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2182136 Responseshttp://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/south-park-off-the-hook/South+Park...off+the+hook%3F2010-04-23+04%3A54%3A44Sam+Richards to South Park…off the hook?
This whole issue, while upsetting, does not come as a shock to me. It is people like these extremists who threatened the writers that give the rest of the Muslims bad name. As many people said in previous posts, South Park likes to push the buttons of every issue out there. There lovely show on “gingerism” is the only reason that people make fun of me for my hair color, which I happen to love. I still love South Park, and they will always continue to make fun of every religion, political issue, person, etc, that they can. I just do not see how two writers should deserve to die because they made fun of a god. How does the airing of the show affect anyone’s relationship with their god, if they have a problem with it, then do not watch it. Obviously, I am not a Muslim so the whole image of Mohammad thing just seems absurd to me.
The Muslim groups responsible for ridiculing the South Park episodes are guilty of hypocrisy to the “n”th dimension. They immediately labeled Matt and Trey (South Park creators) as bad people for their attempt on humor and then proceed to threaten their lives. This seems like a bit of a paradox to me. My opinion is that the show is purely for entertainment. You can watch if you want and laugh at it or hate it. Or you can turn the channel and be a South Park hater. Many people have disagreed with messages the show has sent in the past, yet they still love others. The point is, it is completely up to you whether or not you watch it and/or let it get to you in a negative way. The show is a satire. So you have to have a decent base of knowledge pertaining to current events to understand certain episodes. The past two South Park shows delved into censorship issues. This then involved censoring Muhammad, an obvious reference to the Muhammad cartoons of the past. Now, I have to be honest: not much, if anything, truly offends me. Sure, some jokes may hurt my feelings or may be uncalled for in myopinion, but not much really bothers me to the point where I would consider taking vindictive action. Not only did numerous Muslim groups consider taking vindictive action, but this response involves death threats. And this is all over a joke TV show! It is just a shame that people cannot let their guards down enough for even 30 minutes not to be upset over the most ridiculous of affairs. It only upholds my pessimistic yet terribly true view of society that, “It’s always something.” You cannot make everyone happy of course, but it seems like more people are always pissed off than even somewhat content. South Park may go too far. But then again, what is too far? They cleverly craft whatever views of individuals/society into a strategy of free speech presentation to the audience. Therefore, they are legally covered. This does not spare them the disapproval of many critics at home (and apparently death threats from radical Muslims) but they will continue to do it. Because their goal is to push people’s buttons, and they do an amazing job at it. But they are not trying to harm anyone. They are trying to make us laugh. I just wish people would accept it as that much. And I am not expecting all Muslims to laugh at these past two episodes. Disagree with it all you want. But calm down just a bit and do not take it as Americans hating on your religion or mocking your culture. It has nothing to do with that. It was just two episodes of a cartoon TV show that probably went a bit too far in some people’s eyes.
I think this question goes along with the question Sam asked us all in class: when is a joke considered to have gone too far? I must admit that I am not a frequent viewer of South Park but from viewing other shows like Family Guy, I think I have a fairly good idea of the style of comic material the writers use. The images they portray seem to poke fun at every group you can find. Shows make fun of religion, sexual orientation, politics, and so on, all the time. I used to watch Family Guy pretty often in the past. Family Guy features the cartoon characters of God and Jesus in several episodes. I must say that I really did not find those parts of the show in the past funny. I mean, I was not totally against the show, but I do think the writers sometimes pushed things too far. I can understand why people of any certain group that was mocked by these shows would get mad. Although a lot of people may think it is wrong for writers to use this type of comedy, I guess they do have the right to express their opinions. I think that it all ties in the freedom of speech and expression and etc… The writers are free to create whatever they want. I guess they just have to deal with the consequences of their actions. I mean, when the South Park writers decided to create a part of the episode making fun of Muslims, they had to have known that someone was going to fire back at them. Getting back to the “when has a joke gone too far.” I used listen to people make offhand jokes about certain groups and not think anything of it. I mean I knew I was not they were my friends and I knew these people pretty well, so I thought there was nothing wrong with it. After having been through Soc 119, I have completely changed. I have realized that I do not think my friends were justified in saying jokes like that, even if they weren’t being serious. I now have no urge to create such jokes, however, now when I do hear people say such jokes, I tell them to please stop and explain why it is offensive and wrong. I can understand why some people do it though. I feel like when you are with people you know well, you might be more likely to say some sort of joke about a certain group. At that point, you don’t view the joke as going too far unless someone objects. I think a lot of people think a joke has gone too far when a person says a joke in public, offending many people. Although in your own little group of friends you may not be offending that group targeted by the joke, I feel that it is the same as telling the joke in public. What you say is what you say…it doesn’t really matter the context of the situation.
South Park has always bee on the border of controversial episodes and jokes. They have a reputation for poking fun at the topics that everyone else is afraid to even consider talking about. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have always been on the hot seat. They produced a “scientology” episode in which they lost an actor (chef) because of their offensive position regarding the topic. They ridiculed the leaders of the organization of scientology and the beliefs and doctrines as well. They have also had the media on their back when the touched the controversial topic of assisted suicide; something that Jack Kevorkian was imprisoned for committing. South park had also Taken the stand against terrorism when they released Imagination Land episodes and movies where they had a Suicide Bomber blow up the scene of all the imaginations of our world. Another memorable episode was the “shit” count episode where they dropped the s word 162 times in 28 minutes. They received negative remarks from the LGBT community when they had the same-sex gay bashing episode with Big Gay Al. The latest of the controversial topics occurred April 21 2010 when the studio decided to depict Muhammad in an episode.
The episode received many threats from Islamic terrorist groups to censor the show. And although Trey Parker and Matt Stone did not want to comply, the network took the upper hand and made censorship in response to the terroristic threats that they had received on the masses. The studio even bleeped out the name “Muhammad” every time it was said in order to not offend the Islam People. However, this isn’t the only time that the creators have decided to include the islam prophet in their show. In the past they have proposed to show the prophet and have receive the same threats. They ended up putting Muhammad in a Bear costume to avoid the threats that they had received from islam activists.
I find that the entire idea of not depicting the prophet is far’fetched however I can not be one to judge nor criticize since I have no involvement with the religion. But the idea that everyone on the planet has to abide by the rules of your holy book is ignorant in my mind. No islam should depict the prophet but why does that have to aply to the atheists. You want to talk about forcing your religion on others, the Islamic world is doing so when they prevent others from depicting what they do not believe in. It is a hot and heated topic so it will always grow tension and I know one day that someone is going t make the mistake of not censoring and there will be retaliation.
South Park is a satire of our society. It is meant to offend people so I don’t understand why people are making this an issue. There are other shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy that also satirize current events, but South Park is by far the best one. The way the writers of the show incorporate hot button issues into the lives of four fourth graders makes it impossible not to find the humor behind the jokes. I didn’t watch the video so I don’t know what episode in particular is behind all of the controversy, but I have seen all but the most recent episodes of this season so I can guess that almost all of them have to some degree pissed someone off. I saw on Fox News that the episode with Muhammad being represented as a mascot was causing some problems. I think it is funny that people get offended by cartoons, they are the best way for people to express criticism of an emotionally charged topic in a funny way because the cartoons can say whatever they want and get away with it but if south park was a sitcom they couldn’t get away with half of the shit they do.
