South Park's Episode 201 — the Expurgated Version

Yesterday we mentioned the controversy facing Matt Stone and Trey Parker after last week's South Park (episode 200) depicted Muhammad, founder of Islam, concealed in a bear suit. Today, penguinman1337 writes "Apparently, all is not well over at Comedy Central. The heavily censored version of episode 201 that aired last night has a lot of people angry, including the show's creators." From their note: "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."

Comments

I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Rei]

onto BitTorrent.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[OS24Ever]

You realize, the original episode that showed Mohammed before it wasn't cool to show Mohommed is on their website? here it is. Completely un-editied.

I'm expecting the 201/202 episodes to be posted the same way.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Anonymous Coward]

>>We apologize that south park studios cannot stream this episode.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Velorium]

Uh, says now that they can't show it.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Viperlin]

was recorded off comedy central and therefore censored, you insensitive clod

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[OS24Ever]

after last weeks and before this weeks episode you could play it. That sucks ass.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[ejtttje]

I verify, I specifically went back to re-watch this episode a few days ago.

Bunch of cowards running things at Comedy Central administration. They clearly didn't learn the lesson of the Cartoon Wars episodes, every time you give in to bullies, you only embolden them to ask for more next time. So ironic to have South Parks' own network so clearly demonstrate the head-in-the-sand behavior which is being protested.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[severoon]

For those of you that are unaware, the concern among Muslims about depicting Muhammad is based on a few hadith that warn against doing so to prevent idolatry. The worry is that any depiction could become the focus of worship, and the depiction itself could take the place of what it represents.

Or, in other words, radical Muslims are fearful that a large faction of the faithful will splinter off and form a new denomination based on the worship of an episode of South Park. They're so anxious over this possibility, these groups have threatened to suborn the murder of Matt Stone & Trey Parker by dispatching roving death squads.

Don't click away to a calendar app—I assure you, it is 2010 and this is actually happening. (And I understand why some of you with mod points might choose "Funny" for this post, which is totally fine, but I promise everyone that this is as unbiased an accounting of the facts as I find myself able to give.)

By the way, if you happen to be a techno-savvy hard-line Muslim reading this post, I have one question for you: shouldn't your first problem, before Matt & Trey, be with the second most populous denomination of Islam, the Shi'a, who apparently have no problem with depictions of Muhammad? Is it off-base for me to ask that you sort this out amongst yourselves before requiring the non-believers to follow your religious edicts under threat of death?

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it off-base for me to ask that you sort this out amongst yourselves before requiring the non-believers to follow your religious edicts under threat of death?

Yes

I agree with your post, but what does a mainstream Muslim have in common with these people? Would you ask Sunday worshipers coming out of a neighborhood church why they haven't fixed the problems with the Westbro baptist church or pro-revolutionaries?

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[jonwil]

Its not like making fun of religious figures is illegal.

What are the Muslims who are offended by this going to do that the 100s of other people and groups Southpark have offended wont?

Crash a fully loaded 747 full of people into the Comedy Central HQ?

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[CaptSaltyJack]

By the way, if you happen to be a techno-savvy hard-line Muslim reading this post

Sorry, the techno-savvy hard-line Muslim can't come to the phone right now. He's out to lunch with the gadget-hoarding Amish electrical engineer.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Tenek]

They're already working on the Shi'a.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[skine]

But they showed that episode in July 2001, and the attacks were in September 2001.

So South Park caused the 9/11 attacks.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[bertoelcon]

So South Park caused the 9/11 attacks.

But The Lone Gunmen showed them what a good target would be.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Bunch of cowards running things at Comedy Central administration. They clearly didn't learn the lesson of the Cartoon Wars episodes, every time you give in to bullies, you only embolden them to ask for more next time.

Sounds like what's needed is for someone to threaten them unless they take the beeps out.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

I agree with your post, but what does a mainstream Muslim have in common with these people?

Didja ya miss the part where he directed the question at any "techno-savvy hard-line Muslim reading this post?"
It isn't like all sunni are hard-line or even close to it.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Pharmboy]

Its not like making fun of religious figures is illegal.

It is in Saudi Arabia and all other Muslim countries. Of course it isn't in America, which is what should matter but doesn't to CC.

Perhaps CC doesn't want to miss out on all the advertisers who have Muslim specific products, who might pull their ads.......

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[TubeSteak]

By the way, if you happen to be a techno-savvy hard-line Muslim reading this post, I have one question for you: shouldn't your first problem, before Matt & Trey, be with the second most populous denomination of Islam, the Shi'a, who apparently have no problem with depictions of Muhammad? Is it off-base for me to ask that you sort this out amongst yourselves before requiring the non-believers to follow your religious edicts under threat of death?

FYI - Shia represent 10%~15% of the ~1.5 billion muslims.
And considering that they've been killing one another since the Sunni-Shia split in the 7th Century,
I think it's fair to say that they've been busy sorting this out for the better part of 1,400 years.

That aside, your question is a rhetorical flourish and completely devoid of substance.
Do we ever tell the Pope to STFU because he disagrees with some other Christian Church 1/10th their size?

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[amiga3D]

Well actually to Christians, Christ is the Son of God, not a prophet. The nice thing about Christianity though is that for the most part, with the exception of a few kooks, they're all content to leave it to God to handle unbelievers in the next life. If you don't want to believe that's fine. Either you're right, and it's all a fairy tale, or you're wrong and you'll burn in Hell. Too many Muslims seem anxious to take over Allah's job of punishing unbelievers. It's like they don't trust him to do the job properly or something.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[amiga3D]

It's not illegal in the US. There are a few countries where it'll cause you a world of hurt though.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[WesternActor]

You could play it earlier today. I rewatched it this morning. By this afternoon, it was gone.

Scary times, and even scarier when people like those at Comedy Central are determined to prove their cowardice to the world.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[kg8484]

Do we ever tell the Pope to STFU because he disagrees with some other Christian Church 1/10th their size?

If it involved the Pope sending a death threat, then yes, yes we would.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[MikeFM]

If we could only give them more effective weapons maybe we could bring this issue to an end.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[OakDragon]

Yes, but they're brave enough to take on the Bush administration!

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[oamasood]

I'm a practicing Muslim ("fundamentalist" if you prefer) but most Muslims and Islamic scholars do not espouse the RevolutionMuslim kind of ideology. The statements by RevolutionMuslim are mostly for intimidation purposes and will most likely have no bearings in reality.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[bakes]

In order to do that someone will have to start a new religion based on South Park.

What about a religion based on freedom of speech?

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Anonymous Coward]

Do we ever tell the Pope to STFU because he disagrees with some other Christian Church 1/10th their size?

Not for that reason exactly, but we do tell him to STFU.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[AlamedaStone]

Before the current conflict in Iraq...brainwashed by Western media...

This is the part where you are supposed to provide informative links to support your contention, and set us all free of this indoctrinated delusion perpetrated by Western media that the shia/sunni conflict started prior to 2003.

Proceed.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Skreems]

The nice thing about Christianity though is that for the most part, with the exception of a few kooks, they're all content to leave it to God to handle unbelievers in the next life.

NOW they are. Try that attitude out against any time in the majority of the last 2000 years and see how far it would have gotten you.

Christianity is no more or less violent than any other religion. It's just the core of the faith has been supported by societies that have moved toward more progressive values in recent years. I suspect this is largely by chance, and nothing to do with Christianity itself.

It's much easier to find evidence to support whatever you want to believe in any religion than it is to find one definitive meaning in any of them.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Skreems]

You could play it earlier today. I rewatched it this morning. By this afternoon, it was gone.

It'll be back up in about 2 weeks. They do this with all their new episodes (available right away, blocked for a couple weeks, then available again indefinitely).

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Kell Bengal]

Halal food and prayer rugs.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Captain CowHeart]

They believe that a book is divine and they adore a piece of rock and they are afraid of idolatry? This is something I will never understand.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[TheLink]

> The statements by RevolutionMuslim are mostly for intimidation purposes and will most likely have no bearings in reality.

There were some dead people who would probably have liked to still be able to disagree with you.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[jimicus]

Let us say, for the sake of argument, that you live in the middle of the fucking desert a couple of thousand years ago.

You are (by accident of birth) quite high in your society's hierarchy - but a lot of things that we take for granted these days simply don't exist in the middle of this fucking desert.

There's no police force.

There's no farm subsidies (though there are farmers, it's a hard life being a farmer in the middle of a fucking desert).

The last couple of years have been tough - there's virtually no water (though the people in the next country have a number of rivers...). As a consequence, many of your people are starving.

There may or may not be such a thing as conscription, but keeping morale up in your army is damn hard. You can barely feed them, FFS.

There is precious little that would be recognised as a legal system two thousand years hence.

There's no international aid - it's every man for himself.

There's little education - those who aren't from a wealthy background (which 99% of your countrymen aren't) don't necessarily understand exactly how bad things are or how best to improve them.

What your people need to survive is some better farmland. And you know exactly what you need to get it - water. Easiest way to get this is to re-settle as many people as you can next to the neighbour's river. Your neighbour is likely to object, however, so you'll have to take it by force. How on Earth do persuade thousands of people to take up arms and invade your neighbour?

Well, like most leaders you're fundamentally a politician. Two thousand years from now you'd spin your people some line about how this neighbouring country has big scary weapons, but that doesn't work so well here because nuclear weapons aren't going to be invented for some time.

The most powerful thing you have available is your own local myths and legends - which include legends about how the world was created by an all-powerful being. Most of your people believe pretty firmly in them. So you spin them a line about how this all-powerful being has promised them the world - on condition they take on any "non-believers". And by an amazing coincidence, there's a whole bunch of non-believers in the next country.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Pecisk]

Well, not exactly. Christianity as itself is staunch denier of killing anyone, it's a sin, pure and simple. However, book is one thing and people with intent are other. Let's say, "you shall not kill" haven't stopped "true" Christians to kill their brothers, to kill nonbelievers, never mind about people who just look or act strange or could be possibly truly inspired by God. And all the time it was claimed that it was done "in the name of God". Go figure. Human nature I guess.

