I spent some time yesterday tracking the story of Comedy Central’s decision to censor a good portion of “South Park” episode 201, following the “warning” or “death threat” (depends on whom you ask) made against the show’s creators on the website Revolution Muslim after the airing last week of episode 200, which depicted the prophet Mohammed in a bear costume. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the website has been taken down, although a screen capture of the post in question is viewable here. (NOTE: I followed up with the originator of that screen capture, and it seems like it’s only a portion of what appeared online–for one thing, the inclusion of the office addresses of the show’s creators does not appear on that screen capture.) I crowdsourced some comments. I even watched a clip from “The O’Reilly Factor,” in which O’Reilly repeatedly praised the show’s creators as “courageous.” (O’Reilly praising Trey and Matt?! What alternate universe am I in?)
What emerged is a clash of values, free speech vs. religious sensitivity. Among the comments posted on the Internet, there was a surge of anger and a sense of violation from the many free speech advocates who weighed in. And the free speech defenders spanned the full political spectrum, from arch-conservative to progressive liberal–nothing unites people more than a common “enemy.” Some comments characterized Comedy Central’s move as “political correctness” run amok (and often included inflammatory statements about Islamic culture). Many considered the move outrageous and cowardly. A few even posted a “Mohammed emoticon,” a depiction of Mohammed rendered in ASCII characters, then asked everyone to add it to their e-signatures and discussion forum posts to offend the hell out of “overly sensitive” Muslims. (more…)
