Here Today... Gone To Hell!

The Sunday Times  March 26, 2006


Hey Chef, these guys are killing free speech
Andrew Sullivan
 
 
We have a new cartoon-blasphemy scandal. No, it?s not Islamists burning down Kentucky Fried Chicken stores in Pakistan because a few Danish cartoonists had the gall to draw the prophet Muhammad. Now it?s Scientology versus the popular and hilarious cartoon television programme South Park. And the Scientologists, like the Islamists before them, are winning.

South Park is a potty-mouthed series created by two young iconoclasts, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. It features a group of nine-year-old cardboard cut-out pals whose adventures include run-ins with a talking piece of Christmas poo, Jesus, Saddam Hussein and Mel Gibson. The show is both highbrow, it has dissected left-wing political correctness along with Vatican hypocrisy, and lowbrow.

Yes, Paris Hilton once entered a ?whore-off? contest with a gay character called Mr Slave. The show is as offensive as it is inspired: the first truly post-PC television adventure. It is also brave. It doesn?t only skewer political ideology, it also aims square at religions. It has mocked Catholicism, Mormonism, evangelicalism and even featured a cartoon Muhammad as a super-hero.

The Catholic League managed to stop a rerun of an episode called Bloody Mary. But now things have become really ugly. Though South Park is broadcast in Britain one episode has never been aired in the UK, and has just been pulled in the US. The show mocked Scientology. In the episode one of the kids, Stan, takes a Scientology ?stress test? and does so well he is hailed as the reincarnation of L Ron Hubbard, the science-fiction writer who started Scientology.

Suddenly the child is mobbed. John Travolta shows up. Stan is sent to his room, where he finds Tom Cruise. When Stan tells Cruise what he thinks of his acting skills, Cruise is so crushed to have been dissed by the new prophet of Scientology that he runs into a closet and won?t come out. A chorus of people then implore Cruise to ?come out of the closet?. Not exactly subtle. But it?s a cartoon; the episode begins with a disclaimer that none of this is supposed to be mistaken for reality.

In the US all hell broke loose when the episode was broadcast. One of the show?s cartoon stars, an oversexed, overweight African-American chef in the school cafeteria, is voiced by Isaac Hayes, the soul singer best known for singing the theme song for Shaft. Hayes, it turns out, is a Scientologist.

At first he seemed to have no problem with the episode. He told the American satirical magazine The Onion that he often had to defend the show?s edginess: ?I told them not to take this stuff seriously. If you do, you?ll get in trouble. Just enjoy it.?

That was January 4. By January 18 Hayes had been admitted to hospital for ?exhaustion?, and a friend subsequently said he?d had a stroke. Eight days ago Hayes quit the show, accusing it of religious ?bigotry?. (Chef has since been outed as a paedophile, fallen off a bridge, been mauled by a mountain lion and died.) Then the Scientology episode rerun was abruptly yanked from the schedule.

News reports say that Viacom, the company that owns Comedy Central, made the decision. Viacom also owns Paramount movie studios, which has spent a small fortune on Mission: Impossible III starring Cruise, a Scientologist. He denies any connection. Viacom refuses to say why it hasn?t put the episode back on the air. South Park fans have started a petition.

And so we are back where we were with the Muhammad cartoons. Someone somewhere won?t let you see the Scientology episode of South Park. You can go to the Comedy Central website and view it on the internet ? the last refuge for free speech. But you won?t see it on television. In a battle between satire and religion, although some deny that Scientology deserves that moniker, religion wins again.

This is, of course, a trivial story in many ways. South Park is preternaturally puerile (though it remains one of the most inspired pieces of sane lunacy out there). There are wars going on. Who cares if one silly episode of a silly series gets pulled?

Well: count me as one who does care. In the mansion of free speech cartoons have an honourable room. You can say things in cartoon form that you could never put into words or enact with real live human beings. You can turn politicians into unearthly creatures; you can portray the powerful as fools and liars; you can mock pretension of all sorts with an abandon and visual wit the written word cannot match. You can create fantasy worlds that make arguments that would be libellous or untrue in other contexts.

In the cartoon in question no one alleged that Cruise was gay. They constructed a scene where he was in a closet and others were urging him to come out of it. And it?s this artful ability to say in cartoon form what you cannot say in any other without a libel writ that makes cartoons irreplaceable.

