Breaking: Terrorism Has Won-South Park Episode DELIBERATELY Censored by Comedy Central.

[kpete]

BREAKING: South Park Episode DELIBERATELY Censored by Comedy Central.



http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/267116

It seems that here Terrorism has won, and terroristic threats made against Matt and Trey have prevailed. They put their lives on the line, yet were censored by the network itself.

"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. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."

Update

I forgot to mention, all reruns of the episode were pulled. Heavy censorship at hand here.

more:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/4/22/859592/-BREAKING:-South-Park-Episode-DELIBERATELY-Censored-by-Comedy-Central.

[Javaman]

1. I just love when stupidity over rules sanity.

we have gone from "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" to "I will hide in my closet until the monster has left".

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. Ernest says its like Scared Stupid

Help, help! May day! May day! Christmas Day! Colombus Day!

[marshall]

16. One person's stupidity is another person's self preservation

It's sad to see it come to this, but I don't begrudge them--not after what happened to Theo van Gogh.

[Javaman]

28. So we should continue to live in fear as per the script.

As an artist, if you choose to take a chance/stance, you take all that goes along with it. (I speak as an artist myself)

Yes, even death threats.

The murky pool of dogma knows no depth.

And given the history of various religious zealots and their stance on this subject (both foreign and domestic), controversy should come as no surprise.

[marshall]

34. True, and Theo van Gogh still has his principles intact

He's dead, but he is certainly a man of integrity.

[Javaman]

35. Exactly.

It's sad that he died, but it's not sad that he died with his principles. I congratulate him and will remember his work and him fondly.

So many people today are willing to throw principles and integrity under the bus when threatened.

It's only then that the bullies win. When they finally realize that we won't back down, their words become hollow.

It's their deeds that prove to the world just how week they are.

Resorting to violence to solves ones problems is a cowards way out.

To Theo, a man who stood when others gave up.

[marshall]

47. That really is what our country was founded on

Give me liberty or give me death, live free or die...they said it different ways, but the ones we revere are the ones who were willing not just to put their money and livelihoods but also their lives as well as the lives of their families on the line for a cause they believed in.

[WeDidIt]

2. That's some fucked up shit right there.

[Odin2005]

3. Cowards!

:grr:

[slackmaster]

4. Comedy Central is owned by Viacom. It's a business. They can do as they please with their property.

It's only censorship if a government does it.

[fishwax]

8. no, it's still censorship when a media organization does it

But, yes, they have the legal right to do so.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. "It's only censorship if a government does it."

In the world I live in, censorship can be and is practiced by other parties besides governments,
and has these definitions:

Miriam Webster ( an old and long established dictionary) defines censorship as :
a : the institution, system, or practice of censoring
b : the actions or practices of censors; especially : censorial control exercised repressively


http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/censorship
*************************************************************************

from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/censorship:

The suppression or proscription of speech or writing that is deemed obscene, indecent, or unduly controversial.

The term censorship derives from the official duties of the Roman censor who, beginning in 443 b.c., conducted the census by counting, assessing, and evaluating the populace. Originally neutral in tone, the term has come to mean the suppression of ideas or images by the government
or others with authority.

[slackmaster]

15. Appeal to Merriam-Webster notwithstanding, do you think Viacom is obligated to air their material?

Please explain.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. My response was re: the definition of censorship.

Viacom censored the material.
Whether or not Viacom is "obligated" to allow the episode to air is more in the legal arena of what the
contract says between the South Park show producers and Viacom.

The issue around censorship has usually been that people don't like someone else deciding what they can see or hear or think.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slackmaster]

24. OMG!!! DU censored me!!!

Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

When the owner of intellectual content controls what gets released, I call it "editing".

XXXXXXXX was a child molester, and XXXXX sucks.

[WeDidIt]

25. "It's only UNCONSTITUTIONAL censorship if the government does it."

FIFY

[DainBramaged]

5. Nothing to be seen here simply move along to the next episode of fear of brown people

[randr]

7. So let me get this right

We need to shut up because some radical religious murderers threaten to harm us.
What the fuck do they think we have fought for in this country?

[TwilightGardener]

32. Yep. Not only embroiled in two wars and shitting our pants every

time some dumbass lights his ballsack on fire on an airplane, but now we can't even laugh about it anymore. Quite stupid.

[whyverne]

9. Yeah, they should ignore the threats from a few crazies.

"Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."

[JoDog]

10. The funny thing is

the censorship helped Matt and Trey make part of their point: Why is it that Comedy Central has no problem depicting Buddha snorting coke and Jesus watching porn, but freaks out when a radical Muslim cocks an eyebrow? By censoring the episode, the network just underlined the message that no religious figure should be above discussion and criticism. In their minds, anyone who thinks otherwise is just a sheep that can hit an audio censorship button.

I know my household was rolling on the floor.