This is biased because I am personally a big fan of south park. I like that they try to push the buttons of people in the public eye. A lot of what they do on the show is just take a real issue and change some of the details so that they can make it possible to have a bunch of fourth graders make fun of it. This show has been around for awhile, I think this is the fourteenth season or something, and it has always been edgy and pushing the envelope and providing a funny commentary of current issues and events.
The biggest aspect of this story is the absolute rediculousness that is being seen with this episode. The fact of the matter is that every single person, be it race, religion, celebrity status has been made fun of when it comes to South Park. The fact that something has become that upsetting is amazing. The toughest thing about this aspect is the idea that people in the world will threaten to kill based on the idea that an image of their god is shown is absurd. I understand the quality of religion and i understand how important it is to some people, but the idea that it is so important that you would kill in the name of it is over the top. The fact that the mere image of their god is what is so upsetting to them should be made fun of. In fact, I am glad that Matt Stone and Trey Parker attack this with good humor, and I was upset with the way that Comedy Central handled the situation. The fact that they had to censor not only the image, but the word as well? Also, they had to bleep out the entire speech at the end, which was rumored to be a speech about over coming your fears and facing the world as it is. Comedy Central bleeped it out because they were scared of it being connected too much to the situation was an example of just how scared the world is. The fact is that South Park was trying to send a message in this episode especially with the speech. But the world was not able to hear this because of the fear that Comedy Central showed.. it was an embarassment. This is nothing that should ever be so scared of. The world these days is too afraid of something that is just a threat… The fact that we show fear is almost worse than showing defeat. It shows that we have no belief in our freedom of speech, our freedom to saw what we want. This country was born on the ability to say your opinions and to express them however you so chose. With South Park, they choose to show their opinions through humor, and they are being shut down.
I think that this situation is pretty ridiculous. I really do not understand the Muslim's groups calling for the death of the creators of South Park. Its funny that they not only call for the death of the creators, but they also say that they hope that the creators burn in hell. Well, maybe these Muslims are the ones who should burn in hell. After all, they are calling for people to be killed. These people only undermine themselves by making outrageous statements like this. Its too bad that they cannot look in the mirror and see that they are really the bad ones in this situation.
The writers of South Park attempt to point out things that are ridiculous in the world and poke fun at people, especially those who are overly sensitive. Many people have gotten upset at their depiction in South Park episodes but it is not necessary every threaten some one's life. It is also important to note that no one has every threatened to kill the writers of South Park because of how they were depicted. So why have Muslims constantly had image problems with people who thought they were overly radical? Its situations like this where the radicals overreact and threaten to kill. This is a cartoon, not anything that has to deal with real life. Who could possibly get this angry over an off the wall television show?
Although these people make me really angry, I guess that I can look at it from their point of view and see why they could be angry. I do not at all agree with killing the creators of South Park, but I can understand their anger. Some people really have a deep belief in things whether it just be opinions or if it is faith. If someone has a deep belief that their religious idol can never be depicted as a cartoon. People who are deeply rooted in their beliefs have a reason to be angry about the South Park creators depicting him as a cartoon if it is truly what they believe in. Maybe it is important that I live in the United States and that I understand what South Park is really like. I guess that I can see that everything is a joke and I have seen the show many times and I know what the writers' goals are. From afar, it may seem like the writers' of South Park are attacking the Muslim community and the show may seem dangerous. But at some point these people need to open up to the modern world and accept that people have the right to say and do what they want. So hopefully, the Muslims who are angry about this situation recognize that this is a joke and change their opinions on South Park and its creators.
I really do not understand why this is such a big deal. South Park, Family Guy, The Simpsons, they all make fun of pretty much every topic. Religion, celebrities, republicans, democrats, it's all fair game. I know Family Guy and South Park especially make fun of christianity. In South Park, Jesus was part of "Imagination Land" for crying out loud. And priests brought little boys as pets to satan's halloween party. If you think that they didn't get backlash from Christians for that then you're crazy. It's just that when a Muslim group makes a threatening comment that people jump to the violent Muslim stereotype. The fact that this group is actually this upset about it is pathetic, but do we really think that people are going to get hurt over a South Park episode? Tom Cruise hasn't come out and threatened the people from South Park, neither has Kanye West. In this politically correct age it's these comedy shows that really have had free reign so far. I was actually surprised that they decided to censor it after the threat. These guys have done some pretty (debatably) offensive stuff over the years, but one threat from a radical group I guess would shake my boots a little too. It's just a shame that people cannot partake in the comedic side of things like that anymore. Half, if not more, of comedy is making fun of someone. Sometimes that's someone who nobody likes, sometimes it's someone who everyone likes. Either way, most of the time the people poking fun really have no issue with the topic, they're just making entertainment. Unfortunately now I suspect that more South Park episodes will come into question because now people know they can challenge the leaders over at Comedy Central. I'm definitely more liberal on the subject, so I don't think that there should be so much censorship on t.v. I think movies and shows shouldn't have to be edited so much for content, whether it be language, violence, etc. But I guess when it comes down to it it's not worth having social upheaval just because someone has to take something so seriously. Maybe all of this is just because we're still relatively young. I would hope that my views don't radically change when I get out into the "real world," but maybe that change is inevitable. I know both my parents hate South Park, as do a large majority I would imagine. I think that our generation is going to have a completely different outlook on things when we hit our thirties and forties. Hopefully by then we won't have something as harmless as this come back to bite us by then. Maybe that's too much to ask.
We were just discussing this topic in my religion class the other day. I had not heard about this incident and was in no way surprised that the writers for South Park had chosen to write an episode making fun of Muhammad. This show has made fun of everyone under the sun, including Jesus. It seems to me that the issue here is that the perpetrators may not be able to handle a joke like everyone else that has been made fun of by South park has been able to. I can understand why this may be upsetting but it is in no means a just reason to threaten someone’s life.
The controversy with South Park is nothing new to our society or the media. South Park has been on since i was a kid. I remember my parents would not let me and my siblings watch it, and we would sneak and watch it any way. Obviously the show is very offensive, but one thing about the show is that it does not target a specific thing. The show is completely offensive to everyone. It is not meant for people to be offended its more meant for people to laugh at themselves and at others. This show is just like any other show that does things like make fun of different religions, races, etc. Its similar to Family guy, Simpsons, and other comedy central shows. I don't think that it is any different than a comedian saying offensive (yet funny) jokes about certain things. I think the controversy needs to stop because it is just meant to be a joke, not meant to piss people off. I don't have much knowledge on what is going on right now with all of this controversy, but i think to hear that there is even the slightest bit is a little ridiculous. Me and other people that i know who watch shows like this only watch them because of the humor, not because we think everything in the show is true and we believe it. If that was the case i am sure that a lot more people would be mad about this show than there are. The show makes fun of everyone, and if you do not know that then you obviously don't watch the show and you would never understand that. This show is not meant to target anyone in particular, and that is what people need to understand. The show targets everyone, and is meant to be funny, that's all. The creators of this show even offend themselves, they have to! They literally have made fun of every religious figure, race, person, and anything that you can think of on this show. I have seen episodes you can't even imagine the things that this show comes up with. It is clearly just a big joke. I am more of a family guy kind of girl, but even this show is EXTREMELY "offensive". Bottom line is if you do not have the personality to take humor or to take jokes than you probably shouldn't watch any of these types of cartoons, or even comedy central at all. The people who are offended should really think about being offended because they need to take a freakin joke. It is not that serious, and honestly if we make it that serious then we need to cut off a lot of other shows on the air as well. I do not think children should be watching these shows, but for adults i think that it is just all humor.
