Comedy Central censors southpark after threats of violence.

[Thelona]

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2...isode-is-altered-after-muslim-groups-warning/

An episode of “South Park” that continued a story line involving the Prophet Muhammad was shown Wednesday night on Comedy Central with audio bleeps and image blocks reading “CENSORED” after a Muslim group warned the show’s creators that they could face violence for depicting that holy Islamic prophet. Revolution Muslim, a group based in New York, wrote on its Web site that the “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker “will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh” for an episode shown last week in which a character said to be the Prophet Muhammad was seen wearing a bear costume. Mr. Van Gogh was slain in Amsterdam in 2004 after making a film that discussed the abuse of Muslim women in some Islamic societies.

Pretty sad if you ask me, Jesus/Hindu/Moses jokes by the shitton are ok, even holocaust jokes are ok(Sarah Silverman show), but Muslim jokes have to be censored?

after a bunch of nutjobs threaten to start killing people, comedy central caved and bleeped out every reference to Muhammad and even bleeped out an entire monologue stating how only cowards cave to such pressure.

The south park creators issued their own statement.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/south-park-creators-respond/

In the 14 years we’ve been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn’t stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. It wasn’t some meta-joke on our part. 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. We’ll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different and we’ll see what happens to it.

I've lost any of the little respect i had left for comedy central, they are nothing but cowards and hypocrites imo.

turns out the episode of south park had alot of truth to it, Muhammad really IS the only figure who CANT be made fun of. even in America, where supposedly we have a freedom of speech, and where supposedly that freedom of speech trumps your freedom not to be offended, I guess unless your Muslim.

Is this the world we live in? Nothing is to far humor wise, until a bunch of barbarians respond by threatening to cut peoples heads off and then its gone to far?

how far does this go? we are already seeing the UN talk about anti-religious-defamation laws, making it illegal to offended Muslims, now its coming to America to? Fuck Comedy Central for caving to ignorant extremist fascist savages. and i hope the South Park creators take their show and go to a network that still has some balls, tho i fear theres not one out there.

Wonder if other religious organizations are going to start taking cues, does the Westboro baptist church just need to start cutting some heads off, and then noone well oppose them or speak out against them anymore? Does a Jewish group just need to go kill a few people and suddenly holocaust and Jew jokes wont be funny anymore? what kind of world would we live in then?

 

[Hexx]

I would think they did it more for the safety of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, more than to appease a group of Muslim extremists. Keep in mind Southpark makes a shit ton of money for Comedy Central, so if they were to lose one of their cash cows, well, it would suck for them (and for us too since we would lose out on the hilarity that is Southpark).

 

[Morcheeba]

I heard something about the threats. And really, it's just not worth it. If anything were to happen that could have been avoided... know what I'm sayin.

To me that would be an act of terrorism. But yeah.

 

[Thelona]

no the act of terrorism has already been committed, the violence has been threatened, and behavior has been changed to suit those threatening the violence, that's terrorism folks.

Terrorism isnt about the act of violence, its about forcing a society to change its behavior out of fear of an act of violence.

oh and the actual creators of southpark had nothing to do with the censorship, it was done by comedy central after it left thier hands,

the Muslims that's intent on killing those who poke fun/disagree and already intent, caving to their demands changes nothing, its nothing but an act of cowardice imo.

 

[Miros]

This could be some good ammo for a nice lawsuit against the muslim community. Threatening violence like this is clearly an act of terrorism and could be good enough grounds to attempt to remove the muslim faith from tax exempt status in America. That would hurt them big time.

 

[Thelona]

4chan is picking up where South Park left off, they dug up all the info on that "revolution Muslim" group and have been assailing them with the most offensive, vile, unimaginable stuff in true 4chan style. more power to em imo,

 

[Raesvelg]

I'm disappointed, but not overly surprised. I figured that Comedy Central would prove as lacking in spine on this issue as the rest of the world is.

Things like this do make me favor a friend's hypothetical response to 9/11; round up every firefighting plane that they can, load them up with pigs' blood, and go paint Mecca.

 

[neville]

no the act of terrorism has already been committed, the violence has been threatened, and behavior has been changed to suit those threatening the violence, that's terrorism folks.

Terrorism isnt about the act of violence, its about forcing a society to change its behavior out of fear of an act of violence.

oh and the actual creators of southpark had nothing to do with the censorship, it was done by comedy central after it left thier hands,

the Muslims that's intent on killing those who poke fun/disagree and already intent, caving to their demands changes nothing, its nothing but an act of cowardice imo.

exactly. :|

 

[Morcheeba]

It may very well be cowardice.. but should they not act responsibly and remove the cause until they know it's been addressed by the proper authorities and the threat removed?

It would be pretty shameful if people were to die over something as trite as a cartoon.

 

[Hexx]

It may very well be cowardice.. but should they not act responsibly and remove the threat until they know it's been addressed by the proper authorities and the threat removed?

It would be pretty shameful if people were to die over something as trite as a cartoon.

Exactly what i thought. I mean, from what some of you are saying, human life be damned, you want your undedited, uncensored cartoons, even if it kills someone? Come now folks, thats just absurd.