Let's be honest - reason why Christianity is not so violent anymore is that Western society, while still having it's problems, have painfully learned true nature of human being and trying to balance it. That's why we don't have Sharia law, but we have courts. That's why we don't practice blood revenge, but try to work it out with laws. It doesn't work always, but it is not a complete mess either.

Muslims are like Christians in middle ages - they believe their own words and feel they are justified to do anything they want to. What scares me more that they even don't have to explain themselves - if their priest says so, they should carry out order,

In fact, as for someone who has found true reasons behind Christianity it's painful to watch that people try to fit their practical mindsets into something they don't and maybe even don't want to understand. Christianity is about spirituality, but in fact all I see is just using those legend frameworks for something else. Again, human nature I guess.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Splab]

Really?
Halal is pretty much defacto way of slaughtering these days (europe at least), turns out less stress on the cattle (=better meat) and as a bonus you got the muslim minority as customers. Sure as hell aint muslim, but I buy lots of halal, only meat i buy that isn't halal is bacon.

And if CC is going to lose a lot of advertisement over lag of prayer rug commercials, they are doing something seriously wrong...

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[lpq]

Don't forget the quote of Christian Crusaders ... "Kill them and all and let God sort them out"...

Christians do kill, they do bomb clinics, they do blow up buildings in Oklahoma -- just that most of them are not so included, but they organized well from all states in the US to overwhelm the electorate in the last California election to remove the rights of same sex people to marry.

Monotheism is inherently antithetical to human life, as human life needs freedom and monotheism says there's only one way -- and ultimate it's followers enforce their beliefs on others. Until people realize that one-wayism is a threat to everyone, it will remain an insidious problem.

 

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[shadowknot]

Absolutely. Even the "nice" christians somehow find it in their heart to hate homosexuals, and their public stance against their civil rights is no less ugly because it's done with a smug smile.

If you're a religious believer, you've already established yourself as partially insane

It's interesting to me how you manage to both decry tolerance and display an utter lack of it so concisely in one post. Bravo biggot.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[AlXtreme]

NOW they are. Try that attitude out against any time in the majority of the last 2000 years and see how far it would have gotten you.

But we don't live in 1200 AD, we live in the present. At the moment Christianity is much less violent than Islam: it's that simple.

Yes, Christianity did terrible things in the past but currently similar things are being done by Muslims. IMHO it is our ethical duty to stop religious insanity in the present, regardless of the past.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Nyder]

...
Do we ever tell the Pope to STFU because he disagrees with some other Christian Church 1/10th their size?

Give me the chance and I will. I'll tell him to STFU just because, I don't need a reason to.

Whats he going to do? Send a priest to sodomize me?

Oh, wait, not sure I want to risk that...

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

Christianity is no more or less violent than any other religion.

This rings false to me. It seems you're implying that the violence level of "any other religion" is well-defined, as in, every other religion is more or less as violent as each other. I've never seen, for example, militant Buddhists. Well, perhaps a Buddhist (or someone claiming to be one) who is militant about something else, but no-one who spreads Buddhism by force.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[lpq]

Where does this "right" come from?

From the Creator. The creator who creates love in peoples hearts. Why should the institutions and creations of man take precedence over the creators work? Same sex relationships are seen throughout nature. Yet in man, institutions that have turned their face away from God call this "sinful". It is those institutions that violate the sanctity of life and love in God's eyes.

It is a man-made "church" that proclaims right and wrong and claims to speak for God -- yet their words go against the habits of creatures on this earth -- it pretty obvious that they are "unnatural" -- a perversion of the natural order God established. Let each be attracted to who they will and be in alignment with God's blessings.

If it's politically correct to say it or not the fact remains that homosexuality differs from the norm and is, biologically speaking, of no use to furthering the human species.

It doesn't need to be furthered -- it needs to be nurtured. Men on the make ain't doing alot of nuturing any time I've seen. Once married, maybe, Male couples can nuture as well -- when love flourishes -- as it does among female couples. IT's not as easy for male couples but it's relatively easy for for female couples to reproduce -- and with science, with each others genes!
But that's not really the point of love. It's about loving and giving to another, love without an agenda -- a type of love that heterosexual couples find it harder to experience.

It is an inherrently selfish pursuit that leaves the notion of service to your fellow man (make jokes about that if you like!) completely out of the picture.

Not having children and devoting your life to science and art is selfish? Not having children is selfish? How about men who have to spread their seed into an over populated world who disproportionally will be the ones to leave their partner to raise a child alone? Who's selfish here? Statistically, it's the men who walk. You can be sure that gay couples won't be so selfish as to use impregnation as a way of enslavement or blithely leave behind single parents or children on the street.
Statistics and reality don't backup your claims of selfishness. Caring first for themselves and their partners is doing the earth alot more good than those who are polluting the world with more uncared for and uncherished children (not that all are, but a sizable percentage of your supposedly "not selfish" net parents will produce such a result).

Normalization of homosexuality is foolish as it is (mathematically speaking) not normal.
Mathematically speaking, left handers are not normal. Should we pass laws to stop them from marrying? They might pass on left handed genes...

If you think about it -- if gays do marry, they will be less likely to reproduce than their het counterparts, and genetically, they won't contribute as much to the gene pool -- but if honored and accepted into society, they will help raise the standard of living for today. Since they have no children of their own -- many make great workers in child care -- or would if it wasn't for anti-gay propaganda. By any measure -- absolute or per-capital, more heterosexual males are abusers of children than any other group. NOT gay men. And lesbians? I've heard of a few freak incidents of a woman with lesbian inclinations going over the edge, but those I've who like to be around children are very caring and make ideal child care workers -- they don't have to go home to take care of their own.

Opening recognition for gay couples leaves the floodgates open for polygimous groups and other non-traditional spousal units to get their "rights" recognized.

And??

"It takes a village to raise a child" used to be common sense. Children were better off when groups of adults were around to interact with them. In today's society, having only 2 adults, both of whom are

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[God'sDuck]

Christians do have the advantage in the "whose religion is inherently violent" mudslinging match that nobody was killed in Jesus name while Jesus was alive, or while any of his students were alive, or their students, or their students, or their students, or their students. It took several HUNDRED YEARS for people to start killing in Jesus name. Why? Because Jesus made it very clear you were not supposed to kill in his name, even to the point of literally turning your other cheek to somebody who was slapping you in the face. It was not until Christianity became the dominant regional religion and rulers began looking for justifications for political wars and capital punishment that killings began, and then continued in force for ~1300 years, largely until the enlightenment pulled out a lot of dusty verses.
 
Muhammad, on the other hand, personally led the Muslim armies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad#Beginning_of_armed_conflict

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[cowboy76Spain]

Not "give"; "sell"

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[DJRumpy]

I suspect Christianity's new found 'peaceful' resolution came about when governments told them to mind their own business. When they lost the power to sway law in the US and Europe, they in turn had to comply with a slew of new restrictions to what they could and couldn't do. Agree with the parent. Christianity was an extreme force for violence, and could be again. Imagine if religion was allowed to blend with Law in the U.S. Now imagine the more radical folks who tend to push those agenda and the 'ideals' they strive for. I could definitely see that evoking violence, either through resistance or compliance.

In the middle east, Religion and Law or intermixed freely. Look at the violence created by such a mix.

If there is one thing that I think absolutely made things better in the US was a Separation of Church and State.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[mcgrew]

Do we ever tell the Pope to STFU because he disagrees with some other Christian Church 1/10th their size?

The Catholics and Lutherans aren't killing each other, and the Catholics and Lutherans aren't telling each other to STFU. Plus, Muhammed's meassage was different than Jesus', whose message was forgiveness, "love your enemies" and "do good to those who do you wrong", and don't judge people.

Apples and oranges (or Apples and Dells).

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Richard_at_work]

The Christian law is 'thou shalt not murder', not 'thou shalt not kill' - and yes, there is a distinction.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[sir lox elroy]

That the way it always goes with humans it seems. They say they are tolerant, but most of the are a biggot on some level.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[RichiH]

Somehow, I doubt this matters to the poor sod dying for the penis-wagging of a random religion.

The moral might be that people will pervert anything, given a motive and chance.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[morgauxo]

Better take care of that! Otherwise when a terrorist dies he might get you and 9 of your friends!

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Toze]

Christianity is no more or less violent than any other religion.

Oh, well, that explains recent art like "Piss Pope" and "Chocolate Jesus." And abortion clinics. And Dawkins having a death sentence pronounced on him by the Archbishop of Canterbury. People are constantly terrified that some Christian might explode them if they say bad things. Good thing you cleared that up.

I think maybe you meant to say that Christianity has been as violent as any other religion, in which case, sure. But for people alive today, it seems much less violent than some other options. This is like whining that Germany is "no more or less racist than any other nation" when talking about Rwanda because, you know, the Germans had a period of being complete dicks. Sure, past actions impact the present, but that doesn't mean there's a moral equivalence in the current situation.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Toze]

Like Canada.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Nursie]

I fail to see the intolerance there.

Sure, there's an insult, but he's not calling for them to be banned/beheaded/banished or anything.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Nursie]

No true Scotsman eh?

"The black ink is just the backstory, the message and teaching is in red."

LOL.

So someone has sat down and decided this? They got to decide what are the real teachings and rules and what aren't?

Face it, like most religious people, you're picking and choosing which bits you think apply to you based on your own values. You don't follow the religion, you fit it around yourself.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[hesiod]

He's attempting to redefine "tolerance" as "loving acceptance", which is all too common these days.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[JAlexoi]

Wait! Are you talking about the Jews? Or are you talking about how Islam got started?
Yes, both Judaism and Islam are religions that were initiated by the need for laws. Christianity is more of a philosophical movement, than a religion like Judaism.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Khisanth Magus]

*looks at prop8 in california, all other anti-gay legislation, anti-abortion laws* And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Christians have been trying to push their morals and beliefs down the throats of everyone in the US for centuries.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[thebagel]

People today just want to redefine a term with a long-standing meaning to get money from their fellow citizens.

