muslim religion, but to also bring back some memories from previous South Park episodes.
Here’s a brief story of what happened in the South Park episode (Spoiler Alert). The 4th grade kids of South Park Elementary go to a chocolate factory for a tour and find Tom Cruise packing chocolate by the conveyor belt. Tom Cruise was then offended when one of the kids said he was a “fudge-packer.” Tom Cruise and several other celebrities planned to sue South Park for being ridiculed. In order to avoid the lawsuit, Tom Cruise asked South Park to bring Muhammad to him. South Park is now caught in a dilemma between a huge lawsuit and getting bombed by Muslim radicals. Afraid of revealing Muhammad, South Park chose to keep him in a Bear suit, hidden inside a U-Haul truck. Throughout the show you see a large black box labeled “CENSORED” to not reveal Muhammad at all.
It’s a shame to see that some Muslims will go as far as violence to defend the religion. The Muslim extremists are being a little too sensitive about the episode. They seem to feel that they’re the only ones being attacked. They should know that every religious figure is ridiculed at one point in South Park history like Jesus, Moses, and Krishna. The censorship was frustrating to watch. The last minute of the show was completely bleeped. And it wasn’t even about Muhammad! I didn’t see what the big deal was poking fun at Muhammad. South Park is one of the biggest satirical shows in the U.S and it WILL make satirical jokes about anything in the world. There was an episode where South Park made fun of Scientology. Unfortunately, one of the voices for the show left because he was offended by the episode. I don’t think anyone should get riled up over an episode like the recent two. I’m sure Stone and Parker (producers of South Park) tried their best to avoid crossing the line. I really hope nothing bad will happen to Stone and Parker. I read in an article, that their death isn’t a threat, but a prediction. They were sent a message with a gruesome image of the Dutch Filmmaker who was stabbed to death in 2004 for criticizing the Muslim religion. Some people just don’t joke around. A radical could do just about anything if he or she is offended.
I could understand if the Muslim people were mad at South Park for doing this if the writers of the show had not targeted every other religion or major public figure during their two hundred episodes, but they have targeted everybody. The writers of South Park use what is going on in today’s world to help make their show relevant and point out some of the wrongs that are going on. I can be offending to those that they are making fun of, but let’s face it, most of the time people are thinking about these issues and talking about already, the writer’s of South Park just have a bigger audience than the rest of us to talk to. In the end, it is only a cartoon and people are just looking to get a cheap laugh out it. I cannot believe these Muslims are making death threats to the writers of this show. In the episode, they did not even show Muhammad. They only talked about him. I am pretty sure that the Muslims do not want an image of Muhammad on TV and that did not happen. But even after the episode aired, the Muslims still complained and said they felt disrespected since they still inferred that Muhammad was in a bear costume and speaking. This is just ridiculous. In America, we have the right to free speech. That right is what protects the writers from getting in trouble when they make fun of the President, Jesus, Buddha, any other religious figure, any celebrity, and any politician. The Muslim group that had made these threats is actually located in New York City. They are here in America, enjoying all of our rights and freedoms and yet, still complaining and threatening us when we exercise those rights. I do not think this is right. So many groups have been targeted by this show and yet the writers have not been threatened throughout all of these years. These threats frightened the producers of Comedy Central so much that they actually altered the show after receiving it from the producers of South Park. They bleeped out Muhammad’s name any time it was said, any dialog that was thought to come from Muhammad, and even the speech at the end of the episode. The writers of South Park said that the speech at the end was about intimidation and fear and did not even mention Muhammad, yet the Comedy Central producers wanted to stay safe and bleeped out the entire speech to make sure the Muslims would not be offended. Being able to take a joke is part of growing up and these Muslims obviously still have a lot of growing up to do.
I may sound like an idiot, but I think that this is completely ridiculous. Now like a comment before mine, I can see how people in Muslim culture may be offended, but I mean, look at the show and what it’s made for. It was created solely to make fun of things. I mean it’s a story that surrounds fourth graders and it seems to me like they make it to show that these things they make fun of can be understood by fourth graders better than older people. Like, it’s a joke. These feelings are supposed to arise. Like I said, sensitivity is ridiculous when dealing with South Park. Sit back and laugh and realize that making fun of people isn’t all that bad, especially when it’s a blatant joke.