In the Parker-Stone puppet film, Team America, you get to see Michael Moore explode as a suicide bomber. In the sublime South Park movie Saddam Hussein has a gay love affair with Satan. Cartoons and puppetry, as the classic series Spitting Image proved, can convey truths and explore fantasies no other form can.

We need those truths and benefit from those fantasies. A free society survives partly because the powerful are mocked, and their pretensions undermined. Religions, which guard their own illusions carefully, are particularly ripe for satire. And they should be.

Whenever one human being is claiming to tell the truth about the meaning of life he is making a very powerful claim ? and in a free society he also runs the risk of getting a raspberry. Laughter matters because piety begets power.

Orwell once remarked that one reason fascism never took off in Britain was because the sight of a goose-stepping soldier would prompt your average Englishman to giggle. Someone is now silencing the giggles. And our world is a lot creepier because of it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 

The new episode seemed like a personal attack against Isaac Hayes rather than Scientology. They were basically saying that he doesn't know how to think for himself and he's a blind follower.

Obviously that guy needs to go out more and stop watching so much television....

I believe it was.  And if I'm not mistaken, they are 2 different episodes.  Chef wasn't killed in the scientology episode, he was killed after Hayes quit because he objected to the scientology episode.  Which of course was the ultimate in hypocrisy. 

this is why i hate South Park. They mock every single religion possible and i think it's indeed ridiculous. South Park should never have been aired imo

and why should religion be exempt from ridicule?

disrespecting personal beliefs of people. Debates can be made about religion but mockery is awful

Then I'd say you completely missed the point of the article. 

Read this part:

We need those truths and benefit from those fantasies. A free society survives partly because the powerful are mocked, and their pretensions undermined. Religions, which guard their own illusions carefully, are particularly ripe for satire. And they should be.

Whenever one human being is claiming to tell the truth about the meaning of life he is making a very powerful claim ? and in a free society he also runs the risk of getting a raspberry. Laughter matters because piety begets power.

Orwell once remarked that one reason fascism never took off in Britain was because the sight of a goose-stepping soldier would prompt your average Englishman to giggle. Someone is now silencing the giggles. And our world is a lot creepier because of it.

They make fun of everything: Religion, sexuality, various mental states, culture, children, grownups, rules, laws, movie stars, rock stars, country starts, themselves.........and of course John stamos brother.

What gets to me most about this is not the fact that a South Park episode is not being aired (although I do absolutely love the show) but the hypocrasy of Isaac Hayes. He's put his name and voice (and to some extent his image) to a cartoon for comin close to ten years now that's ridiculed anything and everything they could. They've even had a go at the KKK and Hayes is a black man. And now because something he's into is ridiculed he packs up and leaves. That really pisses me off.

South Park rules : ok: Don't take it so seriously..

yup yup and more yup.

Why is it awful? Anyone can hold a personal belief close to themselves on any subject. If people choose to be offended then they can be offended by anything.

And i'd contest thats it is being mocked. It is ridiculed. However, ridicule, by its very nature is deserving of itself as religion is pretty ridiculous. Mockery is different.

Everything needs to be ridiculed every so often. Personally I think religion bloody well deserves it!! People have these ideas about what happens after death and they're SO scared of living an eternity in hell that they worship some random deity that was written about in a story book thousands of years ago!! ::)

Of course religion should be mocked! The very idea of being punished by something that doesn't exist for NOT worshipping something that doesn't exist.... its laughable!!



Now I understand that I may have offended a whole bunch of people by saying this, and for that I'm sorry.

But I just expressed my opinion. And I'm not going to be afraid of expressing it. And I sure as hell am not going to be chastised for expressing it!!

Isaac Hayes should quit being such a baby and go back to South Park.

"Oh noes!! They made fun of Scientology!! I don't like them anymore, even though they've kept my name in the public's knowledge for the past 10 years!!!"

::)

Dont be sorry. As you say yourself, you're doing nothing wrong. Its other people that choose to be offened. Its their problem.

I love South Park. I know that they mock everything under the sun and that's fine. I can handle a joke.

But it bothers me when people knock others' religion. There's a lot of things I don't believe in, but I'm not going to put people down and tell them they're ridiculous and wrong for believing in that particular faith. It's about having respect.

