I Thought This Was America!

The title of the post is from a classic episode of South Park, where Randy Marsh gets in fights with other parents at his son's little league games. South Park is one of my favorite shows, and it's been consistently funny since it's first season. My father linked to my blog, and referred to me as a "South Park Libertarian." I fully accept this appellation and find it quite fitting. I was raised on South Park (much to my mother's disapproval) and I remember the first episode I ever saw back in 1997 at the young age of 9. It was the one where the boys get a pig and an elephant to mate with the help of Sir Elton John. Where am I going with all this, you might ask? I might answer...

Last night I got a phone call from my older sister. Our relationship is really good nowadays, but we don't talk all that often because she's a super busy doctor and there's a time difference between our two households. I figure, a phone call at that hour from her is a little noteworthy, and it was. My sis is a very smart girl, and she keeps up with the news, but she's not as enthusiastic about current events as I am. She sounded upset..., "Reed, did you see the new South Park?" I had not. I was going to see the re-run that was playing at 9:00 here, and it was supposed to be the new episode titled "201." It's the continuation of the previous week's episode, "200" which was both hilarious and poignant. She told me the episode was going to make me feel outraged, and that she was so fired up that she wanted to go out and do something about it. She even asked me, "Reed, what can I do? I feel like this isn't even America," to which I responded with the, "I thought this was America" line. I was planning on watching the episode on it's second run last night at 9:00, but they actually refused to show it, and showed a different episode instead. 

I was able to catch the episode online today, and my sister was right. I am outraged, I'm upset, I'm angry, I'm even a little bit scared. For those who haven't heard anything about this episode, the premise is that Islam has a special power that makes it immune from criticism and apparently they were right. The yellow-bellyed executives at Comedy Central caved to terrorist threats and censored not only the image of Muhammad but also even the mention of his name. It gets even worse... Comedy Central was obviously ashamed of their cowardice, they even went so far as to censor an entire speech about giving into fear and intimidation. Muhammad wasn't even treated with the least bit of negativity or disrespect, other than the mention that nobody dares ridicule him or the Islamic faith.

South Park first made an issue of this in season 10, in their Cartoon Wars series. Back then, I was ashamed of Comedy Central's cowardice, so I wasn't really surprised that they did it again, but I'm truly disappointed. My sister said she felt like she had lost faith and I don't blame her. One of our most central values, one of the benchmarks of our republic is the freedom of speech. The First Amendment is essential to a free society. 

In the episode 201, South Park depicts Jesus Christ as a porn-addict who refers to Buddha as a "fag," while Buddha is next to him blowing cocaine. Moses was drawn as a giant dreidel type thing, and they have ripped on Jews countless times. They have devoted entire episodes to ridiculing Scientologists and Mormons, and have literally showed Kyle murder Jesus, only to have Jesus resurrect and murder an evil priest. They've had the Pope curse, and shown the Vatican as a bunch of alien spider worshippers. I think it's all pretty hilarious, and I'm glad they can act with impunity. However, as they mention in their episode, the prophet Muhammad has avoided any criticism or ridicule, and they muse about the origins of his power. It's obvious that the origin of his power is the fear of retaliation by spineless turds like Comedy Central. I can't believe it has come to this in the self-proclaimed "Land of the Free," paralyzed and rendered impotent by fear. You could joke about the Pope fucking a 3 year old boy, and show Moses taking a shit on Madonna's chest (my next picture), I guarantee the worst that happens is a loss of endorsement from AIPAC and calls for apology. Dare you utter the holy prophet Muhammad's name on television, and it's a problem. Quite frankly, I'm offended.

To show that I'm not intimidated by fear, I will show a depiction of several religious figures. Hope I don't incite a fatwa of some sort.

 

The episode even exposes and highlights the silliness of the network by reminding them that they did once show Muhammad in The Super Best Friends episode. The lesson I learned from the episode (since the real lesson was bleeped out for about a minute) was that people can control speech with threats of violence. I thought this was America!

**UPDATE [7:34PM PST]: Last night I was supposed to watch the episode on TV, but they aired another episode instead. Right now, from 7:30PM-8:30PM they are scheduled to rerun the episode, but have AGAIN decided not to show it. Has comedy central banned the episode from the airwaves?

Comments

[Tim]

Reed, I'd like to say this blog is nothing short of excellent - and I now check it almost every day. This article in particular was great. I hadn't necessarily formed these exact views, but I couldn't agree more and now share the same sentiment (which, I typically don't). Finally, I never knew you were such a damn good writer.

Ya boy Timmy Caps, holla!

[Justin]

Matt Stone's take on things, and I'd have to say I agree whole heartedly.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/22/south-park-mohammed-censo_n_547484.html

[The Viking]

Tim, thanks a lot that's really flattering! I'm glad you enjoy my blog, as I enjoy writing it and you know I've got mad respect for you and your views, despite our common disagreements haha.

Drago, read that and yeah, I knew it was comedy central pussin' out, not Matt and Trey. My sister is very relieved to hear it wasn't Matt and Trey, she was really upset haha.

[The Thoughtful Laundress]

Love this post. Viking, you never cease to amaze me!

[Sarah Batman]

Reed--

I am a journalism major--which is, quite arguable, more useless than a philosophy/English/anthropology major in this day and age--and have spent many retarded hours studying the First Amendment. In particular, this irritable "freedom of speech" clause. So, here are my two cents.

The Bill of Rights protects people from the GOVERNMENT. The GOVERNMENT cannot infringe upon people's right to free speech. That is all. Censoring Muhammad had nothing to do with "America" and our "principles." It just had to do with idiots, giving into--like you said--cowardice . Comedy Central could have aired it without censorship, but they did. It has nothing to do with the First Amendment at all. It has everything to do with a growing culture of political correctness in the U.S. I don't think it's *entirely* unwarranted, given the fact that Islamophobia is a real problem in our country, but I don't think CC should have relented so easily. SP offends everything and everyone, so why do they need to make an exception here?

However, you should forget everything I just said. South Park hasn't been good in years, Reed, WTF!! The Coon? A disgrace! Dead Celebrities? Recycling old jokes! Hire new writers! TOGTFO.

--S

[The Viking]

Hey Sarah Babeman, sorry I took so long to respond, I've been a very busy boy. Your two cents are well taken, and I agree that comedy central censoring Mohammed is their right and they can do whatever they want. I do think it's still alarming that this happened though. BTW, I just read reports that they're coming out with a show on comedy central that centers around Jesus. I'm not offended, and I am sure most Christians won't be either, but the hypocrisy is just glaring. Brave, cutting edge, Comedy Central, I salute you.

Btw, I still love South Park, though it's hit-or-miss sometimes. and TOGTFO is the best saying ever, thanks for enlightening me. After joining the military, I fell off the pop-culture bandwagon a little bit. Keep me updated Batman!