Why does South Park even come up with this crap? I can understand that they have free speech but still its so damn r****ded, you're going to offend millions if you attack a certain religion. Hell, I recall watching an episode two weeks back where they depicted God as an ugly beast.
Because they want to make a point, which they have. They do it in a funny way and tons of people watch, simple as that. and this must be the god you are referring to?
Do you think these guys represent that great of a threat? My understanding was that there were a lot of threats against Van Gogh for awhile. While any celebrity is going to be the possible victim of crazies, like John Lennon and Andy Warhol, I don't think these guys represent a movement and are anything more than a few guys yelling on the web.
Did you watch the interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali someone posted here in this thread? People were thinking the same thing back then "oh it's just a small group of crazy people, we don't need to take them seriously". Any death threat is a serious issue. By downplaying it, one gives those who don't distance themselves from this kind of behavior an easy excuse ("why should I distance myself, it's not serious anyway"). All this feigned outrage is just a means of terrorizing freedom-loving people as well. I notice that many of the Islamic posters on this thread find stronger words to condemn the cartoon than to condemn the death threat. And these posters, presumably basketball fans of a U.S. team, are probably more "progressive" than many of the even more ass-backwards followers of their religion. It's not just a few idiots who issue death threats. They are the tip of the iceberg. The root of the problem is deeper.
True it only takes one crazy to kill one or many people and if anything happens to Parker or Stone the police should be looking into these guys but at the sametime there are people threatening death and worse all the time on the Internet. I think making a big deal out of this threat is really making these people more important than they should be. In its own way it actually increases the threat by making it more legitimate. If by "feigned outrage" you mean that these people really aren't serious about it then it sounds like you are basically agreeing with me and we shouldn't make more of this than it is. And I agree with you that a death threat is more serious than a catoon but in this instance I don't see a lot of reason to get worked up about either. Just like the root of the killing of John Lennon or the attempted assasination of Reagan go deeper as they point to an unhealthy obsession with celebrity in society. Most killings happen in some sort of context but at the sametime I think getting worked up over every threat is still a reason to get worked up.
For those of who you think South Park's edgy satire will somehow make extremists eventually become tolerant (since according to you their intolerance here stems from Muhd not being depicted in the same manner as Jesus/Buddha/etc), please read the following book: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes It's a very complex subject about why extremists, whether rich or poor, choose to act the way they do. Some of you are firmly entrenched in the belief that Islam=terror/irrationality that must be fought with at all costs, and hopefully this book will try to change that. They cannot "LEARN TOLERANCE" in the way you want them to, ATW.
Again, who is they? Are you referring to Muslims in general? Are you referring to extremists? Are you referring to members of Muslim Revolution?
so what? It is called SATIRE people. Here. Allow Jon Stewart to explain it to you. <table style='font:11px arial; color:#333; background-color:#f5f5f5' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='360' height='353'><tbody><tr style='background-color:#e5e5e5' valign='middle'><td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;'><a target='_blank' style='color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com'>The Daily Show With Jon Stewart</a></td><td style='padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; text-align:right; font-weight:bold;'>Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c</td></tr><tr style='height:14px;' valign='middle'><td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;' colspan='2'<a target='_blank' style='color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-april-20-2010/bernie-goldberg-fires-back'>Bernie Goldberg Fires Back<a></td></tr><tr style='height:14px; background-color:#353535' valign='middle'><td colspan='2' style='padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; width:360px; overflow:hidden; text-align:right'><a target='_blank' style='color:#96deff; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/'>www.thedailyshow.com</a></td></tr><tr valign='middle'><td style='padding:0px;' colspan='2'><embed style='display:block' src='http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:271692' width='360' height='301' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' wmode='window' allowFullscreen='true' flashvars='autoPlay=false' allowscriptaccess='always' allownetworking='all' bgcolor='#000000'></embed></td></tr><tr style='height:18px;' valign='middle'><td style='padding:0px;' colspan='2'><table style='margin:0px; text-align:center' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='100%' height='100%'><tr valign='middle'><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/'>Daily Show Full Episodes</a></td><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.indecisionforever.com'>Political Humor</a></td><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/videos/tag/Tea+Party'>Tea Party</a></td></tr></table></td></tr></tbody></table>
You tell me. I already told you that these people are only the tip of the iceberg. It's the tacit or non-tacit approval of people they claim to associate themselves with that is the bigger problem. There is a common denominator to the outrage about Danish cartoons, Dutch politicians and South Park. What is it? You tell me.
Nope. I think these people are dead serious about this, and you don't need to downplay it. Less militant ones show feigned outrage because it supports their cause that they share with those who made the threats: Putting their rules above ours, forcing their beliefs down our throats.
If you seriously ask me to explain why there is a huge difference between a satirical TV show called South Park and the Ku-Klux-Klan, I am at a loss of words.
The Emperor's New Clothes The idea that anything is so solemn that it is beyond ridicule is inherently dangerous. If anybody thinks it is too solemn and important to be made fun of, that in and of itself is proof that immediate ridicule of the subject is necessary.
Except don't you think that all of the coverage over this and people like yourself getting worked up about this actually feeds the ego of these people who want to force their beliefs down your throats?
What I am a little staggered by is how stuff like this brings out the apologists. Instead of being appalled that their belief system is being hijacked and ruined by these radicals a lot of them say "Well, you should not make fun, you get what you deserve" That sort of plea is closet acceptance, and will lead to even more ridicule. What they should be doing is ridiculing these idiots themselves. DD
It is probably true that it feeds their ego, but what's the alternative? Just allowing people to make death threats? Like Comedy Central, basically bowing to these people's demands? No, no and no. We have to stand up to these people and to the people who approve of their behavior. As DaDa rightly pointed out, many (I actually think most) of the muslim posters on this thread had an attitude of "well you should not make fun, you get what you deserve" (there was also one other non-Muslim poster who went full r****d and said the same, Mr. Haiku). That is the problem. These people need to come to their senses. Again, I believe that the people who post here are probably more "open to the West" than the average Muslim in the world. I can only imagine how high approval rates of the average Muslims are in the world for "outrage because of a cartoon". Sickening thought.
Comedy Central isn't bowing to these people demands. The episode was aired and the censorship sounds more like it was an intentional joke. Trey Parker and Matt Stone offend a lot of people but in general those who get worked up by it are generally treated as a joke. Now in this world it is possible anyone of those people who are offended could take it in their mind to gun them down. That unfortunately can and does happen. Making a big deal out of this though just encourages more people to make a big noise about incidents like this. It tells them that what works is to make some crazy threat as that will garner the most attention to you and your cause. As for most of the Muslim posters here from skimming the thread it seems to me like many of the Muslim posters are just as upset at the Muslim Revolution group than they are at Parker and Stone.
Muslims around the world keep playing the "we're offended" card to shove their beliefs down our throats. British Muslims demonstrate outside the Danish embassy over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, in London February 4, 2006. The cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper, have sparked outrage across the Islamic world, although Britain’s normally provocative newspapers have so far refused to publish them. Thousands of angry Syrian demonstrators storm the Danish Embassy in Damascus, Syria on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006 and set fire to the Embassy building in protest of offensive caricatures of Islam’s prophet. The building also houses the embassies of Chile and Sweden. Palestinian protesters burn a French flag during a demonstration against the publication of cartoons in European newspapers depicting the Prophet Mohammad, in the West Bank city of Ramallah February 3, 2006. A veiled Muslim protester, holding a placard, marches towards the Danish embassy during a demonstration in London, Friday Feb. 3, 2006. Hundreds of people protested against the publication of cartoons in nespapers around Europe depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