You mean money and benefits that other married couples already get, right? But of course, in the case of heterosexual couples, it's not just about the money - that would be morally wrong. Am I right? Howabout interracial marriages? That's not a norm, so should we ban that, too? Clearly

There is no benefit to society to recognize anything else.

Except that plenty of same-sex couples would love to adopt and raise children. Adopting children improves our society by providing them with a place to live, love, and grow. But that doesn't benefit us at all, I guess.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[Limburgher]

There are two specific and distinct words for kill and murder in Hebrew, and the latter is in the text. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_commandments#Killing_or_murder

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[jimicus]

Actually, I'm talking about religion in general terms.

Re:I wonder how long until it "accidentally" leaks

[severoon]

So, you believe that freedom of expression is a less important human right than requiring even nonbelievers to respect your religion under threat of physical reprisal?

If yes, is this a hypocritical belief, or do you think we ought to be required to respect the beliefs of all faiths equally? (Just to pick one out of the hat, for instance, the fundamentalist Mormon belief that dark-skinned people are cursed by god.)

Knee bone is connected to the...

[denzacar]

There is no knee-jerk but knee-jerk and jerks are its prophets.

Throw their weight around

[MBGMorden]

Honestly, Trey Parker and Matt Stone basically prop up Comedy Central. They only have, what, 3 shows that are really big? The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and South Park. South Park seems to be the top even in that category. Comedy Central needs them more than the other way around. Hell South Park has enough following that it could be profitably distributed as a web series and still make plenty of money from ads and merchandise sales.

Re:Throw their weight around

[rolfwind]

I think you overestimate the current profitability of the online audience... hell, South Park even made fun the difficulty to monetize online success in "Canada on Strike", a relatively recent episode.

Otherwise, I agree with you, those 3 shows carry comedy central. Comedy Central tries to strike out on other good shows but they usually suck, whether cartoons (Drawn Together, Ugly Americans) or shows like Tosh.0.

Hell, reruns of Futurama is their 4th biggest thing, but seeing the same 60 episodes gets old fast... hopefully the new ones will be good.

Re:Throw their weight around

[Hatta]

If The Simpsons on Hulu can be more profitable than on network TV, why would you think South Park wouldn't be able to pull better ad revenues online than on cable?

Re:Throw their weight around

[Pinky's Brain]

Saying Mohammed is not going to be judged obscene in any court in the US ... so legal's opinion in this matter is neither here nor there.

Re:Throw their weight around

[Your.Master]

That link doesn't support your claim. It says that the price-per-ad is higher for advertising on the Simpsons on Hulu. It does not say that the Simpsons makes comparable revenue on Hulu as on network TV. In fact, it says that the profit-per-episode-view is much higher on network TV (the revenue is 33% higher, anyway), because there are five times as many (cheaper) ads on network TV. And that doesn't speak to the overall amount of episodes viewed. Which turns out to probably be a lot less at this time judging from the percentages quoted in your article.

So let's fix your question: if the Simpsons can't even come close to the ad revenue they get on cable TV, why would you think that South Park could?

Re:You don't say

[Anonymous Coward]

At the risk of my good karma, you're a moron. They didn't censor the part with Jesus watching porn, or Buda doing lines of coke, they censored the speaking of the word "prophet muhammed" and the "I learned something today" speech that didn't even mention muhammed. All because people are scared of offending muslims.

Give them an inch

[interkin3tic]

Ah, comedy central has made it clear that in response to death threats, they'll censor themselves. I'm sure that will be the last time religious nuts get their panties in a twist and threaten them with violence because they're angry. After all, religious fundamentalism goes hand in hand with being reasonable.

Wonder if we'll ever see Colbert gagged because some right-wing "hutatree" terrorist realized they were being made fun of...

Re:Give them an inch

[feepness]

Ah, comedy central has made it clear that in response to death threats, they'll censor themselves.

Someone needs to death threat them into releasing the episode.

Re:Give them an inch

[Kenja]

So we respond in kind. Threaten violence if they censor stuff. I'm sure they'll respond in a reasonable manor.

Re:Give them an inch

[jaavaaguru]

reasonable manor

I guess that's what you get after making a shitload of money from TV. I just have a tiny apartment.

The media really are pussies

[Sycraft-fu]

I am more than a little tired of this crap of "Oh we have to be culturally sensitive towards the Muslims." No, we don't. We don't need to be culturally sensitive to anyone. I liked Philip Pullman's talk about this general idea when he said "No one has the right to live without being shocked, no one has the right to spend their life without being offended." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ3VcbAfd4w&feature=player_embedded).

The media needs to learn that about the Muslims as well. They aren't a special group any more than Christians or Atheists or anyone else. If they want to get whiny about people making fun of them the answer needs to be "Shut up, nobody cares," and then go back to making fun.

A very important part of free speech is the ability to make fun of things, including, maybe even especially, the things people hold sacred.

Re:The media really are pussies

[couchslug]

"A very important part of free speech is the ability to make fun of things, including, maybe even especially, the things people hold sacred."

An even more important part of free speech is the right to attack and ridicule any belief and any person. This is vital to freedom because otherwise restraints on speech will be exploited to censor debate and stop opposition.

As for the superstitions of the desert, it would be nice if their followers had but one throat and my hands were on it.

Re:The media really are pussies

[interkin3tic]

The media needs to learn that about the Muslims as well. They aren't a special group any more than Christians or Atheists or anyone else. If they want to get whiny about people making fun of them the answer needs to be "Shut up, nobody cares," and then go back to making fun.

As an agnostic I'm possibly offended that agnostics weren't specifically mentioned in that statement at all. Maybe offended. I mean, I have no real proof one way or the other.

Re:The media really are pussies

[Hatta]

Many Muslims are in a situation similar to what we went through with Crusades and the like. It's a phase (and they aren't nearly as bad as we were back then, really) -- it's a transition phase and we need to help them go through it; baby steps.

Looking at history, and human nature, it's more likely that liberal western civilization is a phase. It's a blip in history. The free world is more likely to fall to totalitarianism than the muslim world is to be enlightened.

Re:The media really are pussies

[Erinnys Tisiphone]

Sensible Christians can smile at themselves. Sensible Atheists can smile at themselves. Sensible Catholics can smile at themselves. Sensible Hindus can smile at themselves... And so on... This is a sacrifice we have to make to coexist with the rest of the planet in globalized society. Taking oneself too seriously all of the time (at others' expense) is an indication that one has absolutely no willingness to permit others to be different.

Re:The media really are pussies

[cduffy]

I learned everything I need to know about Islam on 9/11/2001...

And you learned all you needed to know about white guys who hate big government on 4/19/1995?

Re:The media really are pussies

[BobMcD]

As for the superstitions of the desert, it would be nice if their followers had but one throat and my hands were on it.

So, just to recap:

Violence against those practicing free speech = bad.

Violence against those practicing free religion = good?

The terrorists have won

[Anonymous Coward]

The heavily censored version of episode 201 that aired last night has a lot of people angry, including the show's creators.

The terrorists have won.

Re:The terrorists have won

[gyrogeerloose]

The terrorists have won.

They won on October 26, 2001, the day that George W. Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act into law.

Re:The terrorists have won

[SamSim]

No, that was the day that the USA lost. "The terrorists" have an entirely different set of victory conditions - most of them not yet satisfied, although it depends greatly on the terrorist - and it's not a zero-sum game. If they cared about your personal freedoms they would have hit the Statue of Liberty.

Mohamad == pedo bear

[QuantumG]

Come get me you extremist fucktards.

Re:Mohamad == pedo bear

[QuantumG]

http://quantumg.net/OhMaome.jpg

Been there since Mar 23 2008...

Re:You don't say

[eln]

According to the statement by Matt and Trey, the final speech (which in the broadcast version was nothing but an extremely long beep) didn't even mention Muhammed, it was about intimidation and fear. Comedy Central really went way overboard on the censoring of this episode. Hopefully whenever their current contract expires they can take South Park to a network that isn't run by a bunch of gutless cowards (if such a thing even exists anymore).

Personally, I thought the whole two-part episode kind of sucked anyway, but the overzealous censoring of the second part was just ridiculous.

The terrorists win!

[NetNinja]

And this is what happens when you let terrorists censor you.

Re:The terrorists win!

[Kozz]

And this is what happens when you let terrorists censor you.

It's more (worse) than that. I know you didn't literally mean what you said (as the terrorists don't run Comedy Central... I don't think). It is that CC is censoring its own broadcast out of fear, not because of a decree from another governing entity.

Re:You don't say

[MrMista_B]

Because while Christians will turn the other cheek, and Buddhists likewise, Muslims will fucking kill you.

1984?

[adbge]

This kind of draconian censorship is unacceptable. Go tell Comedy Central why you'll no longer be watching:

http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml

Re:1984?

[Beelzebud]

On please. Go back and re-read 1984, and tell me how a comedy channel is the same thing as a fascist dictatorship... If this was government censorship, you might have a point.

Re:1984?

[VoiceInTheDesert]

I just went to that link and submitted this:

"I just want you guys to know that in bowing to pressure from a bunch of religious radicals, you have successfully offended millions of Americans who believe freedom of speech needs to be preserved and protected. You have failed the american people and let the agents of terror dictate your actions.

Now that you have set this precedent, radicals know that all they have to do to get their way is to threaten with violence. Thanks for setting back hundreds of years worth of progressive thought and returning us to the days when the church gets to dictate what the masses can view."

Re:1984?