What I find so ridiculous about this controversy is that a few years ago South Park depicted Mohammad in an episode as part of a group of religious superheroes and no one noticed. Then this Dutch cartoon came out and all of sudden rules changed. The Dutch cartoons were definitely in bad taste and I could understand why a Muslim person would be offended, but after that controversy any depiction of the prophet was considered blasphemous and controversial. Even if South Park was specifically mocking Mohammad it should be expected because the creators set out to push buttons, but it is ridiculous that all they wanted to do is depict him in a cartoon and that is too much. The response of some Muslim groups has not helped Islam or Muslim people or helped deter Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Threats of violence from supposed Muslim group leaders only helps to misrepresent the true ideals of Islam. And as usual, the American media only adds fuel to the fire by making the episode a big deal.
I really think that everyone needs to take shows such as South Park, Family Guy, etc. need to take the episodes with a grain of salt. They have to realize that the sole purpose of these types shows are to shock and entertain through insulting all types of religions, cultures, races, etc. If you have ever watched South Park then you would know that they leave nobody out and insult as many different types of people as possible. I don't think that any one group should take so much offense to something on a stupid cartoon especially enough to make actual physical threats to the creators of the show. Based on freedom of speech we are able to say or write whatever we want and this is bound to offend some people however i feel that the reason for this show is simply to entertain and not truly hurt or degrade anyone. South Park is making fun of nearly every stereotype you can imagine and it seems that most people find it funny even if they are making fun of you. As a Christian I could take great offense to them using Jesus in their episodes, however, i know that its just a show and i still find it funny. And if you really are offended then i would suggest just not watching the show, it would never negatively affect your life if you just don't pay attention to it. I feel that any groups getting mad and speaking out about South Park will only feed them more and make them push the envelope further, i mean thats really all their trying to do, shock people. There have been a lot people who have spoken out about the show, such as red heads making youtube videos about being upset about them making fun of 'gingers', but in the end it just backfires because they end up using the videos as new material for the show anyway, so the best way to 'get back' at South Park if you really wanted to would just be to stop watching the show. As far as the most recent issues with the show using Muhammad its pretty surprising to me just how angry this is making people. Its obvious that some Muslims will be offended, just as many Christians or Jewish people would be offended when the show makes fun of their beliefs, however the physical threats are pretty serious especially saying that they will end up like the one playwright who was murdered for misrepresenting Muhammad. Those are pretty serious threats and I think its really not that big of a deal to want to issue such types of threats i mean its not like the show is singling out Muslims or anything like that its just one episode.
South Park is a satirical TV show. Everything brought up in the episodes are meant to joke about current issues that we are facing. They pretty much say what most people are thinking in a way that we can laugh about how stupid we are at times. People need to stop taking things so seriously. Everyone likes to laugh at a joke until the joke is on them. People need to loosen up and stop taking things so seriously. Like its on TV its meant to entertain people and if you don't find it entertaining change the channel and watch something that makes you feel better about yourself. There is no reason for anyone to be getting all upset over a TV show. I swear people take things so seriously nowadays. Lets all get over ourselves and live life to the fullest. So what if things on South Park upset you, get over it . Don't let it dictate how you go about your business. You can look at it as another hater that you have to prove wrong. At the end of the day as long as you can rest your head to know that you are living your life and not for anyone, than you have nothing to worry about or be upset about.
I think that south sark is one of the best shows on television right now. It stirs a lot of controversy which is a good thing, as people become more aware of what is happening in their own country. It is one show that is not afraid to make fun of things. Most of those jokes are based on stereotypes and should not be taken seriously, I can undertsand if some people feel offended with certain episodes that target a certain genre of people. As long as the show does not encourage violence or encourage criminals, its fine by me
I feel like those protesting South Park and other “politically incorrect” forms of media fail to realize several things about the freedom of speech. The first thing they forget is that freedom of speech cannot be selective. In a nation where these groups have the luxury to be able to protest without getting shot, they have the nerve to declare that other people can’t say anything deemed offensive to themselves. When freedom of speech is involved, one of the most important things to remember that it includes controversial opinions, even ones that express hatred or discrimination. We see images of Ku Klux Klan rallies and cross burnings, the Westboro Baptist Church protesting at the funerals of dead soldiers, and other forms of hatred at its worst. But while we may hate it, it is a right as an American citizen to be able to hold that right with no threat from the government. Naturally, we in turn have the right to disagree with them, and we have the complete ability to do so. Perhaps that’s something we forget sometimes. We have every right to say what we think, we just need to do that more. Otherwise, the ideals the United States stands for are at risk.