[SidDithers]

13. +1...nt

Sid

[seshers]

20. Well said...

I thought of this as soon as the beeps started. I wondered if that was their point. You know we South Park viewers have been "punked" before.

[seabeyond]

11. .

[SidDithers]

I watched 200 online on Tuesday...

and was eagerly awaiting 201 to see what would happen.

I wonder if The Comedy Network in Canada will treat the episode the same way. New episodes here are shown on Friday nights.

Nothing like a bit of controversy to ramp up publicity about the show, eh?

Sid

[Amerigo Vespucci]

12. Great, some "Islamic Extremist" douchebag...or someone PRETENDING TO BE one...

...gets to call the shots on what's acceptable.

I'm reminded of an episode of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" where two of the main characters video tape a fake "jihadist" rant.

"This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."

Yeah, your MAMA, asshole.

[blogslut]

18. Oh, the irony

The whole episode was a satire of the all the taboos South Park has crossed in the past. A collection of maligned celebrities (led by Tom Cruise who was working undercover, packing fudge in a factory and concealing his uniform in his closet) were going to sue the town of SP unless they brought forth the prophet - a clever ruse because the celebrities knew there was no way it could be done without offense. However, Muhammad was a member of the Super Friends team and the Super Friends decided to save South Park by bringing Muhammad to the town square in an armored car and have him communicate only with his voice. All viewers got was an actor portraying the voice of Muhammad.

[redqueen]

21. So... all of a sudden it's a problem *now*?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN61Vt6FwJs&NR=1

[Xenotime]

22. Matt and Trey do not think before the choose to offend someone.

This time they have crossed the line and offended the wrong people. And as such, Comedy Central made the decision to protect themselves AND Matt and Trey by not airing it.

[GodlessBiker]

27. So, if Christians start blowing people up when jebus is shown smoking a joint, ...

then CC will stop showing that, too?

That's one way to encourage violence.

[JoDog]

30. Actually I think they do think about it.

They just happen to think that other people's sacred cows are fair play.

Your comment goes back to the original purpose of the storyline: why is it OK to possibly offend conservative Christians and say slanderous things about celebrities and not OK to possibly offend conservative Muslims?

[DaveinJapan]

31. What the fuck? "they have crossed the line"? "offended the wrong people"?

FUCK that.

I just put up a picture of South Park Muhammad as my facebook profile pic. I think everyone should do the same.

What the fuck does "offended the wrong people" mean, anyway? Jesus!

[StarlightGold]

38. And they were WRONG for cancelling it.

Who decides what is "over the line" anyway? There's no law against being offended; it's part of life. We all have to live with it.

[GodlessBiker]

23. Holy crap! Jon Stewart should take this up on his show. This is disgusting...

and Comedy Central is clearly controlled by either cowardly douche-bags or militant islamic extremists. I don't know which is worse.

[onenote]

33. if they want to censor what goes out on their channel, its their right

just as its your (and my) right not to watch their channel if we don't like it/agree with it.

Just like its DU's right to censor comments/commenters and its any DUers right to find another forum if they don't like/agree with it.

[GodlessBiker]

37. We're not talking about rights, we're talking about judgment....

Of course they have the right to censor it. Should they have? Was it a good decision? Did the decision suck? Those are legitimate questions, especially from people who watch their channel.

[WeDidIt]

26. PREDICTION: The DVD collection of this season will sell well. n/t

[JoDog]

29. But will they even include it

in the DVD collection? Comedy Central seems to be scrubbing even the censored version of the episode. I'm curious to see if it is offered as an On Demand selection as most South Park episodes are.

[cbdo2007]

36. The South Park guys are getting death threats....maybe they requested the

episode be removed?

I'm sure they care more about their lives than one mediocre episode of South Park that you can find and download other places if you just HAVE TO see it.

It's easy for us to stand up and yell "censorship" or whatever but if it were our lives on the line I'm sure we'd buckle as well.

[yowzayowzayowza]

39. The network could also be running interference...

with the tacit approval of Trey & Matt.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

40. Wait a minute...

South Park is still on?

I don't think that show has registered much on the radar since the beginning of last decade.

[SidDithers]

41. Then you haven't been paying attention...nt

Sid

[Rebubula]

46. Agreed...

...that show gets better every season it seems.

[frylock]

48. this has been arguably one of the best seasons

[JitterbugPerfume]

42. It is just sad

that the censors won again . The death threats were just to much.Comedy Central didn't want the blood of Matt and Trey on their hands.

I think they made their point though .

[Frank Cannon]

43. Score another victory for superstition and religious stupidity

You'd think that after a few thousand years, we'd be getting awful tired of this shit.

[ShortnFiery]

44. On a smaller scale, I know housing promoters who will label the 13th floor as the 14th

due to superstition against the number 13. :shrug:

[Frank Cannon]

45. You see that on elevators all the time.

Ridiculous.