I hate everyone, okay I take it back. But I hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet… your all idiots. I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say.
I am a huge southpark fan, even though I am jewish and there is a quota of 2 jewish jokes per episode. family guy, american dad, all sorts of stupid shows like this are exactly the same, they all make fun of minorities and even the majority just to be funny, get over it people … but i really really hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet… your all idiots. I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say.
i didnt go to class for this… or maybe I did and just wasn't paying attention, but I think that sam richards couldnt handle this kind of humor. he is all talk when it comes to these kinds of things. He is always contradicting himself when it comes to this kind of stuff. I cant even think of any more words to write here, im just gonna copy and paste what i already said
everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet… your all idiots. I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say.
I am a huge southpark fan, even though I am jewish and there is a quota of 2 jewish jokes per episode. family guy, american dad, all sorts of stupid shows like this are exactly the same, they all make fun of minorities and even the majority just to be funny, get over it people … but i really really hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet… your all idiots. I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say. but i really really hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet… your all idiots. I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say.
For those of you that are not familiar with the show South Park, it is a show that likes to make fun of very controversial issues. The main characters are even controversial. There is the overweight child who all the children make fun of for his size. There is the poor child, Kenny, who they always choose to make fun of for his poverty, and kill off (showing his life is worth less than the others). There is the Jewish boy who they always make fun of for being cheap. There is also a handicap child who they make fun of, and countless other politically incorrect personalities.
Having watched this show for many years, I personally have not found any of the episodes particularly offensive. I think the reason for this is because they do not eave any racial or political group untouched. They are equal opportunity racists. When they make fun of my religious group, I understand that it is only in good fun, because if I can laugh about they making fun of other people, then I should be able to laugh about them making fun of my group as well.
The reason that this show even has a following is because it is so risqué and also has a lot of truth and fact behind what they say. Of course much of what they say is highly exaggerated to make it humorous, but still, it is very intelligent. In my opinion I do not believe that any group should be mad at them, because they have made fun of everyone. If this show were to be politically correct, then no one would watch it.
In the flip cam question it was said that now certain groups have made threats on the lives of the writers of South Park. The people who made these threats may be upset, but need to understand that killing someone because they made fun of them using a hand drawn cartoon is not grounds for punishment by death. Yes, I understand that their prophet is holy, and they don’t want him to be made fun of, but they are not doing it to personally offend people, they are doing it to get a response out of people, and ultimately make controversial Television.
The reason why such a racists and politically incorrect show has had such success for such a long time, is that there is not topic that is off limits, there is no group that is left un-picked on, and there is no digression to who will be offended. This show just takes current topics and exaggerated them to make a humorous story. People need to take the show for what it is and stop being so sensitive. This show is made in good fun, and its writers should not be killed for speaking their mind. This show is not made with evil intentions; it is simply made to make people laugh.
I think what people like most about south park is that they are not afraid to cross the boundaries that a lot of society likes to try to constrain us to. I don’t think that its that big of a deal because they make fun of EVERYONE and EVERYTHING, but I can see from their point of view that they would be mad. Think about it-they don’t watch south park, im sure they just saw a clip from the internet and got upset about it. They probably don’t understand what south park is all about-it was like the class where we looked at thing from another perspective. Its all about the eye of the beholder.
South Park pokes fun at everything. I have heard about these Muslim groups being offended by the remarks they made regarding Muhammad, but they have not been the only religion to make fun of, and definitely not the only culture. Just off the top of my head I can think of so many different issues that have suffered the scrutiny of South Park and hate hearing about how whenever they attack someone other than the common American people get offended. The point is they are going to attack everyone on that show, and only mean it as humor. People need to stop taking everything as a personal attack, and when it is their turn to get ridiculed, ignore the show if you don’t want to hear it and laugh at the next one. South Park has brought over 10 seasons of laughter to us, and I really hope they don’t change a thing.
I think that the South Park episode was a cry for attention from the South Park creators. I think that by calling out all of these religions, they expected that eventually they would offend a group enough to create a riff that they would be noted for. I believe that the episode also was trying to be a bit socially aware by making some connections between the celebrities and their respective religions that could be poked fun at, but I believe that they also failed in regard to that. Overall, I think that the Mohammed mention was just for attention and that overall it was a horrible episode.
Much of the same parody goes on in South Park as other television programming whether it’s comedy skits or even recent movies like Borat. First off parodies like these most of the time are meant to actually expose the issue we deal with in society and not to promote racism. I think most of the people who watch these programs understand that. South Park is definitely a show that walks that line but it has an ingenious aspect to it in which it really in the end always tries to send the viewer a message about how the media and society perceive such touchy issues. As far as the issue of Mohammad goes, South Park has made fun of other religions countless times and it doesn’t seem racist to me that he would poke fun at Mohammad related to Islam. Remember these television shows are a lot of times trying to expose these issues and not promote them in a racist way.
I think that any person that watches South Park, or at least is somewhat familiar with it they know and understand that the writers of the show really love to push viewers’ buttons. I’ve seen the show and they pretty much poke fun at every religion, culture, and whatever currently is going on in the world. I’m not saying that it is always right, but they do find a way to push buttons to really make people think about the issues. If the show is offensive to you then do not watch it. The girl said that Muslim people were upset because they writers of South Park poked fun at Mohammed. But honestly, they have poked fun at just about everything. I’ve seen numerous episodes where they have poked fun of Jews and even had Jesus in the show. Literally the how has poked fun at everything, celebrities, presidents. I remember they made an episode about Tom Cruise being gay. They just take current stories and show, in a funny, but kind of crude way, the way this story is impacting society. I actually think it is annoying that this is continuing to be a controversy. South Park had been making fun of religions for years. Now all of a sudden it is a big deal. I think people should just relax. Like I said if it bothers you, just do not watch it and if you kind find the humor in it, then by all means go ahead and enjoy it. It is silly to get all worked up over one issue in the show. I’m sure billions of people have been offended by the show. It targets just about everyone and everything, so there is no need to take it personally. It was their own choice to turn on the show. And I’m willing to bet that if you are purposely turning the show on you are bound to know what the show normally consists of. It is almost like…okay fine go ahead and make fun of other religions, but when it is mine you better watch out. Now how is that fair? It’s not. I think these people need to lighten up and just enjoy the crude humor on the how. I think the exaggerated way the writers express current events is hysterical. Society is being a little too sensitive in my opinion. People are always so serious. I think it is important to be able to laugh at yourself and other things going on in life. If you take everything too seriously, how are you supposed to have fun and enjoy yourself? South Park was just poking fun at another religion like it ALWAYS has, so just enjoy the episodes or don’t watch them.
I have been watching South Park since it began. The whole point of the show is to poke fun at issues and controversies in our uptight culture. People need to relax on taking everything so literal. It is a cartoon mind you. The character of Chef played by Isaac Hayes was a scientology follower. The episode that they made fun of scientology on made him quit. Mind you he had fun for ten years poking fun at every other religion and person in the world, but when it came close to his beliefs he could not handle it. This is the same as that muslim kid who threatened the creators lives. It is all fun and games until you push the wrong buttons. People need to relax over what is said in a cartoon and realize that they need to lighten up. Yes they sometimes go very far to make a joke but people get over it, it is not real.