[TheRaven64]

You might need to re-read 1984 yourself. One of the points was that the Party itself was not actually that powerful; it appeared so because most people were willing to censor their own speech and even thoughts (see: doublethink). The Party only needed to worry about the people who weren't.

Re:1984?

[mikael_j]

Ah, the classic "it's not censorship if it's not the government" argument.

The problem is that if all the major sources of entertainment and news choose to censor themselves then you still end up with a situation that's just as bad as government censorship, it's just the reasons for censorship that are different (money + fear instead of ideology).

Re:1984?

[Hurricane78]

Uuum, what government? We live in a industrial feudalism, if you haven’t noticed already...
The government is just their industry forum for negotiations. We are their main resource. (Ever heard of a “human resources department”?) And the media and government agencies are the cowboys, dairy farmers and doctors, controlling us cattle, so we give the maximum of our work in that hamster wheel, in return for shiny glass beads from of our IKEA catalogs, that we don’t need.

Re:1984?

[Lemmy Caution]

I was waiting for someone to make the "it's only censorship if the government does it" bullshit line, because this situation shows just how asinine that line of reasoning is. Apparently, the threat of getting fined or not being allowed to sell your stuff to kids is censorship (if the government does it), the threat of getting fired or blown up isn't (if the government isn't doing it.)

Re:1984?

[drinkypoo]

"and let the agents of terror dictate your actions. "

Typical liberal BS exaggeration.

Please demonstrate, using the dictionary, which word was an exaggeration. I can justify every word in that sentence, and it wasn't even mine.

You are limited in your actions every day of your life by common sense, by laws, by morality.

I am not limited by laws, they only provide for consequences for my actions. Common sense and morality are what limit my actions, yes. But given that you lump the three together I wonder if you actually understand any of the words you're using.

There is one aspect we Muslims make a principal stand on, and that is of course the action that you are choosing.

Okay... threatening someone is an action. Censoring content is an action.

"Oh, my god! If we let them win this, they are going to take away our freedoms!" That's your train of thought, liberal moron, no different from the train of thought of inbred Fox News audience.

Uh, no. That's not the argument at all. But thanks for jerking your knee, proving that you are in the same class as the typical Faux News viewer. The argument is that if we give up our freedoms, we won't have them any more. I think it's pretty straightforward.

Re:Something funny about all this

[eln]

Maybe since the ending speech (according to the link) was all about intimidation and fear, Comedy Central thought it would be too blatantly hypocritical to actually air it.

Re:You don't say

[Le Marteau]

> All because people are scared of offending muslims.

The are not scared of offending Muslims, per se. They are scared of being murdered. Their fear is not unfounded and is with precedent.

Muslims... You don't say

[Anonymous Coward]

Muslims told everyone else how to behave and what they are allowed to say?

You don't say?

I thought it was a coincidence that many of the most theocratic, oppressive, and evil regimes justify their existence with Islam.

This was of course the point of the South Park episode. They insulted every religion in the world in that episode, and only one threatened violence and managed to get their bit censored. It's 2010 and Islam is stuck in the 1300s. It's impact on the world is violent, pushy, and fascist.

Re:Muslims... You don't say

[_Sprocket_]

You're pretty ignorant if you believe they offended "every religion in the world". *cough* Confucianism *cough* Daoism *cough* unimaginable other amounts of religions based off of Native American, African, tribes or other versions of Christianity, Judiasm, etc. etc. etc.

They were offended by not being included.

Re:Muslims... You don't say

[ArcherB]

It's 2010 and Islam is stuck in the 1300s. It's impact on the world is violent, pushy, and fascist.

That is unfair to the majority of modern and progressive muslims. The image of Islam we all see is distorted by media coverage, and muslims are usually as irritated as we are by violent, pushy, and fascist muslims.

Maybe so, but the image of planes flying into buildings, reporters being beheaded, gays being hung, women getting stoned because they had the audacity to get raped and endless missiles launched into neighborhoods from elementary schools tend to leave more of an impression than the puff piece about the Muslim immigrant who saved a kitten from a tree.

Re:You don't say

[jayhawk88]

It's also interesting in the way they chose to censor it. Tom Cruise got censored when he "received Mohammed's goo", but it was done in the exact same way Mohammed in the bear suit was, implying a joke. Presumably Matt and Trey did not have Tom transform into Mohammed, since not showing Mohammed was the joke to begin with; perhaps he transformed into a bear suit too or something along those lines. Whatever was really there, CC had no need to censor the image of Cruise, since Muslims would not have had a problem with Cruise in a bear suit or whatever. Censoring him in the same way was, again, a joke.

As for the end speech being entirely bleeped, if it's true that it didn't mention Mohammed at all, then bleeping it makes no sense at all. This is the network that had no problem with 216 utterances of the word shit after all; what could Stan and Kyle possibly been saying that was so offensive? Again, it seemed like this was a joke, poking fun at the whole censorship thing.

What's disturbing here is that, if it's true CC made these censors without Matt and Trey's knowledge, then they were not only censoring, but adding or changing jokes in the episode as well. Censorship is one thing, but creatively changing an episode...I would think that from the creators eyes that would be even worse, and I can't believe CC would dare do such a thing.

Despite the statement, I'm still not convinced this isn't all some big hoax or joke. The censoring done in the episode just doesn't make any sense, unless it's part of the episode, jokes about the whole situation.

Free Publicity Rules!

[Beelzebud]

To me this smells like one giant PR stunt.

Re:Religion: source of all evil

[Paul server guy]

Too bad you posted that AC - Or are you afraid as well?

Pathetic

[kuwan]

What Comedy Central did was absolutely pathetic. Parker & Stone had already self-censored the episode by not actually showing any pictures of Muhammad and the way they did it was absolutely hilarious. But apparently you can't even speak the work "Muhammad" on Comedy Central. That Comedy Central allows them to ridicule anything and everything - any and all other religions are open game - but when it comes to anything Islam-related suddenly there's a whole new set of rules. Hypocrisy and cowardice at its finest.

I hope that the uncensored version makes its way out soon.

Re:You don't say

[StrategicIrony]

I think that's supposed to read

"are supposed to turn the other cheek"

The christianists in the bible belt haven't followed Jeebus for a long ass time.

The media makes it worse...

[socz]

This morning I heard "so who is really to blame? The creators of south park who write the offensive satire or those who are making the threats of possible violence and death? Well, obviously those making threats are wrong, but what about the creators?"

So lets see, at least in the United States of America we have the beleif of "Freedom of Speech" right? That means we can dissent when we feel especially strong about something.

So I figure, for anyone who says "the creators are wrong in their satire" just opens the door for "those hippies supporting marijuana" (Viva Marijuana was the sign I saw this morning on the way to work) to also be "censored."

Oh but that's totally different right? Lets move to 'scientology.' Why should they not be allowed to censor people? Political groups? Schools? Religions with abuse scandals? Where/when do we stop censoring?

The best and most straightforward argument I have heard regarding this is:
"South Park has made fun of Christians, Jews, people of different ethnicities and organizations. But none other than the Muslims have threatened violence before." That should tell us where the real problem lies.

From my point of view, when I first saw South Park I was offended (Jesus Christ Vs. Santa Claus). But as time passed and I gave it a chance... eventually viewing it when it came on Comedy Central I enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, I regularly recommend it to people when key issues come up. Such as their red cross/catholic scandal episode.

Finally, what happened with Issac Hayes was tragic but eye opening. He shows that "I can be part of something (great) that covers a lot of subjects - that consequently offend everyone at some point or other, as long as it doesn't offend me or my beliefs."

I asked the question

[Huzzah!]

of a guy who was making and selling intentionally offensive/controversial items (Jesus dildos and the like) why he didn't have a dildo in Mohammed's likeness. He said that he was a coward because he didn't want to die, and making Christians mad was OK because they wouldn't walk up and stab him in the chest.

I infer from that that those who enjoy christian-bashing would quit if the christians started being equally forgiving as followers of Islam are.

Re:I asked the question

[Areyoukiddingme]

The world used to work that way. We call that period in history the Dark Ages for a reason...

Re:You don't say

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that's supposed to read

"are supposed to turn the other cheek"

The christianists in the bible belt haven't followed Jeebus for a long ass time.

Sure, but by that same token, I seriously doubt the Koran explicitly advocates killing people indiscriminately.

Re:You don't say

[uncanny]

Why is this modded troll? are you kidding me? maybe the "nerds" on here get the luxury of working only with other nerds, however i have to work with two conservative, gun crazy people who sit there and every day complain about "the government is trying to disarm the american people, we need to buy more guns". One day one of them said "we need to just round up all the muslims and shoot them" holy crap, dont realize if you know this, but that's called ethnic cleansing!! Yeah, there are "gun-toting americans" that i'm more afraid to be around then any of the muslims i went to school with! sorry for the rant

Re:You don't say

[SanityInAnarchy]

Both of them do, actually. The Bible advocates stoning many people under various circumstances, and the Qur'an has a few specific instructions for dealing with infidels, including killing apostates.

Re:You don't say

[MightyMartian]

Never the less, there has to be a point where the West stands up for its hard won values, and not just against Islamists, but against governments who are equally terrified of our liberties.

What this whole debacle, and every single time some group or another decides their religious beliefs trump free speech demonstrates is pathetic cowardice and utter immaturity. I truly pity those so frightened of words that they feel they have to threaten violence. I can't imagine being that craven and worthless.

Re:You don't say

[jaxtherat]

RTFK

Re:You don't say

[Rijnzael]

I also doubt that as well. Nonetheless, many Islamic scholars who wish to justify the hatred they feel and the violence they desire against those they perceive as enemies have and continue to advocate such indiscriminate killing. I think this Youtube video adequately describes some of the problems with Islam as a whole: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyNQ1zc-q74

Why is Islam special?

