SouthPark
OK, I have been a SouthPark fan since it started, sure there are some episodes I didn’t care for and such, but hey they can’t all be winners. It is a show that works on many levels from fart jokes to serious social commentary. Sometimes it is great just to sit back and laugh as they make fun of the character named Seaman and other times I want to hear them battle hot issues. the recent episodes 200 and 201 were great in this aspect. They were talking about our right to free speech and censorship and sure enough it was censored. They have dealt with this topic before, but this one dealt with Muhammed of the Muslim faith. A person who cannot be depicted and definitely not made fun of according to their faith. Well he has been depicted and people have been killed by extremists because of it. So in fear of reprisals comedy central censored this episode. Even though he had been on a previous episode and nothing happened. Comedy Central gave in to the demands of insane extremists threatening lives. I salute Matt and Trey for trying to create discussion about this topic. At the end of the episode Kyle does his closing speech where the moral is learned and the whole thing is bleeped out. I guess Muhammed’s name isn’t even mentioned at all, it however is about overcoming threats and intimidation from terrorists. I sure would like to hear it. Then of course a couple guys I work with talk about how we need to censor the speech of radical islamic speakers. I don’t think this is right either. Our founding fathers thought that was important enough to make the 1st amendment to the constitution. They then went on to state that “well, they are willing to kill people” I said they always talk about fighting for what they believe in. Maybe we should have some willing to fight for our side in the same way. I think that if I had some kind of terminal illness that I might take a few people with me, no innocent victims, just bad dudes. Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to that.