South Park brings up alot of controversial topics that alot of people are afraid to address their opinions on. The show is similar in a way to Family Guy or Dave Chapelle… bringing up true situations and portraying it through comedy so that everyone enjoys it and everyone understands it. Do I believe South Park can be racist sometimes? Yes. However, you only consider someone to be racist when they discriminate against a certain race and they consider their "own race" to be higher than everyone elses. South Park isn't racist as a whole because it adresses EVERYBODY. From Muslim groups to Gay/Lesbian outbreaks, even to recent celebrity news. I remember one episode of South Park where Kanye West was called a "gay fish stick" recently after he interuppted Taylor Swift. Someone posted on here a recent episode of Tom Cruise being jabbed at in South Park as well. Although it may be distasteful at times, I believe its fair because South Park addresses everything.
Towards the Muslism Extremists threat, I'm not really sure what to say. I haven't seen the episode where they spoke about Mohammed, so I'm not sure where to speak on this. However, I will say that, unless someone has taken a life from my family or friends, then I would not feel motivated to take someone elses life. I actually don't know another situation that anyone can feel to killing someone, but then again I can't say that I can place myself in an extremist's [any extremist, not just Muslim] shoes. I feel like since that specific groups does not watch South Park on a regular basis like others do, so they wouldn't understand it. At first instance, they see it, and the thought process goes "You're offending my creator in a derogatory way, I feel inclined to take your life". However, someone like me watching the show on a regular basis says "They said that? I'm not suprised".
Now, I'm not saying that since a show has a history of saying derogatory comments that we must "deal with it" and they can do whatever they want. This show been on for years; I remember watching it in 6th grade, and I'm 22 now. They had an episode of Jesus fighting Satan and Jesus whooping Satan's behind. This show address all aspects of life and culture, whether controversal or just pure comedy.
I think this situation would be a lot less of a big deal if people understood that shows like South Park, Family Guy and the Simpsons do this kind of thing all the time. The fact is, they make fun of EVERYTHING. Family Guy in particular makes fun of every religion, political party, and famous celebrity. In particular, Family Guy has had whole episodes making fun of both Judaism and Christianity. If people keep that in the back of their minds when watching episodes like the Muhammad one on South Park, there would not be this hysteria. Personally I can be a sensitive person, but I love Family Guy (I haven't watched much South Park) and appreciate 98% of their jokes.
I haven't watched this specific South Park episode, but I've watched the show in the past and therefore know that it can be insulting and controversial at times. Yet, I think that they have made fun of many different groups of people in the show and have not focused on one group. The show wasn't created to target and ridicule one group of individuals. Also, although the show can be crude at times, most people who watch it know that and therefore could chose to not watch it. I don't support shows making racial remarks, however I have to support that freedom of speech should allow them to, just as people's freedom allows them not to watch it.
These Muslim radicals who are making threats need to take a step back and realize how stupid they look. This cartoon that they are getting all worked up over makes fun of every possible thing someone can make fun of. Jesus and God are made fun of all the time in that show and you don't see Christians threatening the South Park creators. It pisses me off when people find the smallest things to complain about because there are bigger problems in this world. So quit being little bitches about it and get over the fact that not everyone takes life as seriously as you do.
I have not seen this episode that the person in the video talks about, but I have seen a south park episode that portrayed the image of Muhammad, and he just looked like a person of Middle Eastern descent. I do not know why this caused such an uproar, there are depictions of Jesus all over. I think it’s funny that the terrorist group threatened the creators of South Park, because in reality nothing is going to happen to them, and I would encourage them to keep pissing off the terrorist groups because I think its funny to see them annoyed.
This is yet another awesome question. Personally, I'm a big fan of South Park and shows like Family Guy etc. Part of it is because they talk about everything, even the most sensitive issues, so openly. I'm sure that a lot of people find it very offensive, and the death threats further prove that. I simply admire the creativity and wit of the the creators to just put stuff like that out there. Personally, being a muslim, the Muhammad episode was definitely a shocker for me. I knew straight way that death threats were coming, because the same thing happened with the cartoon in Denmark etc. While watching the episode, I thought that they were actually going to show Muhammad, and that kind of scared me. But just like they always do, the creators took it right to the edge, but didn't let it fall off. Perfectly played. I'm sure they knew that they were going to get protests etc, but they went on with it anyway. It was amazing how they showed Buddha snorting cocaine, I think that was a little over the top, and I'm surprised that people didn't take action against that. It's amazing how they were not criticized for anything else, like how they played around with Krishna and Jesus. If you look at it all in a way where it's all for fun and entertainment, then you don't really get offended by it, and in fact, it really is very funny. But of course, a lot of people don't look at it like that, and that's when the problems start arising. Although I know that people take it very seriously, really, I'm sure that the creators' intentions are not to cause harm to people and/or themselves, and definitely not to get death threats and getting people killed. It's difficult to get that message across to those people, so we're just going to have to wait and see what happens, because I'm sure that those shows won't stop doing what they do best. I'm a Muslim and I understand that their intentions aren't to cause to harm, so I'm fine with it. I mean, they didn't show Muhammad, and that itself should be taken as a positive, because that is a sign of respect. Because if they did show him, then that would have meant trouble. I'm sure that the creators to know how far to take it and when to stop, so it'll be fine.
Although I have not seen this episode of South Park yet, I have heard a lot about it. I watch Family Guy, which is another controversial show, so I know that producers of these shows just like to push buttons. It does not necessarily mean that the producers believe exactly what they are portraying on the show; they just want people to think about the topics in a different, more humorous way. It is using humor to ignite conversations and thoughts. So while I kind of understand why some people might be offending, I still think that they should just take it with a grain of salt because it is just for entertainment.
South Park is can be really controversial. Almost every episode Cartman is always ripping jokes against Kyle, who happens to be a Jew. Other episodes its Cartman trying to exterminate the Jews. I wouldn't say that it is all of South Park's Characters or there general themes in the episodes, I would say it really has to do everything with Cartman. South Park probably is one of the top things in the media today that ill inform the uneducated. Someone that grows up in a dominate white society, with little education and background on the different ethnicity, might go out there and repeat some of these jokes to their friends at school, and then the friends start to think it is funny. It starts a whole cycle and when these kids come across one of the people from a different ethnicity , they still think the joke is going to be funny and the other person of different ethnicity will laugh along with him. TO resolve this problem I do not think it relies on the school to better educate them I think it mainly involves the parents to teach them the right thing. Kids grow up believing in what ever it is that their parents believe in and if their parents are going to hate or discriminate against others then their kids will soon follow. Some other parents may not hate others, but if they do not teach their kids about other ethnicity and their history, then these kids will really never understand. The other thing I wanted to talk about is that South Park is not the only one out there that is making this situation worse, the other thing that I believe that is not helping it is comedy. When stand-up comedians go up to the stage and talk jokes about other ethnicity and theirs. Someone my age or older with little education might think it is ok to start saying those jokes, and the people of different ethnicity will not be so upset about it. In the end I do not think this situation is going to be so simple to solve, it is going to probably take many years and many nations to be involved in this and White people are going to have to start playing a bigger role. On a thought of my own that may or may not help it. I believe that the main reason why all these racial slurs started is because someone is different and someone is going to put them down because they are different then they are. Maybe one of two things should happen either we say from now on that all racial words now are no longer racial no more, or we start enforcing strict rules on people using these racial slurs. Right now we seem to be in the middle right now between those two things and it is not working at all so we have to try something different.