[adamofgreyskull]

I'm not being funny, but South Park has made fun of a lot of other religions and as far as I know, have not received death threats from any of them. This is what I remember, but you can see for yourself at Wikipedia:

• Atheism
• Christianity - (Jesus's public access show, etc.)
• Mormonism - (Complete deconstruction/mockery of the articles of faith, mockery of John Smith)
• Catholicism - (General mockery, representation of priests as homosexual paedophiles, queen spider controlling the religion)
• Scientology - (Do I need to elaborate?)

What's more, they've even depicted Muhammad before!! In the episode Super Best Friends. It boggles the mind that followers of a religion of love can be so hateful over something so mind-bogglingly ridiculous.

Re:Why is Islam special?

[Dunbal]

Hell, in the same episode they have a "Jesus", "Moses", "Krishna", "John Smith", "Lao Tze", etc. It's not like Mohammed was singled out.

Send your complaints to Comedy Central

[Henry Pate]

Questions and Comments form

Islam is dangerous.

[unity100]

If any of you have actually read koran, you will know - it is not only a religious text, intending to govern inner space of an individual. It is a fully laden constitution, complete with civil and criminal law. Everything, ranging from how to distribute inheritance to what 'rights' minorities can have in an islamic society, is tied to concrete rules there. Curiously, most of the rules contained therein are similar with hedjaz tribal customs and laws (particularly quraish tribe) from pro mohammad times.

However, because koran is the 'unchanged' word of god (so says islam), it is unobjectionable. Add to that the fact that islam based on koran is put forth as the only way to live for muslims in koran, it makes islam impossible to coexist with any other social system or law. This is the cause of the friction in countries that are not from middle east, have modern legislations, and muslim minorities.

Egyptian reformers tried to deal with these, tried to 'modernize' islam, and 'reinterpret' koran in the light of modern principles. Results were disastrous. Some of them were killed, some of them had to flee the country, and some of them had to shut up. The struggle continues even to this day. Because koran is put forth as unchanged word of god, it is impossible to find any excuse to reinterpret it. And because you cant reinterpret it, you cant make it compatible with modern principles and views.

And this creates the basis of power for islamism, ie the noticeable segment of muslim organizations that intend to create a one world sharia government. It is impossible to argue against them, because of the above issues.

Ironically, muslims also suffer oppression from this, because the direct interpretation of koran, well, comes up medieval. If you attempt to fully adhere to islam, numerous civil oppressions become inevitable, due to the rulings set in koran. However, mild muslims, a noticeable percentage of muslim population around the world, also cant argue against this, because it is set in koran, and koran is unchanged word of god.

Until these issues are solved, islam will be creating problems and not be able to fit in.

(any muslim slashdotters, please spare me the 'you dont know real islam' shit, i was a muslim once and i studied koran at length, with cross references to mohammad's hadith, unless many of so called muslims which use that bullshit excuse despite not having ever read koran once. so save it).

Re:Islam is dangerous.

[GooberToo]

However, because koran is the 'unchanged' word of god (so says islam)

Interestingly enough, we now have proof that isn't true. Islam maintains the Koran is as it always has been and that it is unchanged, literal transcription of Mohammed. That's why they condemn the Christian Bible and the Jewish Torah. Turns out, the Koran has been proved to be in flux as late as 160+ years AFTER Mohamed died.

Naturally Islam is claiming everything from blasphemy to the work of Satan. Some even claim the West created this Koran in question and planted it within the hidden set of text to be "discovered" again so as to discredit Islam and the Koran.

Oddly enough, if you take the Koran as literal truth, it is itself mandating you understand the Koran is not true. Makes me wonder how many people are likely to die in the future as more and more come to understand the book which open touts it is both the literal word and unchanging truth, has in fact been changed by man and remained in flux well after Mohammed's death; which is contrary to ALL Islamic teachings. Even worse, the Koran argues all text which has been changed by man has been corrupted by Satan; which is why they largely ignore the old testament and Torah despite being squarely rooted in it. In short, the Koran it self now argues the Koran is the work of Satan and can not be trusted any more than the Torah or the Old Testament.

Re:Islam is dangerous.

[QuantumG]

and? What's your call to action here?

Re:Islam is dangerous.

[Bemopolis]

Sounds like Islam is a lot like fundamental Christianity.

Re:Islam is dangerous.

[Bemopolis]

The fact that none of the authorsof the four Gospels were contemporaries of Jesus hasn't stopped fundamentalist Christian from accepting it as the unerrant word of God.

Re:Islam is dangerous.

[Locke2005]

If it is impossible to misinterpret the Koran, how come the Sunnis and Shiites disagree so violently with each other? Aren't they both reading the same exact Koran?

Re:Islam is dangerous.

[unity100]

first, awareness. 'tolerance' wont work with islam. second, politics. middle eastern countries should be pressurized to modernize islam and crack down on extremism. third, worldwide vigilance. there are already numerous islamist organizations which have grown more powerful than small countries and settled in numerous countries of the world.

Re:Islam is dangerous.

[unity100]

they are. but, in addition to koran, second tier of islam is mohammad's hadith, ie what he said. after that, his sunnet comes, which is the way he lived. the separations of sects in islam mainly start from that third point. some follow mohammad's life as example (sunnis) some dont. some follow his relatives (shiites). and so on. fundamentalism from koran remains same in all sects.

Re:Islam is dangerous.

[blackraven14250]

Christians recognize the writers as authors that knew the guy who was God's son. There's a big difference.

Re:Islam is dangerous.

[Anonymous Coward]

And The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy teaches one how to fly.

It's a book. Written by some guy. As all books are. It doesn't matter if it's the Bible, the Koran, or Adventures Of Lambchop.

If you read a book, any book, and devote your life to its tenets, without question or omission, you have disavowed what makes people diverse and creative. You have escalated an unnecessary struggle; that of individualism versus conformity.

If you want to believe that there is an omniscient entity, fine. If you want to believe that an alien landed in a volcano and is to be worshiped, fine. Even if you want to believe that one group of people is better than another group of people simply because of what they believe, great. But the minute you decide that I am a lesser person simply because I don't believe what you believe, then you have become too wrapped up in your own beliefs to offer anything of value to your fellow man. To denigrate, or threaten, another man for simply not falling into line with your own beliefs is short-sighted and selfish.

Live your life. Enjoy your life. But think for yourself. A book is a book. Written by some guy. Agree with him? Great. But if you're gonna threaten my non-intrusive existence because I might not, fuck you. I'd rather live a short, happy, free-will life than a long, pre-constructed life being controlled by a possibly misguided idea from thousands of years ago.

Wake up.

Re:Islam is dangerous.

[Bemopolis]

So, in a church it's called "the word of God Almighty"; in a court of law it's called "hearsay".

Lets censor the fundamentalists

[jonfr]

I am tired of this nonsense. I suggest that we start to censor the fundamentalists like they try to censor our free speech.

Good offence is the best defence in some cases.

He is

[unity100]

and he is right to be afraid. even egyptian reformers were killed, just because they proposed the possibility of maaaybe reinterpreting koran with today's principles.

No, they have not.

[khasim]

The terrorists only win when we lose the will to fight for our Freedoms.

If anything, this shows that Comedy Central has surrendered to terrorism.

But Matt and Trey are still fighting for Freedom of Speech.

Re:You don't say

[Rewind]

Well thats the old part. I am hardly a theology scholar, but I think (could be wrong) a lot of the stuff in the new testament was ment to invalidate the old stuff, like stoning. So if someone is doing it for Jebus then they should be likewise against that stuff. If they just follow the old testament then they aren't really Christains, but that would be some valid form of religion I guess.

Re:This will kill South Park

[Anonymous Coward]

But South park is written by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. It's family guy that is written by manatees.

Re:Religion: source of all evil

[MrHanky]

Perhaps not so much afraid of Islamist terrorists as of the dreaded -1, off topic, I suspect.

They won't back down to whacko Christian threats

[Shivetya]

and I am sure Jewish and Hindu would be ignored.

No, they backed down for two reasons. The radical Islamic groups are known to carry out their threats. The current trend in upper American government is to treat these loons with kid gloves all based on this idiot idea if we are nice to them they will be nice to us. The fact is they totally dictate to the media what the media can say. One or more of their kind makes a real threat but others "the supposedly peaceful side" claims that its not what it seems and that the people who dared to say something bad about Islam are the real problem. It works out so well and we read about it daily.

They fear them rightfully so but their reaction is still wrong. The reason this fear and threat can persist is because far too many leaders want to act magnanimous in declaring they will turn the other cheek. This is nothing more than the good old policies of liberal lore where certain races are predisposed to violence, theft, or just need help getting an education because they don't have the ability to do good on their own. Condescending through and through

Re:You don't say

[niko9]

I'm a gun toting American! I'm also a liberal, and an atheist, and I live in New York City. What exactly does "turning one's cheek" have to do with with carrying a firearm? You do realize that part in the bible about "turning cheeks" had to do with petty insults, right? You do realize that the overwhelming majority of _law abiding_ persons who own/carry firearms do so with the knowledge that they are only to be used only the event of IMMINENT FEAR OF DEATH AND/OR GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM. Even the disciples carried swords, you dimwit. With that said...

A paradoy of your deity might be considered a petty insult. This is the instance where you turn the other cheek. You don't go around killing people for this petty shit.

Re:Religion: source of all evil

[Pinky's Brain]

PS. not OP though.

Fight fire with fire.

[budfields]

I don't think the losers at "revolutionmuslim.com" have thought this through. Do they realize who they are messing with? They are messing with millions of geeks. If one hair on the head of Trey or Matt were touched after these powerless mockworthy little boys incited violence against them, their lives would be a husk.

It would be like those nature shows where tens of thousands of ants swarm over a hapless creature, take it apart and cart its lifeless body away.

I say, put up their personal info, just as they did to Trey and Matt. Put up their home address. Their business address. All their website info. Their relatives. Their license plates. Photos. The names of their friends. Their cell phone logs. Then, inform them that they will immediately commence to STFU, now, or their existence will become a hell the likes of which their holy book never informed them.