I was able to watch the new episode of South Park, and throughout the episode there were a series of censors on the screen where Mohammed should have been. The episode also bleeped out the word “Mohammed” and even completely censored a monologue at the end of the show. At first, I thought this was a well played meta joke that the South Park creators planned. But today I saw a statement on their website, noting that “Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle's customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn't mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too.” Looking for confirmation, I found several sources (including one from the New York Times website) that confirmed that Comedy Central had indeed heavily censored the episode prior to it airing. I was fairly taken aback to this decision. At first I reasoned that this was maybe a part of a marketing scheme to hype up the show, but I feel like that would be a fairly low thing to do. But I suppose this whole ordeal isn’t the right thing to do either. I’m fairly certain that this course of events is far worse. South Park lampoons everybody (even in the recent episode it portrayed Buddha ripping lines of cocaine and Jesus watching internet porn), but now at the sign of a threat everybody clamps shut and doesn’t support their own rights. Sometimes we need to fight for our basic constitutional rights to exist, otherwise they hold no merit.
The creators of South Park really like to push people’s buttons and see how far they can go without (illegally) crossing the line. I have to admit that it is an entertaining show, because it points out the flaws in humans and kind of shows us that there are so many angry people out there. I don’t know much about the Islamic religion but I believe that Muslims consider it blasphemy to show any physical representation of Muhammad, so whether it’s good or bad? I’m not saying that Muslims are uptight or anything, but a big deal is being made over a cartoon show.
I just feel like in America its just so hard to say what you want anymore. I feel like its just impossible for things that could be said before to be said today. People are a lot more sensitive to what is going on now and because of that no one is really aloud to say anything or make fun of anything just for fun. I think that when things are that sensitive in order to keep things from getting worse, people should not try and fight what is going on anymore. I think it just becomes hard to distinguish that point
South Park is a real funny show. They attempt to go about humor in so many different ways, I am starting to see that the main direction they go is political indirect humor. For instance the South Park writers try and push the limit on sensitive topics. They attempt to make their viewers laugh while still talking about an issue and teaching a lesson or morale or just having the viewers think wow thats interesting, yet funny. I saw the South Park episode that depicted the god Allah as something, I am not sure what He was. I can understand why muslims were mad at the shows writers. However, the show gets all religions not just Islam. They make fun of christianity and Jesus alot. Almost every episode. Christians for the most dont want to harm the writers if people feel they are offended then they simply stop watching it. I used to be very religious and after watching one South Park episode, I swore not to watch this show again. They skit that insulted me was degrading "my god" so I was like "F" this show its bull shit. I probably went about 10 months or so with out watching the show. After a while i realized the show has the right to make fun of what ever they want. Its up to me to either pout and be offended are laugh understand that other people dont think or have my beliefs. And thats ok. The thing thats wrong with the world today is that everyone feels like their beliefs and ideas and princples are above everyone else. Its the "I am right and you are wrong" concept. Thats what these Islams have that want to kill the writers of the show. They however, have it to an extremely expondential degree. Its sad because us humans thinking this way is the fundamental reason of why the world is in such as bad of a shape it is for so many people. We as humans dont accept what other peoples way, and if we do accept it then its done resistently. I think South Parks writers are good. I feel that they should be able to express making fun of any thing they want. I someone feels that they are getting offended then they can simply stop watching the show. America is FAR from perfect but the one thing that this country has going for it is that we have free speech. ( well not really but more than most other countries and its regulated very well). So I think those extremist need to attempt to understand everyone does not believe how/in what you believe in. And its ok for them to share there believes even its a direct opposite of what you believe.
South Park is designed to push peoples buttons and they once again did this. The people who threatened to kill the makers of the show need to realize that its a show. It's not real and its designed for humor. I didn't really find this episode to be that amusing because I knew how the extreme Muslims would react to someone making fun of their God. I do think that the extremists don't like being mocked along with any religion because they must feel like they are made to be less important to other religions. I really hope that the creators will be a little more careful though because some really think that this is wrong to be made fun of.
Religion is always a sketchy subject to satirize. Recently, Seth MacFarlane was on Larry King talking about this same issue. What he said was that when you're a writer of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's genre, poking fun of religion is a matter of weighing out pros and cons; is this joke so funny and so worth it to make when you know that people are going to be completely offended, and maybe even regard your joke as blasphemous? Members of Revolution Muslim, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are all United States citizens which gives them both the rights to threaten those who mock the faith that they believe in so passionately, and broadcast their 'offensive' cartoon on cable television. Whether or not violence will be inflicted upon the two writers is to be seen.