This whole issue, while upsetting, does not come as a shock to me. It is people like these extremists who threatened the writers that give the rest of the Muslims bad name. As many people said in previous posts, South Park likes to push the buttons of every issue out there. There lovely show on “gingerism” is the only reason that people make fun of me for my hair color, which I happen to love. I still love South Park, and they will always continue to make fun of every religion, political issue, person, etc, that they can. I just do not see how two writers should deserve to die because they made fun of a god. How does the airing of the show affect anyone’s relationship with their god, if they have a problem with it, then do not watch it. Obviously, I am not a Muslim so the whole image of Mohammad thing just seems absurd to me.
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The Muslim groups responsible for ridiculing the South Park episodes are guilty of hypocrisy to the “n”th dimension. They immediately labeled Matt and Trey (South Park creators) as bad people for their attempt on humor and then proceed to threaten their lives. This seems like a bit of a paradox to me. My opinion is that the show is purely for entertainment. You can watch if you want and laugh at it or hate it. Or you can turn the channel and be a South Park hater. Many people have disagreed with messages the show has sent in the past, yet they still love others. The point is, it is completely up to you whether or not you watch it and/or let it get to you in a negative way. The show is a satire. So you have to have a decent base of knowledge pertaining to current events to understand certain episodes. The past two South Park shows delved into censorship issues. This then involved censoring Muhammad, an obvious reference to the Muhammad cartoons of the past. Now, I have to be honest: not much, if anything, truly offends me. Sure, some jokes may hurt my feelings or may be uncalled for in myopinion, but not much really bothers me to the point where I would consider taking vindictive action. Not only did numerous Muslim groups consider taking vindictive action, but this response involves death threats. And this is all over a joke TV show! It is just a shame that people cannot let their guards down enough for even 30 minutes not to be upset over the most ridiculous of affairs. It only upholds my pessimistic yet terribly true view of society that, “It’s always something.” You cannot make everyone happy of course, but it seems like more people are always pissed off than even somewhat content. South Park may go too far. But then again, what is too far? They cleverly craft whatever views of individuals/society into a strategy of free speech presentation to the audience. Therefore, they are legally covered. This does not spare them the disapproval of many critics at home (and apparently death threats from radical Muslims) but they will continue to do it. Because their goal is to push people’s buttons, and they do an amazing job at it. But they are not trying to harm anyone. They are trying to make us laugh. I just wish people would accept it as that much. And I am not expecting all Muslims to laugh at these past two episodes. Disagree with it all you want. But calm down just a bit and do not take it as Americans hating on your religion or mocking your culture. It has nothing to do with that. It was just two episodes of a cartoon TV show that probably went a bit too far in some people’s eyes.
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I think this question goes along with the question Sam asked us all in class: when is a joke considered to have gone too far? I must admit that I am not a frequent viewer of South Park but from viewing other shows like Family Guy, I think I have a fairly good idea of the style of comic material the writers use. The images they portray seem to poke fun at every group you can find. Shows make fun of religion, sexual orientation, politics, and so on, all the time. I used to watch Family Guy pretty often in the past. Family Guy features the cartoon characters of God and Jesus in several episodes. I must say that I really did not find those parts of the show in the past funny. I mean, I was not totally against the show, but I do think the writers sometimes pushed things too far. I can understand why people of any certain group that was mocked by these shows would get mad. Although a lot of people may think it is wrong for writers to use this type of comedy, I guess they do have the right to express their opinions. I think that it all ties in the freedom of speech and expression and etc… The writers are free to create whatever they want. I guess they just have to deal with the consequences of their actions. I mean, when the South Park writers decided to create a part of the episode making fun of Muslims, they had to have known that someone was going to fire back at them. Getting back to the “when has a joke gone too far.” I used listen to people make offhand jokes about certain groups and not think anything of it. I mean I knew I was not they were my friends and I knew these people pretty well, so I thought there was nothing wrong with it. After having been through Soc 119, I have completely changed. I have realized that I do not think my friends were justified in saying jokes like that, even if they weren’t being serious. I now have no urge to create such jokes, however, now when I do hear people say such jokes, I tell them to please stop and explain why it is offensive and wrong. I can understand why some people do it though. I feel like when you are with people you know well, you might be more likely to say some sort of joke about a certain group. At that point, you don’t view the joke as going too far unless someone objects. I think a lot of people think a joke has gone too far when a person says a joke in public, offending many people. Although in your own little group of friends you may not be offending that group targeted by the joke, I feel that it is the same as telling the joke in public. What you say is what you say…it doesn’t really matter the context of the situation.
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South Park has always bee on the border of controversial episodes and jokes. They have a reputation for poking fun at the topics that everyone else is afraid to even consider talking about. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have always been on the hot seat. They produced a “scientology” episode in which they lost an actor (chef) because of their offensive position regarding the topic. They ridiculed the leaders of the organization of scientology and the beliefs and doctrines as well. They have also had the media on their back when the touched the controversial topic of assisted suicide; something that Jack Kevorkian was imprisoned for committing. South park had also Taken the stand against terrorism when they released Imagination Land episodes and movies where they had a Suicide Bomber blow up the scene of all the imaginations of our world. Another memorable episode was the “shit” count episode where they dropped the s word 162 times in 28 minutes. They received negative remarks from the LGBT community when they had the same-sex gay bashing episode with Big Gay Al. The latest of the controversial topics occurred April 21 2010 when the studio decided to depict Muhammad in an episode.
The episode received many threats from Islamic terrorist groups to censor the show. And although Trey Parker and Matt Stone did not want to comply, the network took the upper hand and made censorship in response to the terroristic threats that they had received on the masses. The studio even bleeped out the name “Muhammad” every time it was said in order to not offend the Islam People. However, this isn’t the only time that the creators have decided to include the islam prophet in their show. In the past they have proposed to show the prophet and have receive the same threats. They ended up putting Muhammad in a Bear costume to avoid the threats that they had received from islam activists.
I find that the entire idea of not depicting the prophet is far’fetched however I can not be one to judge nor criticize since I have no involvement with the religion. But the idea that everyone on the planet has to abide by the rules of your holy book is ignorant in my mind. No islam should depict the prophet but why does that have to aply to the atheists. You want to talk about forcing your religion on others, the Islamic world is doing so when they prevent others from depicting what they do not believe in. It is a hot and heated topic so it will always grow tension and I know one day that someone is going t make the mistake of not censoring and there will be retaliation.
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South Park is a satire of our society. It is meant to offend people so I don’t understand why people are making this an issue. There are other shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy that also satirize current events, but South Park is by far the best one. The way the writers of the show incorporate hot button issues into the lives of four fourth graders makes it impossible not to find the humor behind the jokes. I didn’t watch the video so I don’t know what episode in particular is behind all of the controversy, but I have seen all but the most recent episodes of this season so I can guess that almost all of them have to some degree pissed someone off. I saw on Fox News that the episode with Muhammad being represented as a mascot was causing some problems. I think it is funny that people get offended by cartoons, they are the best way for people to express criticism of an emotionally charged topic in a funny way because the cartoons can say whatever they want and get away with it but if south park was a sitcom they couldn’t get away with half of the shit they do.
This is biased because I am personally a big fan of south park. I like that they try to push the buttons of people in the public eye. A lot of what they do on the show is just take a real issue and change some of the details so that they can make it possible to have a bunch of fourth graders make fun of it. This show has been around for awhile, I think this is the fourteenth season or something, and it has always been edgy and pushing the envelope and providing a funny commentary of current issues and events.
