During the last two weeks, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have been pushing some boundaries and provoking outrage among the Muslim community. Known for their willingness to make fun of and and all sacred cows, Stone and Parker's two most recent episode continues this trend by bringing back some story lines from earlier episodes (such as Mecha Streisand, Tom Cruise, and Scott Tenorman). They also attempted to depict the prophet Muhammad, but due to the Islamic communities problem with the image of Muhammad, were forced to censor his image or hide him in a bear suit. After the first episode in the two part series, the website revolutionmuslim.com posted this thinly veiled threat on its website:
"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what is they are doing is stupid and they will probably end up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but the warning of a reality of what will likely happen to them."
This has created a wellspring of internet talk regarding the limits and importance of the freedom of speech. The creator of revolutionmuslim.com claims that Stone and Parker may end up with a fate similar to that of Theo Van Gogh, the Dutch film maker who was killed after doing a documentary about Islam. Parker and Stone were not deterred and turned the second episode in the series in, complete with images of Muhammad, which were then censored by Comedy Central as a response to the above statement.
So the question is whether Comedy Central acted responsibly by editing the show? Or should they have let the show air as Stone and Parker intended it to? What does this censorship say about the state of the freedome of speech in our country at the moment?
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I love these guys . . . so I am almost glad for their safety that they did censor the 2nd episode. At the same time, as a flagrant creative writer, I also would have liked to see this aired unedited - a vote of confidence for my future. I have mixed emotions, none of which believe there should be no visual depictions of Muhammad to be seen. Vive le Stone et Parker!
ReplyDeleteI think the satire that they are pulling is a funny one because the image of Muhammad is the ultimate target. It's almost as if you were in the world of Harry Potter and making fun of Voldemort. I'm not saying Muslims are evil death eaters, just saying that it's taboo. I think Comedy Central did the right thing for the network as well as trying to protect its writers. If Stone and Parker get mad at Comedy Central, then they can take their show elsewhere.
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