South park is always out of line. They really hold nothing back, and there is no way you should take offense to what they say. They trash everyone, and I mean everyone. I am Jewish, and when they say something extremely offensive to Jews, I start to get upset, then I remember that they do it for an effect. They do it for people that have incredibly and disgustingly crude humor. Even shows like Family Guy and the Simpsons do not take it to a level that South park does. I try not ot watch the show, because I know it is written by a bunch of people that get high together and try to write things that people will find funny.
Let me start off this blog post by saying that I am a huge South Park fan. It is a hilarious show and has always been one of the best cartoons and programs on television. However, it's not just hilarious but it is brilliant. Nearly every episode has a message and every episode is a satire. It is not created just to have foul mouth jokes and inappropriate language. But rather, it pokes fun on current events and the craziness that is today's 21st century society and America. Having said that, this past week's two part episode about Muhammad and the muslims was great. It was in my opinion one of the best episodes in South Park history. Again, having said that, people need to lighten up and learn how to take jokes. That is what South Park is. It is a satirical joke with a message. South Park's creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone aren't making fun of Muslims, the islamic religion or Muhammad. They are just using the episode for a greater message and to be funny. Today's society with the radical Christians and Muslims, whoever it may be, need to take a chill pill and relax. People need to learn how to take jokes and lighten up a little bit at times. Laughter makes this world such a better place and South Park's creators helps a better mood. Yeah, the show may cross the line at times. I could name 20 episodes off the top of my head that people would consider too racy and crossing the line. But you know what, who the hell cares. It is funny. It is a comedy. Whether it is censorship and stuff like this or whatever, people need to just relax, smile and have a good time. In my opinion, this is just a small representation of people caring too much. The FCC, the christian conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, everyone. People are too damn serious. Life is short and we should have fun and laugh. I know this doesn't necessarily answer the question directly but I'm using this blog post to just tell people to live and laugh. People always say carpe diem and sieze the day and life life to the fullest. Well, the best way to live life to the fullest is to smile and laugh and have some fun. South Park has fun and it makes me smile and laugh. So Trey Parker and Matt Stone, keep making fun of Muhammad and whoever the hell you want to because I want to laugh some more. People will complain, it's a fact. People complain about everything. Sarcasm and satire make life fun. Being uptight just makes everyone unhappy and I don't want to be unhappy. I want to laugh ans South Park is all about laughing.
I’ll watch South Park occasionally, but I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Matt Stone and Trey Parker. I know they put out episodes that offend various groups and that they attempt to push the envelope. However, I’ve taken issue with them every since their episode “The F Word”.
This episode that’s causing so much controversy is one that features a depiction of the prophet Mohammed. In Islam it’s frowned upon to create visual images of Mohammed because they want to deter idolatry of said image. The rule basically wants to stop people from worshipping the image as opposed to actually worshipping the idea and person beyond the image. That’s why I’m a little eh over people saying “They showed Jesus, Buddha, etc!” Well, those religions don’t have a problem with depictions of their prophet, etc. Of course I’m not excusing the few crazies who want to kill over a depiction. There are many more liberal Muslims who don’t have an issue with depictions of Mohammed, but as the case with the South Park guys shows, there are people who take issue with images being shown. It’s the same with every religion I suppose. There are liberal and rational people in each religion, but the few crazies are the ones who are given media attention and as a result, people associate the crazies with every single person in the religion.
The South Park episode aired recently and the image of Mohammed was blocked out because Comedy Central decided to censor it. They did it without the South Park guy’s permission and I suppose it was due to the death threats the producers were facing. I’m not a fan of censorship and as people have repeated over and over, South Park makes fun of every group. I think it’s ridiculous to censor an image just to please one group. You can’t make a death threat because you’re offended by something. I understand that South Park is offensive at times and blatantly pushes the creator’s beliefs, but you’re only giving yourself a bad image by threatening to kill over something you disagree with.
An episode they had that really offended me was their episode about the f word and how it’s basically alright to use it because the meaning is changing. I’m changing the topic a bit but it relates to my previous opinion on the Mohammed episode. I quite like what someone said on another blog regarding this episode. “The privileged group does not get to make a statement for the oppressed group.” There are people who will argue that the Mohammed episode is a joke and shouldn’t be taken seriously, but half the time they’re the ones who use South Park as their go to political show. Kinda sad.