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The biggest aspect of this story is the absolute rediculousness that is being seen with this episode. The fact of the matter is that every single person, be it race, religion, celebrity status has been made fun of when it comes to South Park. The fact that something has become that upsetting is amazing. The toughest thing about this aspect is the idea that people in the world will threaten to kill based on the idea that an image of their god is shown is absurd. I understand the quality of religion and i understand how important it is to some people, but the idea that it is so important that you would kill in the name of it is over the top. The fact that the mere image of their god is what is so upsetting to them should be made fun of. In fact, I am glad that Matt Stone and Trey Parker attack this with good humor, and I was upset with the way that Comedy Central handled the situation. The fact that they had to censor not only the image, but the word as well? Also, they had to bleep out the entire speech at the end, which was rumored to be a speech about over coming your fears and facing the world as it is. Comedy Central bleeped it out because they were scared of it being connected too much to the situation was an example of just how scared the world is. The fact is that South Park was trying to send a message in this episode especially with the speech. But the world was not able to hear this because of the fear that Comedy Central showed.. it was an embarassment. This is nothing that should ever be so scared of. The world these days is too afraid of something that is just a threat… The fact that we show fear is almost worse than showing defeat. It shows that we have no belief in our freedom of speech, our freedom to saw what we want. This country was born on the ability to say your opinions and to express them however you so chose. With South Park, they choose to show their opinions through humor, and they are being shut down.
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I think that this situation is pretty ridiculous. I really do not understand the Muslim's groups calling for the death of the creators of South Park. Its funny that they not only call for the death of the creators, but they also say that they hope that the creators burn in hell. Well, maybe these Muslims are the ones who should burn in hell. After all, they are calling for people to be killed. These people only undermine themselves by making outrageous statements like this. Its too bad that they cannot look in the mirror and see that they are really the bad ones in this situation.
The writers of South Park attempt to point out things that are ridiculous in the world and poke fun at people, especially those who are overly sensitive. Many people have gotten upset at their depiction in South Park episodes but it is not necessary every threaten some one's life. It is also important to note that no one has every threatened to kill the writers of South Park because of how they were depicted. So why have Muslims constantly had image problems with people who thought they were overly radical? Its situations like this where the radicals overreact and threaten to kill. This is a cartoon, not anything that has to deal with real life. Who could possibly get this angry over an off the wall television show?
Although these people make me really angry, I guess that I can look at it from their point of view and see why they could be angry. I do not at all agree with killing the creators of South Park, but I can understand their anger. Some people really have a deep belief in things whether it just be opinions or if it is faith. If someone has a deep belief that their religious idol can never be depicted as a cartoon. People who are deeply rooted in their beliefs have a reason to be angry about the South Park creators depicting him as a cartoon if it is truly what they believe in. Maybe it is important that I live in the United States and that I understand what South Park is really like. I guess that I can see that everything is a joke and I have seen the show many times and I know what the writers' goals are. From afar, it may seem like the writers' of South Park are attacking the Muslim community and the show may seem dangerous. But at some point these people need to open up to the modern world and accept that people have the right to say and do what they want. So hopefully, the Muslims who are angry about this situation recognize that this is a joke and change their opinions on South Park and its creators.
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I really do not understand why this is such a big deal. South Park, Family Guy, The Simpsons, they all make fun of pretty much every topic. Religion, celebrities, republicans, democrats, it's all fair game. I know Family Guy and South Park especially make fun of christianity. In South Park, Jesus was part of "Imagination Land" for crying out loud. And priests brought little boys as pets to satan's halloween party. If you think that they didn't get backlash from Christians for that then you're crazy. It's just that when a Muslim group makes a threatening comment that people jump to the violent Muslim stereotype. The fact that this group is actually this upset about it is pathetic, but do we really think that people are going to get hurt over a South Park episode? Tom Cruise hasn't come out and threatened the people from South Park, neither has Kanye West. In this politically correct age it's these comedy shows that really have had free reign so far. I was actually surprised that they decided to censor it after the threat. These guys have done some pretty (debatably) offensive stuff over the years, but one threat from a radical group I guess would shake my boots a little too. It's just a shame that people cannot partake in the comedic side of things like that anymore. Half, if not more, of comedy is making fun of someone. Sometimes that's someone who nobody likes, sometimes it's someone who everyone likes. Either way, most of the time the people poking fun really have no issue with the topic, they're just making entertainment. Unfortunately now I suspect that more South Park episodes will come into question because now people know they can challenge the leaders over at Comedy Central. I'm definitely more liberal on the subject, so I don't think that there should be so much censorship on t.v. I think movies and shows shouldn't have to be edited so much for content, whether it be language, violence, etc. But I guess when it comes down to it it's not worth having social upheaval just because someone has to take something so seriously. Maybe all of this is just because we're still relatively young. I would hope that my views don't radically change when I get out into the "real world," but maybe that change is inevitable. I know both my parents hate South Park, as do a large majority I would imagine. I think that our generation is going to have a completely different outlook on things when we hit our thirties and forties. Hopefully by then we won't have something as harmless as this come back to bite us by then. Maybe that's too much to ask.
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We were just discussing this topic in my religion class the other day. I had not heard about this incident and was in no way surprised that the writers for South Park had chosen to write an episode making fun of Muhammad. This show has made fun of everyone under the sun, including Jesus. It seems to me that the issue here is that the perpetrators may not be able to handle a joke like everyone else that has been made fun of by South park has been able to. I can understand why this may be upsetting but it is in no means a just reason to threaten someone’s life.
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The controversy with South Park is nothing new to our society or the media. South Park has been on since i was a kid. I remember my parents would not let me and my siblings watch it, and we would sneak and watch it any way. Obviously the show is very offensive, but one thing about the show is that it does not target a specific thing. The show is completely offensive to everyone. It is not meant for people to be offended its more meant for people to laugh at themselves and at others. This show is just like any other show that does things like make fun of different religions, races, etc. Its similar to Family guy, Simpsons, and other comedy central shows. I don't think that it is any different than a comedian saying offensive (yet funny) jokes about certain things. I think the controversy needs to stop because it is just meant to be a joke, not meant to piss people off. I don't have much knowledge on what is going on right now with all of this controversy, but i think to hear that there is even the slightest bit is a little ridiculous. Me and other people that i know who watch shows like this only watch them because of the humor, not because we think everything in the show is true and we believe it. If that was the case i am sure that a lot more people would be mad about this show than there are. The show makes fun of everyone, and if you do not know that then you obviously don't watch the show and you would never understand that. This show is not meant to target anyone in particular, and that is what people need to understand. The show targets everyone, and is meant to be funny, that's all. The creators of this show even offend themselves, they have to! They literally have made fun of every religious figure, race, person, and anything that you can think of on this show. I have seen episodes you can't even imagine the things that this show comes up with. It is clearly just a big joke. I am more of a family guy kind of girl, but even this show is EXTREMELY "offensive". Bottom line is if you do not have the personality to take humor or to take jokes than you probably shouldn't watch any of these types of cartoons, or even comedy central at all. The people who are offended should really think about being offended because they need to take a freakin joke. It is not that serious, and honestly if we make it that serious then we need to cut off a lot of other shows on the air as well. I do not think children should be watching these shows, but for adults i think that it is just all humor.
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I hate everyone, okay I take it back. But I hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet… your all idiots. I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say.