They need to feel just how outnumbered they are.

Re:Fight fire with fire.

[mrdoogee]

Th problem with 4chan and anonymous is that they are unpredictable. To use a metaphor, if the courts are a scalpel, and the army a broadsword, then 4chan is a rabid 3 legged badger with chronic flatulence.

Fake Controversy

[malv]

Revolution Muslim is a false-flag organization. Both the leaders are "supposide" Jewish converts. Here's an image of one of the leaders carrying a sign that misspells "Jews" as "Juice" (a Jew that can't spell 'Jew' correctly?)

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/12/death-to-the-ju.html [typepad.com]

The pair is often featured on CNN and Fox News. I don't even think they have any actual followers.

There is some information collected about the pair here:

http://catholicforum.fisheaters.com/index.php?topic=3427255.0 [fisheaters.com]

Re:You don't say

[Animaether]

Ask Japan what happens when you go suicidal on the US.

You get a few nukes dropped on you, scores of people die, then you move on with your life and build one of the most powerful and technologically advanced (albeit still suicidal) societies on Earth?

Sounds almost like a plan.

Why THIS time Muhammed ?

[RapmasterT]

Funny how no Muslims gave a crap that south Park already showed Muhammed in full face glory, and conversed with him during the Super Best Friends episode...but that was years before the Dutch cartoon crisis that made us all "sensitive". Frankly, the idea that Muslims are being portrayed as irrational, murderous, religious fanatics is more disturbing than any insult SP might offer. Muslims should be pissed that everyone thinks they'll flare up into terrorism at every sideways glance at their faith. or conversely, if Muslims really ARE that prone to murderous violence, that's kind of important to know too, and we should do something about it. yes, I am actually saying that if a group of people are one off color joke away from committing murder, we need to "do something" about them.

Re:Why THIS time Muhammed ?

[daver00]

Not to mention the fact that the super best friends episode is aired as a rerun frequently! The mental gymnastics required to reconcile that is making my head spin.

Re:You don't say

[GooberToo]

Sure, but by that same token, I seriously doubt the Koran explicitly advocates killing people indiscriminately.

It does not. It has very specific conditions which must be met to allow for the legal killing as defined by Islamic law. The problem has been, extremists, by far, stretch the conditions and ambiguity of some text to say that indiscriminate murder is demanded for anything and everything which isn't Islam.

In short, just as with any religion, you can basically divide people into two groups. Those who understand what it is they are reading and those who are fucktard, sock puppets void of any rational thought or ability to critically think for themselves.

In Islam, those who truly understand what it is they are reading, abhor violence and understand the Koran is very much against it. True followers of Islam are extremely peaceful and also accept both the Torah/Old Testament, as well as many of the Christian Gospels, as tenets of faith and articles to be read and understood. Its important to understand, Islam is entirely built on top of Judaism and Christianity. All three are considered to be religions of Abraham and worship the same god; be it Yahweh, God, or Allah.

Re:You don't say

[Aladrin]

And there are Muslims that I'm more afraid to be around than the 'gun-toting Americans' I went to school with.

What's your point?

(For record, I know what you were trying to say, and it's bullshit. There are crazies in every group. Just because some asshole said he wants to kill Muslims is no reason to brand all 'gun-toting Americans' as genocide-supporters.

Re:You don't say

[GNUALMAFUERTE]

That reminds me of Bill Hicks. He always said that there were always some crazy christians that would bother him after the show (specially in the south), and they would go:

"Buddy, come here" (pushing him) "Hey, come here (push)" then he would push away with his hand, while saying "come here .... not a physics major".

And then ...

  - We are christians, we don't like what you said
  - Then forgive me.

"Later, when i was hanging from the tree ..."

Re:You don't say

[Monkeedude1212]

It's easy to bash on Comedy Central when you aren't the one in danger.

Where is it written that innocent television broadcasters need to put their lives on the line to adhere to your ideals?

Re:You don't say

[Anonymous Psychopath]

When one is presented with contradictory instructions, one chooses the instruction that fits what one wants to do.

What a bunch of whining, gutless fucking pussies.

[helgihg]

Man, am I getting tired of muslims being offended. Hey, muslims, here's a news flash! WE'RE ALL OFFENDED! ALL THE TIME! People with half the guts of a mouse just live with it, and it's not rocket science, either. You just... live with it. It's really just that simple, and you're not beyond it. Get over yourselves, you whining, gutless, fucking pussies.

Re:You don't say

[Dishevel]

Yupppers. The Pope is a fucking pedo protector. We know this. I do not like the catholic church anyway. At least though they are not threatening to kill me because I mentioned it. To continue the fun.

"Fuck that Pedo The Prophet Muhammed!"

Re:You don't say

[Hurricane78]

Man, you sound like Cheney. When you aim south, somebody’s going to get shot in the north! ^^

Or in other words: You deserve an award for how much you miss the point. (And not a good award.)

Protip: There was a time when Christians acted like this. It’s called THE DARK AGES!
It was a desperate time. With crusades, inquisitions, but most of all, power-greedy dicks controlling people.
This is the exact same thing now. Only in the Muslim world.
It does not matter AT ALL, which “religion” it is.
Because religion really is a protective mechanism gone haywire, causing a delusional reality distortion. Which is then used by some real immoral assholes, to manipulate people, to do shit like this.

But your anger only fuels it even more. And I think you know this, and do it deliberately. Or at least should know it, if you want to call yourself educated and better.
What do you think you going to get, by acting like a dick and strengthening their disease even more?

Wanna know how to get them out of their delusion? The same thing as with schizophrenia: Offer them a better alternative, and let them keep their pride. Let them migrate to that better alternative, until they simply stop having the need for the delusion.
Then they naturally will stop caring for “Muhammed”.

Of course this is easier said than done. But I don’t see an alternative. Or do you really want to insult and kill disabled people? I couldn’t be that heartless. Because it would make me no betther than the mullahs or them.

Wanna know what I do when I meet a religious extremist?
I do a little nice gesture, that makes their life better, and causes them to instantly like me.
When I do it right, and give them some time, I can pull a joke on Muhammed, and they won’t hate me, but join in in it.
The little glimmer of hope that we’re actually nice people and will together make things good, is already enough.
Try it. And you may even make your enemies your allies. :)

The terrorists have won

[frovingslosh]

The terrorists made threats, and in response Comedy Central gave the terrorists what they wanted. The terrorists have won.

Don't play by Comedy Central / Islam's game...

[mmaniaci]

Put on your best eyepatch and let out a throaty AARRRGGGHHHHH: http://www.google.com/search?q=south+park+s14e06+torrent The SP team won't really lose anything if you download this episode. Comedy Central will lose profits and Muhammed will lose some spotlight, and both of those are great!

Re:Don't play by Comedy Central / Islam's game...

[k3vlar]

All I can find is the Comedy Central censored version!

Nice job, Comedy Central!

[divisionbyzero]

Now instead of offending a few million whacko muslim fanatics you've offended tens of millions of Americans! Brilliant!

Re:You don't say

[X0563511]

I have to say this (in dealing with customers from that part of the world via email/tickets) that you all seem to have an obsession with excessive punctuation.

What is with that?

No, really.

"This is what PAY YOU FOR!???!??????"

or "SERVER IS DOWN, PLEASE TO CHECK IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

None of our other foreign demographics seem to do that. They all have their own thing, but the Middle East is the only one that comes across as 13-year-old AOL users.

Flex your rights

[WilyCoder]

Trey and Matt should have Mohammed in every fucking episode they air from now on. I don't just mean in the intro to the show, I mean like a new character like one of the boys.

Let those censoring assholes fucking WORK to achieve censorship...

Yeah damnit

[Colin Smith]

. The current trend in upper American government is to treat these loons with kid gloves all based on this idiot idea if we are nice to them they will be nice to us.

You should go over there and bomb them into... Wait, didn't you do that already?

 

Re:You don't say

[outsider007]

Comedy Central != America. If it did Colbert would be president and Matt and Trey would be secretary of fart jokes.

Re:You don't say

[mundanetechnomancer]

how did you get sneakers out of IMMINENT FEAR OF DEATH AND/OR GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM?
but, logically, if someone wants to steal from you, they don't want to get caught. The quickest way to prevent pursuit is to injure those who would do so. I have never been robbed. But, if i were to be robbed, i have no reason to suspect that those who wish to have my things would want me to keep my health as well. Almost anyone who checks on a noise in the night carries a baseball bat, or some other melee weapon, just in case. but i'm suddenly a nut for carrying a gun to check it out instead? no one thinks twice about someone who practices martial arts, and could kill someone in the blink of an eye with the skill they have acquired, yet i'm suspect because i wish to carry a small gun?

Re:Ya well

[Sollord]

Give the troops the same ROE we used in WW2 or what the enemy uses and it will all over in a very short time. It takes a lot of money, time, and effort to not just level an entire city and kill everyone in it then move onto the next city and repeat. Winning an old fashion dirty war is easy compared to the politically correct clean "wars" we have to fight now. War is supposed to be hell on earth so the US hasn't fought a real dirty war since at least Vietnam if not Korea. The US military could wipe out the entire Middle East if they had the kill it all policy most liberal think it does because winning hearts and minds is a bitch of task even if it seems ot be mostly pointless in the end.

Re:You don't say

[Mr. Flibble]

Well thats the old part. I am hardly a theology scholar, but I think (could be wrong) a lot of the stuff in the new testament was ment to invalidate the old stuff, like stoning. So if someone is doing it for Jebus then they should be likewise against that stuff. If they just follow the old testament then they aren't really Christains, but that would be some valid form of religion I guess.

Maybe you should read that "new" part a little more closely:

  Matthew:

5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Here, Jesus is saying that he approves of the old laws (old testament), and that those laws are in place "Till heaven and earth pass". Or, as one might say "forever".