Regardless, many people will watch South Park and believe everything is says is incredibly clever, but a few episodes are nothing more than a way for the creators to push their beliefs. Someone(outside of this blog) mentioned a few episodes such as “Cartman’s Silly Hate Crime 2000” where they attacked hate crime laws despite the facts that prove certain groups ARE targeted and hate crime laws are designed to protect them. It makes me sick when people try to say its special privileges. Or the episode about Mr. Garrison which basically poked fun at transgendered issues. The show isn’t really that brilliant (in my opinion) but it does have its funny moments that shine a light on important issues.
Also, some of the comments here scream “ethnocentrism”. The comment that bashed Islam as bogus because of its background. I’m pretty certain the people that bash Islam have no background or any information on it save for a quick glance at Wikipedia or the minutes they can spare to watch Fox News. The fact that someone says Islam is bogus while ignoring the fact that Christianity claims Jesus was born to a virgin and came back from the dead screams of hypocrisy and nothing more than ethnocentrism. People need to get over themselves and realize that making death threats won’t solve anything, but neither will acting as if your point of view is the only correct one.
I think this is a ridiculous story. The fact that South Park makes fun of people is such an old story, everybody has stopped caring what they say. At this point, the makers of South Park should not be subject to any more criticism. They should be allowed to say whatever they want about anybody, it’s a little thing we call freedom of speech.
Over the years, South Park has made fun of many different types of people. They have said things such as “Fucking Jew” and “People who are annoying…Niggers!” I mean these are some pretty ridiculous things to say on a cable television show, but South Park has been doing this for over 10 years. The general public should understand what this show is and how they are going to write the show. You don’t hear about the Jewish community complaining anymore about the derogatory comments they make about Jews. And you don’t hear about black people threatening the producer of South Park do you?
So why does the Muslim community feel like they have the right to threaten South Park for making fun of Muhammad? Is Muhammad such a sacred figure that they feel the need to protect him more than Jewish people need to protect themselves? I don’t get this at all. The Muslim community needs to suck it up and not get really mad about situations like this. People watch South Park because they like the show and they think it is hilarious. That’s why the show is still on the air. The producers of this show get paid to do make people laugh, and they are very good at what they do.
There is no way that South Park should even concern themselves with apologizing to anybody for this incident. They have worked out of worse situations than this one, and there is no reason this should be any different. I mean what are the Muslims going to do to the producers, murder them. There is no way these people are going to be killed over a cartoon episode. What has this world that we live in come to when people are being threatened over a cartoon show?
What I find interesting is that also on the episode, South Park made fun of all of the other major religions in some way. Why hasn’t the Christian community come out and threatened the producers for making fun of Jesus? Why does the Muslim community have to be so radical and intense in everything that they do. Maybe it would be okay if they said they were upset with the way Muhammad was depicted in the episode in a professional way. But they threatened the producers physically? That’s ridiculous.
I think that it is ridiculous that there are so many groups who take offense to TV shows especially ones like South Park. This show makes fun of everything you can possibly think of and any scandal that comes up in the media. For Muslims to take so much offense to one episode because it makes fun of their culture and they don’t get riled up when our culture makes comments just seems hypocritical to me. There are so many people that probably do take offense and make comments about what is said on this show and others but it isn’t talked about as much because they aren’t such a smaller group of people.
I feel like this is another example of racism but in an alternative way. If someone who was catholic had mad a big deal about an episode then it would not have been such a public showing in the media and people probably wouldn’t have cared as much. I think it is also in a way showing how people in smaller religions who feel as if they are being attacked make things seem like that all the time even if that wasn’t the original intention. I am not saying that what was said on South Park isn’t wrong and that it isn’t slander but it shouldn’t always be made to be such a huge deal.
I realize that there as been a lot of emphasis and criticism of Muslims especially since 9/11 and the events that have happened since then and they are probably on their guard. I have no idea how it would feel to be lumped in with a group of people for that reason but I do know how it feels to be lumped in with a group of people. There are always stereotypes that come with different cultures and religions and even here on campus there are stereotypes that go with groups. I am in a sorority and there are some very obvious assumptions made about us such that we are sluts and only care about alcohol and are ditsy. Also, even within sororities specifically there are tiers and people are lumped in with their tier and are surprised when someone is prettier than they should be according to their tier.