I am a huge southpark fan, even though I am jewish and there is a quota of 2 jewish jokes per episode. family guy, american dad, all sorts of stupid shows like this are exactly the same, they all make fun of minorities and even the majority just to be funny, get over it people … but i really really hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet… your all idiots. I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say.
i didnt go to class for this… or maybe I did and just wasn't paying attention, but I think that sam richards couldnt handle this kind of humor. he is all talk when it comes to these kinds of things. He is always contradicting himself when it comes to this kind of stuff. I cant even think of any more words to write here, im just gonna copy and paste what i already said
everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet… your all idiots. I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say.
I am a huge southpark fan, even though I am jewish and there is a quota of 2 jewish jokes per episode. family guy, american dad, all sorts of stupid shows like this are exactly the same, they all make fun of minorities and even the majority just to be funny, get over it people … but i really really hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet… your all idiots. I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say. but i really really hate everyone who looks at the media and takes personal offense to anything that is there. on tv, on the radio, in newspapers, n the internet… your all idiots. I personally think that the people in this class would love this sort of stuff because it says exactly what everyone is afraid to say.
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For those of you that are not familiar with the show South Park, it is a show that likes to make fun of very controversial issues. The main characters are even controversial. There is the overweight child who all the children make fun of for his size. There is the poor child, Kenny, who they always choose to make fun of for his poverty, and kill off (showing his life is worth less than the others). There is the Jewish boy who they always make fun of for being cheap. There is also a handicap child who they make fun of, and countless other politically incorrect personalities.
Having watched this show for many years, I personally have not found any of the episodes particularly offensive. I think the reason for this is because they do not eave any racial or political group untouched. They are equal opportunity racists. When they make fun of my religious group, I understand that it is only in good fun, because if I can laugh about they making fun of other people, then I should be able to laugh about them making fun of my group as well.
The reason that this show even has a following is because it is so risqué and also has a lot of truth and fact behind what they say. Of course much of what they say is highly exaggerated to make it humorous, but still, it is very intelligent. In my opinion I do not believe that any group should be mad at them, because they have made fun of everyone. If this show were to be politically correct, then no one would watch it.
In the flip cam question it was said that now certain groups have made threats on the lives of the writers of South Park. The people who made these threats may be upset, but need to understand that killing someone because they made fun of them using a hand drawn cartoon is not grounds for punishment by death. Yes, I understand that their prophet is holy, and they don’t want him to be made fun of, but they are not doing it to personally offend people, they are doing it to get a response out of people, and ultimately make controversial Television.
The reason why such a racists and politically incorrect show has had such success for such a long time, is that there is not topic that is off limits, there is no group that is left un-picked on, and there is no digression to who will be offended. This show just takes current topics and exaggerated them to make a humorous story. People need to take the show for what it is and stop being so sensitive. This show is made in good fun, and its writers should not be killed for speaking their mind. This show is not made with evil intentions; it is simply made to make people laugh.
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I think what people like most about south park is that they are not afraid to cross the boundaries that a lot of society likes to try to constrain us to. I don’t think that its that big of a deal because they make fun of EVERYONE and EVERYTHING, but I can see from their point of view that they would be mad. Think about it-they don’t watch south park, im sure they just saw a clip from the internet and got upset about it. They probably don’t understand what south park is all about-it was like the class where we looked at thing from another perspective. Its all about the eye of the beholder.
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South Park pokes fun at everything. I have heard about these Muslim groups being offended by the remarks they made regarding Muhammad, but they have not been the only religion to make fun of, and definitely not the only culture. Just off the top of my head I can think of so many different issues that have suffered the scrutiny of South Park and hate hearing about how whenever they attack someone other than the common American people get offended. The point is they are going to attack everyone on that show, and only mean it as humor. People need to stop taking everything as a personal attack, and when it is their turn to get ridiculed, ignore the show if you don’t want to hear it and laugh at the next one. South Park has brought over 10 seasons of laughter to us, and I really hope they don’t change a thing.
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I think that the South Park episode was a cry for attention from the South Park creators. I think that by calling out all of these religions, they expected that eventually they would offend a group enough to create a riff that they would be noted for. I believe that the episode also was trying to be a bit socially aware by making some connections between the celebrities and their respective religions that could be poked fun at, but I believe that they also failed in regard to that. Overall, I think that the Mohammed mention was just for attention and that overall it was a horrible episode.
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Much of the same parody goes on in South Park as other television programming whether it’s comedy skits or even recent movies like Borat. First off parodies like these most of the time are meant to actually expose the issue we deal with in society and not to promote racism. I think most of the people who watch these programs understand that. South Park is definitely a show that walks that line but it has an ingenious aspect to it in which it really in the end always tries to send the viewer a message about how the media and society perceive such touchy issues. As far as the issue of Mohammad goes, South Park has made fun of other religions countless times and it doesn’t seem racist to me that he would poke fun at Mohammad related to Islam. Remember these television shows are a lot of times trying to expose these issues and not promote them in a racist way.
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I think that any person that watches South Park, or at least is somewhat familiar with it they know and understand that the writers of the show really love to push viewers’ buttons. I’ve seen the show and they pretty much poke fun at every religion, culture, and whatever currently is going on in the world. I’m not saying that it is always right, but they do find a way to push buttons to really make people think about the issues. If the show is offensive to you then do not watch it. The girl said that Muslim people were upset because they writers of South Park poked fun at Mohammed. But honestly, they have poked fun at just about everything. I’ve seen numerous episodes where they have poked fun of Jews and even had Jesus in the show. Literally the how has poked fun at everything, celebrities, presidents. I remember they made an episode about Tom Cruise being gay. They just take current stories and show, in a funny, but kind of crude way, the way this story is impacting society. I actually think it is annoying that this is continuing to be a controversy. South Park had been making fun of religions for years. Now all of a sudden it is a big deal. I think people should just relax. Like I said if it bothers you, just do not watch it and if you kind find the humor in it, then by all means go ahead and enjoy it. It is silly to get all worked up over one issue in the show. I’m sure billions of people have been offended by the show. It targets just about everyone and everything, so there is no need to take it personally. It was their own choice to turn on the show. And I’m willing to bet that if you are purposely turning the show on you are bound to know what the show normally consists of. It is almost like…okay fine go ahead and make fun of other religions, but when it is mine you better watch out. Now how is that fair? It’s not. I think these people need to lighten up and just enjoy the crude humor on the how. I think the exaggerated way the writers express current events is hysterical. Society is being a little too sensitive in my opinion. People are always so serious. I think it is important to be able to laugh at yourself and other things going on in life. If you take everything too seriously, how are you supposed to have fun and enjoy yourself? South Park was just poking fun at another religion like it ALWAYS has, so just enjoy the episodes or don’t watch them.
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I have been watching South Park since it began. The whole point of the show is to poke fun at issues and controversies in our uptight culture. People need to relax on taking everything so literal. It is a cartoon mind you. The character of Chef played by Isaac Hayes was a scientology follower. The episode that they made fun of scientology on made him quit. Mind you he had fun for ten years poking fun at every other religion and person in the world, but when it came close to his beliefs he could not handle it. This is the same as that muslim kid who threatened the creators lives. It is all fun and games until you push the wrong buttons. People need to relax over what is said in a cartoon and realize that they need to lighten up. Yes they sometimes go very far to make a joke but people get over it, it is not real.