Re:You don't say

[joebagodonuts]

Bullshit. They DID sign up to let South Park offend everyone. They've made a killing giving South Park free reign. It's hypocritical as hell for them to suddenly do otherwise.

If it isn't OK, then it isn't OK - even if you will make a lot of money. That's my issue with this. If CC is going to make a decision that says "we don't want to offend" then apply that principle equally. But don't puss out because someone made a threat. Stand up for the principles you've stood by to this point; "We don't give a shit about sensibilities because it make us boatloads of money"

the fucking crazy thing is

[commodoresloat]

The guy in the bear suit wasn't even Muhammed. As became clear in episode 201, it was fucking Santa Claus. So these idiots who posted the threat on the website were essentially upset because Santa Claus was represented in a bear suit that a bunch of redheads had been tricked into believing was Muhammed. Just wrong on so many levels.

And by the way, the idiots who posted the threat really are just idiots posting on a website, not representative even of jihadist Muslims much less of mainstream or even "hardline" Muslims.

Re:the fucking crazy thing is

[Tim C]

The guy in the bear suit wasn't even Muhammed. As became clear in episode 201, it was fucking Santa Claus.

According to the report I read (though I'm having trouble finding it now), that was one of the changes that was made in light of the controversy.

Not that I'm defending them in any way, of course.

Re:the fucking crazy thing is

[omglolbah]

If they're so damn upset about an episode of southpark....

Do they really expect us to take them seriously when they respond with the kind of images used...?

If they expect to get away with something that close to a death threat they should just shut the fuck up about mohammad already...

This says it all:
http://www.omglolbah.net/ksh/pictures/random/farmville_mohammad.png

Inaccurate Summary

[dangitman]

last week's South Park (episode 200) depicted Muhammad, founder of Islam, concealed in a bear suit.

This is incorrect. It was actually Santa Claus in the bear costume.

thank you for your pessimism

[circletimessquare]

pessimism leads people to give up, and accept the unacceptable. pessimism is the ideology of slaves

luckily for the rest of us, pragmatists and optimists alike, your world view doesn't actually decide how the real world plays out. it defines the sad arc of your life, not my life. so step aside, give in to your ignorant helplessness and shut up, and let those of who think we can actually still make difference actually make a fucking difference

this is a job

[circletimessquare]

for anonymous

where are you hordes of slovenly /b/tards?

scientology was a dwarf. before you stands the goliath of muslim fundamentalism. take an aim and swing. i want images of muhammad every fucking where

do you what you do best oh great low iq hivemind

do it for the EPIC LULZ

UNLEASH THE MUHAMMAKRAKEN

NINE THOUSAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND ONE NIGHTS!!!!!!

force is lack of moral authority

[blueworm]

Any time force is threatened, the threatening party has lost moral authority. If you seek to affect moral change in somebody, then your own representation of your ideals should be enough to convince them.

Re:They won't back down to whacko Christian threat

[fermion]

Let's see about christians. Killing civilians at the holocaust museum. Killing civilians at the Atlanta Olympics. Killing children in Oklahoma. Enetering a church and shooting at children, killing others who are at church. Killing children in Waco. Killing Doctors in small towns. Torturing and killing minorities. Pickiting funerals expressing how glad they are the people are dead because god obviously wants them dead. Telling the public that it is god's will that thousands of men, women and children are dead.

I am sure that many will say that the persons who do these things aren't christian. But who are you to say? They say they are christian. When a self identified muslim kills someone, people are fast enough to implicate the entire faith of Islam, no one seems to think that these people are just wingnuts, rougue elements. But when a prominent member of the First Baptist Church in North Myrtle Beach threatens a elected leaders life, we do not condemn the entire congregation, or the baptist faith, we just assume that one member is a dangerous wingnut, and pray that she never has any authority.

I don't know why there is not more christian violence. I say more because there is a lot. For instance the kids who are going around killing immigrants. What is think is that we don't think about because most of is random. Very little of it is directed, you know, some wacko sending anthrax though the mail. Alot of it is just some good old boys thinking they start beating up on their fellow students, and then crying when the fellow students start beating back.

Re:They won't back down to whacko Christian threat

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you really want to start comparing the number of people murdered by "Muslims" to the number of people murdered by "Christians?" I guarantee you the Muslims have the higher body count - substantially. In fact, here's Islam's dirty little secret: most Muslims who die violently do so at the hands of *gasp* OTHER MUSLIMS. Stop trying to create some bizarre moral equivalence where none exists. Muslims are by definition violent. Their understanding of their religion hasn't evolved one iota since day 1.

Fuck Mohammed.

Fuck Allah.

Fuck those pig-fucking, clit-gouging, head-chopping, wife-beating Mudslums.

Re:You don't say

[Buelldozer]

So you've got a couple of Christian Crazies in your office talking about maybe doing something. Big fucking deal. Get back to me when they're chopping peoples heads off or murdering them for cartoons.

Oh, scared?

[Aphoxema]

Terrorists win.

Re:Harry Potter was right

[Aphoxema]

'Muhammed' is the new 'Voldemort'.

Shhh! We dare not speak his name!

You are very confused

[Sycraft-fu]

The problem with the situation in Iraq is that the US's goal was to occupy the country and bring about a peaceful democracy. That is a tough goal when the people don't want it and the army isn't designed for it. The US has never had an army of conquest, it is not an army with massive manpower needed to occupy a country. It is an army designed to kill effectively, something it does extremely well. You'll note that the Iraqi army was smashed in days, with next to no loss on the US side.

I'm not talking about going in and occupying countries, I'm talking about killing people. If radical country X attacks the US because their crazys don't like South Park, the US attacks them and wipes out the crazies. They don't stick around. The idea is deterrence and prevention, not nation building.

As a practical matter, that isn't likely to be necessary. If there are attacks it is probably just lone crazies. For that we have a competent criminal justice system. Ideally they are stopped before hand, with deadly force if necessary, and if you they are tried and imprisoned or executed.

Oh and have you had a look at the world economy? This down turn is not a US thing and is not related to military spending, but rather to the collapse of a bubble caused by rampant speculation, poor regulation, and odd financial products.

I don't care what your values are

[Sycraft-fu]

I'm not required to. However America's values (and my values) place freedom of speech extremely highly. It is the very top of the bill of rights. As such, in America it should be protected at nearly all costs, even if it pisses others off.

So if you live in a culture that doesn't like free speech, fine, I don't care. That's not my problem and we have NO reason at all to be "sensitive" about your culture. Especially when those cultures don't seem to be "sensitive" about ours.

Re:You don't say

[Keen Anthony]

I've met religious zealots before -- none Muslim, and what I learned from being open-minded to their beliefs and killing them with kindness so to speak, is that I often am regarded as one of the "good ones", an exception to an otherwise horrible lot of people that ought to be either put on an island somewhere or converted. To me, religious extremists are unreasonable, and you can only gain so much with them. You can never be one of them in their eyes. At best, you're a pet. Still, it's admirable to try, and it doesn't help to go provoking overly sensitive people.

On the other hand, perhaps OP is a dick, but going through life having to make special exceptions for Muslims is absolutely unreasonable. We are not bound by Muslim law in this part of the world, and we resist attempts to have our freedom of expression taken from us in order to please them. There is nothing special about the Muslim sensitivity that it deserves this treatment. I would say the same of other religious extremists too however, including various Christian groups.

your argument is backwards

[circletimessquare]

christians do violent things. ok. that implies what? that it is therefore ok that muslims do violent things?

the proper response is that when christians do violent things, we denounce them. and when muslims do violent things, we denounce them

your argument seems to be "because christians do violent things we can't criticize the muslims who do violent things"

bullshit. i condemn both. so stand with me and condemn these violent muslim fundamentalist assholes

Religion is dangerous

[Snaller]

All of it.

Tonight on Comedy Central

[Nidi62]

On Thursdays, Comedy Central usually shows Wed night's new episodes. They showed last night's episode of Ugly Americans, the newest episode. However, for South Park, they showed the Facebook one from two weeks ago. Not last night's, not the 200th episode, the 199th episode from 2 weeks ago that was not at all controversial.

lost my faith in educated USians

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't seem to quite express my sadness at the responses that pop up when stories like this hit. Especially from a broadly educated crowd, like /. attracts. But, I guess part of it is that nerds tend to be on the 'judging' end of the spectrum.

Look, criticizing Islam in the US today is NOTHING like criticizing Jesus. Since 9/11 it's practically national belief that all Arabs are Muslim, and all Muslims are Terrorists. YOU might not think that way (whilst pointing out all the flaws in Islam), but you won't have to work hard to find someone that does. You think what happened to Borat at the rodeo was a singular event? Get real. We live in a world of racial profiling, and ignorant assumptions. Look at the comments that are modded 'insightful' or 'informative' and you'll see a long list of 'Islam is evil/wrong/violent', which is unacceptable in this age. I truly feel sorry for people who live in our country having been raised with an Islamic belief system. The stories of community outrage/fear are depressingly numerous - all for what? Because there are people who have hijacked a religion and use it to exploit violence? That's unique to Islam? Tell that to your friendly community safe and legal abortion doctor. The US today is a country with a mob mentality against Islam, and a country where Jesus is absolutely EVERYWHERE - it's not a level playing field from the get go when it comes to satire.

Then there are all the blatantly racist comments referring to a group of savages that haven't had their Enlightenment. As though the average person gets to choose their religion. I'm an atheist, and I was raised in a semi-religious household, as I know that a massive number of people here on /. are, but the fact of the matter is that for most people religion is not about choice, but is a matter of birthright. Becoming a terrorist is a choice, but believing in Jesus over Muhommed is trained, and especially for large parts of humanity that live in abject poverty and have no opportunities for education and learning about differing cultures, it's nearly impossible to change one's religious belief because it is incorporated into life as fundamental fact and necessity. You think it's a coincidence that poor/uneducated are on average massively more committed to religion than wealthy/educated?