Overall, I think that it must be very hard for Muslims to take on so many hits just for following a religion that has a lot of radical people in it that are terrorists. However, I don’t think that this means that they should always be so on the offensive about things especially about a show like south park that makes fun of anything that can breath for the most part.
I am a young man who grew up watching the hilarious famous TV series which is known as South Park. I was laughing at their jokes way before I could even understand what some of it meant. Even up to this day I find it really appealing and hilarious, which is the main purpose of the show. This show falls under the same category as other wildly popular adult and mature audience intended cartons such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, and Kin g of the Hill, with South Park most definitely being the most highly offensive to any particular audience.
I think this issue about the mocking of the prophet Muhammad is being blown out of proportion. The show South Park is notorious for making fun of everything, from actors to religion, and for people to take it this seriously is ridiculous. Comedy Central censoring the episode is also ridiculous, because they make fun of christianity and judaism too but they aren't censored. To censor this episode because it is making fun of Islam is offensive, what makes their religion any better than other peoples. I can understand people being upset with the show and how they are mocking their religion, but those people do not need to watch the show. The show makes fun of a lot of sensitive issues and none of them are censored, but as soon as Muhammad comes into it they censor the show. That is one of the big things I disagree with, if you make fun of all those things, then turn around and censor one that implies that the censored subject is more important than all the others, which is absolute bullshit. If they are going to censor insults to the Islam religion, than the channel should censor all the religious insults put into the show. The fact that they are treating Islam more important than any other religion is insulting all the people that belong to the other religions. I also think that the people that made this issue a big deal should relax, because they are blowing the subject way out of proportion.
The whole thing about the creators of the show being warned about mocking the religion of Islam is also ridiculous. I don't care what they say about the comments and how it should be taken as a threat. When someone suggests the possibility of you being murdered, because you made fun of something in a show that makes fun of everything, then I would consider that a threat. I am not saying that all Islam is ridiculous, but I am saying that the radical sects of Islam that threaten the creators of a cartoon because they made fun of their religious leader are acting exactly as most non-islamic people see them as. If they want to be taken seriously then they need to stop making death threats as a way to stick up for their religion. The fact that they made “threats” to the creators with a graphic picture of van gogh, makes me personally wish that the creators keep making the show the way they are. I understand that it is only the radical groups of Islam that start these issues, but it makes me angry that everytime Islam is made fun of it is blown out of proportion. This is a more minor case of the cartoon making fun of Muhammad in Europe that started riots and that man also received death threats. That a relatively minor thing makes this big of a deal is not right. This issue proves that relations between Islam and the western world are still a sensitive area.
South Park has been an extremely controversial show for years. My brother and his friends used to always want to watch it when they were in like 7th and 8th grade (now they are 22), and my parents would never let him because they thought it was so inappropriate. South Park is extremely inappropriate, but it is what makes it humorous. They usually relate the topics to events that are going on in the world today and what people can relate to. The thing that South Park does, it targets ALL forms of races, religions, people, and groups. It never singles out and targets one and only one group. It ranges with the various episodes. It is unnecessary for people to take offense to this show because it is not meant to be offensive, just funny and making almost a parody off of certain people. Its a group of supposed third graders, that curse, know more about sex than most, but are still children at heart.
The topic South Park chose to do was use Mohammed as their next "victim" as some people might want to say. It is simply making fun of muslims and discussing their religion. It is making the show funny and for people to enjoy. Laugh at yourselves and know that it is not supposed to be directed towards any individual. People can be very closed minded. If they honestly have such a problem with the show, they should not watch it at all. South Park has been on for years and there should not be so many issues over one topic, when there has been far more controversial topics in the past.
South Park is such a popular show and people are overreacting and taking this to extreme measures. Other shows have done just as worse. So many stand up comedians use stereotypes, race, religions, and groups to make their skits funny and to make fun of people. Other shows such as Family Guy and the Simpsons also do this. Why is it such a big deal now? Why is this episode more offensive than others? The writers of the show are the creative minds behind the show and have the right to say what they feel necessary. It does not mean that it all necessarily true.
As I talked about my brother not being able to watch the show as a kid, my dad now loves the show. He is strict and kind of uptight. He became open minded and loves the show. He waits for a new episode each week and you can hear him laughing for across the house. It is entertaining. People need to give the show a chance and stop taking everything so literally. Its absurd and obnoxious when people take things that are so unimportant and blow them out of proportion.