 

[Thelona]

sorry cheebs, what i view as shameful is Americans being cowed into silence and censorship over threats from violent fascists.

there will always be violent facists, and i dont think a black box over a prohpet changes thier mind at all,

if one of them were intent on killing the founders of southpark i bet you they are still just as intent, only now there would be blood shed AND freedom walked on.

Theres a reason why police don't cave to demands of hostage takers in America, because it teaches people that violence gets them what they want, that's exactly what this has done. Its shown the extremist that terrorism does work in America.

Exactly what i thought. I mean, from what some of you are saying, human life be damned, you want your undedited, uncensored cartoons, even if it kills someone? Come now folks, thats just absurd.

The cartoon kill someone? really hexx do you think some extremist is sitting at home watching southpark, and they put their saber down after seeing it got censored? "ok no harm no foul, no reason to kill American infidel now." hell no!

Matt and trey seemed willing enough to put their lives on the line for their freedom of speech. seems that's a rare conviction nowadays.

 

[Morcheeba]

Well I look at worth and cost.

What could be a temporary precaution until this bullshit is addressed could potentially be the cause of lives lost.

False pride is just not worth it.

Officers do not cave to demands.. or do they? I believe that there are limits in which negotiators allow their perpetrators if it means keeping the hostages alive.

E - don't get me wrong. I don't agree with this in the least. But it wouldn't be the right move to put their heads in the sand and pretend there is no issue either.

It needs to get addressed and in the worst possible way. You're right, no radicals should dictate how the western world chooses to view their humor.

 

[Hexx]

sorry cheebs, what i view as shameful is Americans being cowed into silence and censorship over threats from violent fascists.

there will always be violent facists, and i dont think a black box over a prohpet changes thier mind at all,

if one of them were intent on killing the founders of southpark i bet you they are still just as intent, only now there would be blood shed AND freedom walked on.

Theres a reason why police don't cave to demands of hostage takers in America, because it teaches people that violence gets them what they want, that's exactly what this has done. Its shown the extremist that terrorism does work in America.




The cartoon kill someone? really hexx do you think some extremist is sitting at home watching southpark, and they put their saber down after seeing it got censored? "ok no harm no foul, no reason to kill American infidel now." hell no!

Matt and trey seemed willing enough to put their lives on the line for their freedom of speech. seems that's a rare conviction nowadays.

Yes I really do think some crazy extremist will be moved to go out and attempt, and maybe even succeed in killing them. Look at Theo Van Gogh, I'm pretty sure he wasn't expecting it, and he didn't even insult their prophet! Your average Muslim repudiates these acts, even if they do find themselves offended by how their prophet is portrayed, but at the same time, these aren't your average Muslims committing these horrible acts.

Simply put, I wouldnt put it past any of them to try, and I for one am glad Comedy Central preferred to "be safe than sorry."

 

[Raesvelg]

For all intents and purposes, yes, that IS what I'm saying. Not because I especially care about seeing South Park make fun of Islam, but because making fun of Islam shouldn't result in people getting killed.. And if it takes someone dying to wake the rest of the world up to the insidious poison that is fundamentalist Islam, then so bet it.

People can prattle on all they like about respect for other cultures, but someday they're going to have to realize that that respect is NOT reciprocal in this instance.

 

[ShomeGhuye]

Religious extremists of all religions piss me off, which is why I'm glad the creators of South Park are pushing back. I understand the argument put forth by a couple of you stating that it would be a shame if somebody died as a result of something shown in a cartoon, but enough is enough.

 

[Morcheeba]

Someone/Some group should be pushing back. People with a lot more influence and authority, because if not.. the fight will be pointless.

The problem with a lot of laws currently in place are they do not protect us until it's too late. That's unfortunate, and that's from home.. that's from neighbours and family/friends and strangers. When a group of radicals threaten the lives of your citizens over something as ridiculous as content found in a cartoon, I would hope the creators/networks take it seriously enough to not fuck around with the lives of their team.

If it requires these people to die in order for the powers that be to step in, hope is already lost.

 

[Thelona]

I think that anyone who was intent on killing someone over an episode of south park is STILL intent on killing someone over an episode of southpark.

I don't think the fact that the word was bleeped out or the prophet was censored changes any of their minds.

THAT'S why i don't think caving to their demands means ANYTHING except showing the extremist that the threats WORK.

 

[Morcheeba]

I don't know. I was just raised to believe 'to be safe than sorry' was the better option.

 

[Thelona]

how far does "Better safe then sorry" go tho, how many of your own freedoms are you willing to compromise over threats of death.


its sounds cliche, and movies and cheap use of it have kinda killed it, but "Live free or die" is another saying i was raised to believe in.

Many in America including myself, would rather die for their freedoms then sacrifice those freedoms out of fear of violent repercussions.

Its not that i wanna see an uncensored version of southpark, its that the freedom of speech was violated, not for the FCC, not for what was deemed appropriate for cable, or appropriate for children, but because of threats of terrorism, that to me is unacceptable.

Its not the episode of south park, its the principle

 

[Ravic]

"Not even in the face of Armageddon. Never compromise."