All this righteous indignation about a group of people that have a simple rule – we don't like images of our prophet? Are you kidding me? We can't even teach SCIENCE in public schools in this country because the fucking 'word of God as giving by the Holy Bible' doesn't support it (even if the damn Pope does!)! We murder people for lawfully giving women a choice on pregnancy, even when it's a fundamental issue of safety. We have a long history, up until only 50 years ago, of murdering people one at a time for having the wrong religion or race! You think it's dangerous to mock Islam (out of nothing but sanctimonious hostility thinly veiled behind censorship arguments)? Imagine being Jewish and traveling through Mississippi in 1940. Hell, the cast of Top Gear was attacked down there just a couple years ago!

Get off your fucking racist, and Muslim, high goddamn horses people. No one superstition has more rights than any other, but if you're going to pretend it's all equal and fair in this country, you're pretending we live in a more diverse and more balanced world than we do.

What I wrote in Comedy Central's comment box

[Chowderbags]

Censoring yourselves due to fear of violence is a quick way to the bottom. If any nutjobs can threaten you and you'll back down, you might as well just show Teletubbies all day (until someone complains of gay overtones, then you have to stick to static). Your network wants to think it's edgy by airing movies without bleeping a couple swears, but you can't even say one person's name. Just a name. That's it. All because there's some possibility that already unbalanced people (who probably already hate you anyway) will go off the deep end and commit violence? There's always the possibility that someone will commit violence against you, but you can't live in fear because of that. You can't hide your thoughts and hope that crazy people won't act crazy. You can't censor an idea just because someone might not like it. Because if you do, you'll just be giant fucking pussies waiting for the next person trying to fuck you.

Re:You don't say

[Keen Anthony]

Clearly you didn't get what he said. There's a difference between being a gun-toting American and a gun-toting American who's out preaching that the end is fucking nigh, hides his children, and then marches down main street with a gun in one hand and a bible in the other while threatening to water the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants and incidentally anyone else who doesn't agree with him. At some point, those particular gun-toting Americans begin to look awfully like the Taliban

Re:You don't say

[FliesLikeABrick]

Parent is incorrect -

Nowhere did CC or Trey/Parker say that the images of Cruise or Mohammed being censored were not part of the show. It was the *auditory* censorship that was added by CC prior to airing. I haven't seen anything to suggest that the CENSORED box over Mohammed and Cruise were not part of the episode itself (without that, the point of Cruise being censored would have been weaker). I'd love to be proven wrong on this, I really would - however everything I have seen indicates that only the aural censorship was imposed by CC, and that's what the official statements I've seen have said. The only places I've seen anything saying that the black boxes were added by CC were by posts like this and unauthoritative blogs by authors who may have been equally ill-informed. I see that the parent is saying CC may have censored Cruise as a joke - but I haven't seen anything to suggest CC did that, only the beeping/aural censoring.

Like I said, I'd love to see a statement or other proof to the contrary. Either way CC toppled on this way too easily and for no reason, that argument isn't damaged by this.

Re:They won't back down to whacko Christian threat

[zullnero]

Yes, yes, yes, Christians have bad people too. We get it. But that's not what this is about. It's about knee-jerk reactions to the very limited depiction of a holy figure in a cartoon. A holy figure that most people have no idea what he looks like anyway, so we basically have to put his name with an arrow pointing at the figure to tell who it might be.

If you want this to slip into a "well, Christians have bad people too" thing, South Park makes Jesus Christ a recurring character all the time. The number of protests against those episodes have been relatively limited. No attempts by Christian assassins have been reported on the lives of either Matt Stone nor Trey Parker. The Scientologists pretty much had the biggest tiff against South Park, and even that was more of a huff than a "march in the streets burning things in effigy" thing.

We all know there are bad people in all religions. But the point of this is about humorous depiction, and all religions in the world have had their figures depicted humorously at times. But only one religion seems to put out a death sentence on anyone who does it to their major figure, even though almost no one even knows exactly what he looked like and generally has to be drawn as a crude stereotype with his name pointed at him for anyone to know. Which is also really sad, and I don't mean that in a mocking way, in a lot of ways.

And

[mahadiga]

Muslims are brainwashed to believe that Islam is above the Nation.
For Hindus, Casteism is above the Nation.
Now Christian missionaries are brainwashing ppl like Brahmins did for Hindus.

Re:Jumped the Shark, anyway

[miffo.swe]

All they do nowadays is kicking in open doors. They wont dare taking on things like israeli lobbyism, afganistan, Iran, irak, palestine, south america, US foreign policy or anything even remotely sensitive. The greed that has put american factories in China making countless americans out of work just for very shortsighted profits isnt something i expect them to cover either.

Poking fun at radical muslims are about as courageous as telling a redneck nascar sucks and that jesus blows Hulk Hogan every night.

Re:You don't say

[Skreems]

Has anyone checked whether they just did it for comedic effect? It seems quite unlike them to censor long, preachy speeches. I mean hell, they air the rest of South Park...

Re:They won't back down to whacko Christian threat

[Skreems]

No attempts by Christian assassins have been reported on the lives of either Matt Stone nor Trey Parker.

I haven't seen any reports of attempts on their lives by Islamic assassins either, for whatever that's worth...

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

I AM FUCKING SICK OF THIS SHIT !!!!!

[thephydes]

yes I'm shouting. Who the fucking hell do these cunts think they are. Any minority ie less than 50% who think they can tell me what I can enjoy or laugh at can go and shove their fucking beliefs up their fucking arses - because that's where they belong - in a pile of shit, Fuck off religious nutters of any persuasion.

He should be killed every episode

[Shivetya]

in place of Kenny. It would be much fun to see the Simpsons help out, with Bart writing on the blackboard I will bleep out all spoken references to Mohamed

Re:You don't say

[mindmaster064]

It's not ethnic cleansing if they're trying to kill you, it's called self-defense! Stop giving these retards a home, and a forum. Shut 'em down. They can believe whatever they want until they start shaking their fists at folks.If we dropped one bomb every time one of these guys started threatening people I'm sure it'd stop really fast. They are doing it because >we are allowing it. You don't want to get taken out? Don't stand with the fist shaker. It's not about religion it's about their constant threats and terror campaigns.

Nooo, the censored version is great!

[UnFaNa]

It makes me sad to think that the beeped-out version is considered something to be angry about. I thought the beeps were great and actually made this "masterpiece" complete - if they are "real", even better, that gives it a special touch. I was laughing my ass of when I watched the conclusion in the end: "I learned something today *beeeeeeeee*". And I'm sure, I'm not the only one. Can't imagine whatever has been in place of the beeps would have been more fitting or funny. I know I didn't stop laughing before the first long beeping sound ended and I started again, when Jesus and Santa started "beeping". And it's just so extraordinarily ironic, we'll never know what we should have "learned" from those incidents due to the censorship (And that "Jesus" isn't allowed to talk about you-know-what - this theme has already be in the episode before). Is there anything more useful to learn than those circumstances in themselves? *g*

It's just so incredibly fitting. Wow. Maybe Parken & Stone are just angry because they didn't have the idea themselves or decided against it, while Comedy Central managed to do it by accident? Best episode ever ;). Whatever person did the censoring deserves a medal, even though I'm not entirely sure if for doing a great job by censoring the episode without ruining it or just for being too ignorant to look at his work again afterwards and think: "wait, that just made it even funnier maybe I should start over".

Re:You don't say

[Lillebo]

Where is it written that innocent television broadcasters need to put their lives on the line to adhere to your ideals?

"Innocent"? The very reason South Park has become successful is because of its controversial and offensive nature. By censoring the show they're betraying their audience.

Re:You don't say

[Jackie_Chan_Fan]

BILL HICKS IS A FUCKING GOD.

Right up there with Carlin, Pryor, Mooney, and Screaming Sammy :)

Fundamentalists are Fundamentalists

[wonkavader]

Fundamentalists are people who base their religion on an unmovable foundation: Generally this means a text which they believe to be 100% true.

So Christian fundamentalists believe that the bible is the word of God and thus 100% true (generally that bible is the KJB, since translations have essentially made Christian fundamentalism impossible without creating a fundamental text by fiat) are fundamentalists. Those that don't aren't. Those that say they are that don't believe some text is completely true are wrong about what they are. Those that do believe the text is 100% true but say "I'm not a fundamentalist" are deluding themselves.

If he says he's a fundamentalist, and he knows what that word means, then he's a fundamentalist. It doesn't have to mean a baby-killer. There are plenty of very nice fundamentalists in the world. (I find their take on reality a little annoying, but virtually all the fundies I know are very nice people who wouldn't dream of blowing anyone up.)

Fundies are deranged, yes, but we all are in some ways. Very, very few of them are dangerous.

The weird thing about being a fundie is that it seems like all religious texts contradict themselves any number of times (especially if you assume any particular 10 words means 100 words, and that the post-hoc analysis which expands the short text must be completely true) and yet, it must ALL be true, so they wind up having to come up with little intellectual dances to make the whole thing consistent.

Re:You don't say

[Mr. Flibble]

I'm sorry, I've yet to find the part in the Old Testament that says if I blow myself up on a train, I'll get 40 virgins to myself in heaven.

In the Bible, except for a few very specific instructions (generally involving attacking another nation), stoning occurs because of someone breaking the law. Period. You might not like the laws, but that's what it is: punishments internal to the Israelite nation. In the Koran, there are very specific instructions too, they just run along the lines of "kill all infidels".

I am sorry, I don't see the part where *I* mentioned the blowing up of oneself on a train or the 40 virgins at all...

The old testament does say that you should kill witches, kill fortune tellers, kill homosexuals, kill non-belivers, kill an entire town if one of their flock worships another god, kill women who are not virgins on their wedding night, kill members of any other religion...

I could provide links to you for all those examples, but I won't. I leave it as an exercise for you to study on your own.