South Park: Free Speech Lost

When Muslims threaten to kill, people listen.

Their words aren't empty.

When South Park's creators were threatened by Muslims, Comedy Central caved to the extremists' demands.

From the Los Angeles Times:

In its 200 shows, the irreverent animated program "South Park" has mercilessly satirized Christianity, Buddhism, Scientology, the blind and disabled, gay people, Hollywood celebrities and politicians of all persuasions, weathering the resulting protests and threats of boycotts.

But this week, after an ominous threat from a radical Muslim website, the network that airs the program bleeped out all references to the prophet Muhammad in the second of two episodes set to feature the holy figure dressed in a bear costume. The incident provides the latest example that media conglomerates are still struggling to balance free speech with safety concerns and religious sensitivities, six years after Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was slain for making a film critical of Islamic society.

Comedy Central declined to comment on the latest incident. But "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone clearly disagreed with their bosses' handling of the situation. A statement posted on their website said that executives "made a determination to alter the episode" without their approval and that the usual wrap-up speech from one character didn't mention Muhammad "but it got bleeped too."

The network may have thought it had no choice after revolutionmuslim.com, the website of a fringe group, delivered a grim warning about last week's episode, which depicted Muhammad dressed as a bear.

"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show," the posting said. A photo of Van Gogh's body lying in the street was included with the original posting, which has been unavailable to some Web users since news of the item broke earlier this week. "This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."

Here's a video clip from the censored episode:



Assuming this hasn't all just been a publicity stunt, I can understand why Comedy Central took the steps it did. It was prudent to bleep out all the mentions of Muhammad because radical Muslims have shown themselves to be barbarians. Beheading and comedy don't mix.

The lives of employees of Comedy Central may have been in danger had the network ignored the threats. It would be irresponsible to not take the warnings of the extremists seriously. We've seen what they do.

However, there is a problem. Trey Parker and Matt Stone didn't grant permission for their episode to be altered. They claim they didn't want to cave, but the network forced the changes. It was probably for the best. The risk would have been too great.

Here's the message posted on their website:

In the 14 years we've been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn't stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. It wasn't some meta-joke on our part. Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle's customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn't mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too. We'll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different and we'll see what happens to it.

I'm sure as long as next week's show doesn't mention Muhammad it will be good to go.

Every bleep in episode "201" serves as a reminder of how uncivilized and violent and intolerant radical Muslims are. Each time a bleep replaces Muhammad, it's a victory for the barbaric factions of Islam.

There's a reason President Bush and the Bush administration crafted the policies they did to protect the people of the United States and our allies. When our liberty came under attack, we didn't apologize and appease. We fought back.

We recognized the enemy. A distinction was made between terrorists, radical Muslims bent on killing us, and Muslims willing to peacefully coexist with people of other faiths.

Of course, things have changed since Obama was elected.