In the San Antonio Express editor Jonathan Guwitz goes into the fall out of the recent south park episode debacle. I agree with Jonathan on this issue why should Islamic faith be set apart from being made fun of? or certain historical sites destroyed. South Park has taken shot’s at every religion, political and entertainment figures and twisted it into their very own humor. With the recent episode of the prophet Muhammad in a teddy bear suit that later revealed Santa clause along with Muhammad being bleeped out whenever the name was said.
This was a decision made by the upper executives before the showed aired. They came under fire again two years ago with the same issue. They were going to show the prophet again in an episode of South Park, mocking fellow it’s fellow rival show family guy.
The two show’s creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker were receiving death threats from a Muslim extremist group tjhat was based in of all places New York city. Jonathan also explains that director Roland Emmrich in the movie 2012 destroyed every religious site except the Kabba in Mecca. To me I just don’t under stand your going to destroy the Jesus statue on Rio de Janero and the Vatican and all kinds of religious architecture but can’ destroy the Kabba cause of the respect for the Muslim faith.
I just don’t get it I thought this country was based on freedom of expression and religion. You don’t see catholic priests threaten to throw down in a street fight after they are mocked in the south park episodes. You don’t see Mormons burning down houses in getting made fun of, or celebrities boycotting episodes they are in. I thought this nation was brought up into Freedom of speech that you could say what ever is on your mind or express it. Why do these religions get the free pass from being the stage of comedy? I know their religions are highly spiritual.
Fellow comedy central employee John Stewart backed his two South Park brethren on the episode and criticized Comedy Central’s actions and believed they should of just rolled with it. Bill Maher also gave his support for the two writers as well on his show real time. He states, “it’s a cartoon” and goes on to state the facts of comedy and religion. I guess we as American’s learn to laugh and move on. I think a nation with no humor is one scary thought if you can’t laugh about it.
The title of this blog post borrows from the title of a record by west coast hip-hop pioneer Ice T. The album came to mind after reading a post on the Lone Star Political chat where the author seems confused by the recent censoring of a South Park episode. Executives of the network, Comedy Central, chose to either leave out scenes or “bleep” out material that was deemed offensive to Muslims. He wonders why Muslims are allowed special privilege to prohibit others right to free speech and, more specifically, not be made the subject of what he would deem as comical.
ReplyDeleteAs hip hop has been the target of many conservative Christian groups throughout its history, I think a few comparative examples may give us some insight on to the true reasons for the incident and also look into the practice of free speech more in depth.
Hip hops first instances of censorship stemmed from an outspoken resistance to police brutality in black communities. N.W.A.’s “F tha Police” and Ice T’s “Cop Killer” resulted in the banning of records being played on popular radio or their videos from being shown on MTV. Record executive Eazy –E even received a letter from the F.B.I. requesting that the group discontinue performing the song. Later, Tupac Shakur was accosted by vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle and the 2 Live Crew’s album, “As Nasty As They Wanna Be” was actually banned in Florida. Christian groups throughout the country fueled these actions. Although the banning was deemed unconstitutional and freedom of speech was upheld, one can easily see that any group can bring their special brand of sensitivities to any subject.
With freedom of speech firmly established in hip-hop and the ability to say whatever one wants, listening to The Notorious B.I.G.’s album “Ready to Die”, demonstrates where freedom of speech is not seen as the issue. In the song, “Juicy”, Biggie Smalls raps “Time to get paid, blow up like the World Trade”, where “blowing up” is a reference to achieving wealth and success. The song was released in late 1993 during the first World Trade center bombing.
Fast forward to post 9/11 America, circa 2002. Jay-Z, using the same song in his album mutes out “like the World Trade”. In acknowledgment of the sensitivity that many Americans felt about 9/11, he chooses to bypass his constitutional right to free speech. Being aware of the social and political climate of the day, to avoid difficulties in business dealings, he decided to be respectful of something that could have negative effects on some if his listeners.
To say that Muslims are being catered to by the executive decision ignores the infamous “Jew me, Kike me” incident by Michael Jackson. Out of sensitivity and respect, Mr. Jackson re-recorded the song without the offensive lyrics.
A business being sensitive to their varied customer’s lifestyles is nothing new. Comedy Central, avoiding the type of negative publicity that could have resulted from this episode being aired uncensored and not offending Muslim watchers of the network (like me) may have been the best business decision. As an executive, one has to consider what is going to be profitable and what battles to fight. I do not believe this was so much a free speech issue, rather a being aware of the climate of the times.
Ironically, South Park aired an episode that declared AIDS was funny after 23 years. They seemed to understand timing and sensitivity then. Well, as the saying goes, in comedy, timing is everything.