Cheers 2NaFish! : ok: :beer:

Religion is ridiculous and needs to be mocked.  :yes:

GNR is ridiculous and needs to be mocked.

How does it feel when it's something you care about?

I was hoping someone would say that. Correct. Gn'R are often ridiculous and deserve to be mocked. Religions are often ridiculous and deserve to be mocked also.

I get defensive and annoyed. As you would expect.

However, i don't propose we ban people from insulting gn'r just because i like it. The same goes for people who hold religious views.

Religions is not special. No matter how many people think that their's is. It is not. Gn'R is not special. No matter what i think.

I never suggested punishment for mocking religion or anything else. I don't believe in that. I was trying to stress the importantance of respecting others.

So nothing is special in your opinion?

Life would probably be more simple if I were emotionally detached from things. But I'm not. I care about other people and I won't apologize for that.

i never suggested that you suggested punishment for mocking religion. dont know where you got that from.

And I never said nothing was special. I said something isnt special just because you believe it is. Unless something can be proven as objectively above critiscism or satire it can and should be crticized and satirized.

I don't expect people to not get offended. I don't expect to have to endure censorship because they do.

I don't care what South Park makes fun of. They're supposed to be stupid.

I was referring to people in everyday life. If you don't believe in something that's fine, but it's disrespectful to go on and on about how stupid, ridiculous and wrong people are for practicing their specific faith. Just say you don't believe in it and let that be it. There's no need to drag someone through the mud.

hold up. i never said they were stupid or wrong. please don't put words in my mouth drawn from ambiguity. i said they were ridiculous.ridiculous things can be clever and correct.

go look up what the word ridiculous means. from itself it means worthy of ridicule. No belief is too special to be ridiculed is my point. not that others are wrong or stupid.

If gn'r can be mocked then so can religion.

I never said you said anyone was ridiculous. But there are some people on this forum who bash other peoples' beliefs.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with you or anyone, I'm just stating how I feel about respecting others' choice of faith, whether I believe in it or not.

And I understand what you're trying to say.

Doesn't bother me one bit. Heck even I poke fun at my favorite band once in awhile.

I get what you are saying, Journey.  You don't like to see people hurt or offended by other's comments.  And that's an admirable quality.  But very often, people take political correctness too far.  When we get so fearful of offending someone that it turns into censorship, that's a problem. 

There are those who would advocate banning satire of political figures, because it is disrespectful.  Same for religion.  And I say, that's the point of satire - it can be a powerful means of challenging those with authority - a right that Americans used to consider very important.   

That's true. I would like to see Gn'R in SP :hihi:

Thanks Sterling.

I don't believe in censorship either. I just feel like people can express their beliefs without stomping on someone else?s.

Look Scientology is the most bullshit ever.  Ron L Hubbard is the biggest con in the world. I don't respect anyone belonging to that cult or their beliefs. Its the biggest shit ever.

GOD. If some of you people feel "offended" or "attacked" by SOUTH PARK, maybe you should think twice if you should even watch TV at all.
I hate when people whine things like these. Think about people who are living in poverty or have some horrible disease, I bet they don't give jack shit about South Park mocking Isac Hayes or Scientology. Neither should you, save your complaints for something real and seriouse.
tired and frustrated today.

Would people please stop referring to scientology as a religion?  It's science fiction, pure and simple.  I can't believe they wouldn't accept Jedi as an organised faith, but they accept this because it's got a few celebrities on board.

I was sure that the UK did accept it as an organised faith when they did the census a few years ago. I'm a Jedi anyway.

And the fact that Jedi can be a religion surely proves that any religion can be ridiculed as the idea of Jedi being a real religion is nothing but ridiculous.

I agree, I don't consider Scientology a religion - its a cult, really.  But many cults have gotten the U.S. government to recognize them as religions and they get special protections/tax breaks that way. 

Nobody's offended by South Park. The debate started over something somebody said in this thread about religion being ridiculous and laughable.

As for those people living in poverty with horrible diseases, sometimes their Faith is all they have left. Why not respect that?