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South Park brings up alot of controversial topics that alot of people are afraid to address their opinions on. The show is similar in a way to Family Guy or Dave Chapelle… bringing up true situations and portraying it through comedy so that everyone enjoys it and everyone understands it. Do I believe South Park can be racist sometimes? Yes. However, you only consider someone to be racist when they discriminate against a certain race and they consider their "own race" to be higher than everyone elses. South Park isn't racist as a whole because it adresses EVERYBODY. From Muslim groups to Gay/Lesbian outbreaks, even to recent celebrity news. I remember one episode of South Park where Kanye West was called a "gay fish stick" recently after he interuppted Taylor Swift. Someone posted on here a recent episode of Tom Cruise being jabbed at in South Park as well. Although it may be distasteful at times, I believe its fair because South Park addresses everything.
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Towards the Muslism Extremists threat, I'm not really sure what to say. I haven't seen the episode where they spoke about Mohammed, so I'm not sure where to speak on this. However, I will say that, unless someone has taken a life from my family or friends, then I would not feel motivated to take someone elses life. I actually don't know another situation that anyone can feel to killing someone, but then again I can't say that I can place myself in an extremist's [any extremist, not just Muslim] shoes. I feel like since that specific groups does not watch South Park on a regular basis like others do, so they wouldn't understand it. At first instance, they see it, and the thought process goes "You're offending my creator in a derogatory way, I feel inclined to take your life". However, someone like me watching the show on a regular basis says "They said that? I'm not suprised".
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Now, I'm not saying that since a show has a history of saying derogatory comments that we must "deal with it" and they can do whatever they want. This show been on for years; I remember watching it in 6th grade, and I'm 22 now. They had an episode of Jesus fighting Satan and Jesus whooping Satan's behind. This show address all aspects of life and culture, whether controversal or just pure comedy.
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I think this situation would be a lot less of a big deal if people understood that shows like South Park, Family Guy and the Simpsons do this kind of thing all the time. The fact is, they make fun of EVERYTHING. Family Guy in particular makes fun of every religion, political party, and famous celebrity. In particular, Family Guy has had whole episodes making fun of both Judaism and Christianity. If people keep that in the back of their minds when watching episodes like the Muhammad one on South Park, there would not be this hysteria. Personally I can be a sensitive person, but I love Family Guy (I haven't watched much South Park) and appreciate 98% of their jokes.
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I haven't watched this specific South Park episode, but I've watched the show in the past and therefore know that it can be insulting and controversial at times. Yet, I think that they have made fun of many different groups of people in the show and have not focused on one group. The show wasn't created to target and ridicule one group of individuals. Also, although the show can be crude at times, most people who watch it know that and therefore could chose to not watch it. I don't support shows making racial remarks, however I have to support that freedom of speech should allow them to, just as people's freedom allows them not to watch it.
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These Muslim radicals who are making threats need to take a step back and realize how stupid they look. This cartoon that they are getting all worked up over makes fun of every possible thing someone can make fun of. Jesus and God are made fun of all the time in that show and you don't see Christians threatening the South Park creators. It pisses me off when people find the smallest things to complain about because there are bigger problems in this world. So quit being little bitches about it and get over the fact that not everyone takes life as seriously as you do.
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I have not seen this episode that the person in the video talks about, but I have seen a south park episode that portrayed the image of Muhammad, and he just looked like a person of Middle Eastern descent. I do not know why this caused such an uproar, there are depictions of Jesus all over. I think it’s funny that the terrorist group threatened the creators of South Park, because in reality nothing is going to happen to them, and I would encourage them to keep pissing off the terrorist groups because I think its funny to see them annoyed.
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This is yet another awesome question. Personally, I'm a big fan of South Park and shows like Family Guy etc. Part of it is because they talk about everything, even the most sensitive issues, so openly. I'm sure that a lot of people find it very offensive, and the death threats further prove that. I simply admire the creativity and wit of the the creators to just put stuff like that out there. Personally, being a muslim, the Muhammad episode was definitely a shocker for me. I knew straight way that death threats were coming, because the same thing happened with the cartoon in Denmark etc. While watching the episode, I thought that they were actually going to show Muhammad, and that kind of scared me. But just like they always do, the creators took it right to the edge, but didn't let it fall off. Perfectly played. I'm sure they knew that they were going to get protests etc, but they went on with it anyway. It was amazing how they showed Buddha snorting cocaine, I think that was a little over the top, and I'm surprised that people didn't take action against that. It's amazing how they were not criticized for anything else, like how they played around with Krishna and Jesus. If you look at it all in a way where it's all for fun and entertainment, then you don't really get offended by it, and in fact, it really is very funny. But of course, a lot of people don't look at it like that, and that's when the problems start arising. Although I know that people take it very seriously, really, I'm sure that the creators' intentions are not to cause harm to people and/or themselves, and definitely not to get death threats and getting people killed. It's difficult to get that message across to those people, so we're just going to have to wait and see what happens, because I'm sure that those shows won't stop doing what they do best. I'm a Muslim and I understand that their intentions aren't to cause to harm, so I'm fine with it. I mean, they didn't show Muhammad, and that itself should be taken as a positive, because that is a sign of respect. Because if they did show him, then that would have meant trouble. I'm sure that the creators to know how far to take it and when to stop, so it'll be fine.
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Although I have not seen this episode of South Park yet, I have heard a lot about it. I watch Family Guy, which is another controversial show, so I know that producers of these shows just like to push buttons. It does not necessarily mean that the producers believe exactly what they are portraying on the show; they just want people to think about the topics in a different, more humorous way. It is using humor to ignite conversations and thoughts. So while I kind of understand why some people might be offending, I still think that they should just take it with a grain of salt because it is just for entertainment.
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South Park is can be really controversial. Almost every episode Cartman is always ripping jokes against Kyle, who happens to be a Jew. Other episodes its Cartman trying to exterminate the Jews. I wouldn't say that it is all of South Park's Characters or there general themes in the episodes, I would say it really has to do everything with Cartman. South Park probably is one of the top things in the media today that ill inform the uneducated. Someone that grows up in a dominate white society, with little education and background on the different ethnicity, might go out there and repeat some of these jokes to their friends at school, and then the friends start to think it is funny. It starts a whole cycle and when these kids come across one of the people from a different ethnicity , they still think the joke is going to be funny and the other person of different ethnicity will laugh along with him. TO resolve this problem I do not think it relies on the school to better educate them I think it mainly involves the parents to teach them the right thing. Kids grow up believing in what ever it is that their parents believe in and if their parents are going to hate or discriminate against others then their kids will soon follow. Some other parents may not hate others, but if they do not teach their kids about other ethnicity and their history, then these kids will really never understand. The other thing I wanted to talk about is that South Park is not the only one out there that is making this situation worse, the other thing that I believe that is not helping it is comedy. When stand-up comedians go up to the stage and talk jokes about other ethnicity and theirs. Someone my age or older with little education might think it is ok to start saying those jokes, and the people of different ethnicity will not be so upset about it. In the end I do not think this situation is going to be so simple to solve, it is going to probably take many years and many nations to be involved in this and White people are going to have to start playing a bigger role. On a thought of my own that may or may not help it. I believe that the main reason why all these racial slurs started is because someone is different and someone is going to put them down because they are different then they are. Maybe one of two things should happen either we say from now on that all racial words now are no longer racial no more, or we start enforcing strict rules on people using these racial slurs. Right now we seem to be in the middle right now between those two things and it is not working at all so we have to try something different.
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