I'm going to start by saying South Park is great!  But from a legal standpoint, free speech and expression isn't a right, it's a privilege.  Of course, with privilege comes responsibility and in the case of free speech the responsibility is to have a conscious.  Many people take free speech to extremes.  When free speech becomes offensive to the point where it is harmful to a person's freedom of association or freedom from discrimination based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or anything else, it is in violation of that person's rights.  Under these circumstances, a person must or reasonably must hold a conscious toward the potential of his or her words to offend.  If that person lacks a conscious and says something offensive, he or she is responsible for whatever actions result from such words.  Some examples where freedom of speech and expression does not apply include falsely yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theatre, spreading hate literature pertaining to any individual or a combination of individuals, and of course, anything related to child pornography.

At the same time, South Park has been offensive for years and has virtually made fun of everything.  The fact that Isaac Hayes would leave the show based on the offensive nature of the Scientology episode is hypocritical after the show has been potentially offending every other group for the past 10 years.  However, it still doesn't justify the fact that South Park considers it "killing free speech" as the show pretty much killed it's own free speech since it's been on the air.  Of course, the show is satirical in nature and is intended to be taken lightheartedly, but it still has the potential to offend.

People with no religion have got nothing to hold against or for. Christians offended by Jesus mockery (as are true muslims), Jews if you make fun of Moses and torah and Islam by Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him). We are supposed to love these messengers of Allah/Yaweh/God more than anything apart from god himself. You people with no religion, no offence, have absolutely nothing so it doesn't bother you if something gets mocked. Or so it seems.

To be honest i dont believe free speech exists. Never has been and never will. There's freer speech but not free speech.

Why are we supposed to love them? Or god himself?

I belong to a church (I'm too lazy to resign and some of the tax money they get is used for good things) but I don't love jesus, god or anyother religious figure, I don't know if I even believe in them, even though religion gives hope to some people don't forget that insane amount of people have been killed in the name of religion.

Lalli is my hero! :hihi: (if you are finnish you might know the tale)

Someday when the WW3 has destroyed most of earth and it's population, the children of the people who survived in shelters have for generations told tales of this chosen one and his children, people start to believe in these tales and get hope from them. And that's how the religion of Star Wars got born...

I wish I can get some sleep tonight.

See this is all any religion does to people. It allows them to pass judgement on people they don't even know. I myself believe in a logical and systematic universe.

Now, by saying this I mean offence to noone and this is a general reply to some of the more recent posts in this thread and is not aimed at anyone in particular. But I am of the opinion, that not only should religion be allowed to be mocked, but religion NEEDS to be mocked. It is only when people can view their religion with a sense of humility that they can follow it in peace. And my reason to say this is simple, fanatic faith of religion or beliefs or of an individual, without question does more harm than it does good. Wars have started because of fanaticism of religion (Israel and Palestine), sense of beliefs (World War 2) and fanatacism of the individual (again World War 2). People need to step back and take a joke about their faith, or any other thing they hold sacred now and again for their own safety and the safety of those around them. Now I will not suggest that there is complete tolerance in this respect, as regards to racism etc. But I would suggest this is necessary in the context of satire, such as that often displayed in South Park.

The legality of it doesn't come into the decision. its the morality that is the issue, and legality and morality are not always the same.

I'm sorry but if you think i believe in nothing then you are wrong. I know how i believe everything works and it's as worthwhile and as worthy as anything you or anyone else believes. I have faith.

They aren't always the same but the legal system is based around morality.  Either way you want to look at it, morally or legally, free speech has a limit.  It only extends to the point at which it causes harm to another individual.

i agree with all that. But as we discuss it here it is on moral grounds.

dude, in the episode when the kids were asked, "is [scientology] it any more retarded than believeing Jesus was the son of God?" the kids answer "yes, it's WAY more retarded"

They don't make fun of religions, they make fun of how insane people who believe too much are.

Other then Mormanism, which they do make fun of completely, you hit the nail right on the head.  Southpark really likes to go after extremists, on the left AND the right.  Its a no nonsense satire of how F'ed up our country is right now and I think if more people could get past the dick/fart jokes and really start reading between the lines they'd see what a truly intelligent show this really is.

Back on the "Chef left South Park because they made fun of Scientology" thing.... there's an episode called "The Return of Chef" where they say he left for 3 months to join the Super Adventure Club... and he comes back and they've spliced together bits of stuff he's said in past episodes really badly so it sounds really hilarious.

Remember, the Super Adventure Club is NOT the same as the Adventure Club... :hihi: