Day 106 - Send Feedback to a TV Network

Date: April 22nd, 2010

Serious Entry Alert.  Ironically involving Comedy Central.


I'm a big fan of super-dumb humor.  I love ogling the absurd and I find something delightful about coming to understand someone's logic in an illogical world.  Because of that, I'm a pretty avid Family Guy, Futurama, Simpsons and South Park viewer.  In particular, South Park has impressed me recently because the writers have worked a political message into their otherwise crude extravaganza of low brow humor.

One of the political stands that Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the show's creators) have taken is against censorship.  They notoriously had an episode who's sole purpose was to say the word 'shit' on basic cable as many times as possible.  In addition to mocking the NYPD controversy (for having used it once), they were mocking our seeming fear of the word.  To be fair, using it that many times did unleash an awful scourge on the town and now no one in the 'South Park universe' can use it ever again, but that's neither here nor there.

The point is, they're known for pushing boundaries.  Without overstating the cultural importance of a cartoon, I will say that I've come to believe they have an important place in the fight against censorship.  Each little moment that they push a button and defy someone to stop them, they win a victory for free speech.  I do understand how some (ok, many) people find the show offensive.  I think the discourse on why the show is or isn't offensive is vitally important, but if the show is censored, that discourse can't happen.

Our right to complain about things we don't like is contingent on the existence of those things.  It is one of the things that I greatly admire and love about this country, that all views are spoken freely.  I look at people like Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church and though I abhor their message, I delight in the fact that it gives me an opportunity to defend the rights of my gay friends.

On Wednesday night, South Park attempted to air an episode challenging American television's unspoken prohibition on showing images of Muhammad.  It was the second part of a two part episode in which Tom Cruise wanted to kidnap him to steal his power not to be ridiculed (like I said, theater of the absurd).  The first episode aired last week, as written.  However, the second episode aired with any verbal references to Muhammad bleeped out and with the final speeches by the main characters bleeped despite no direct reference to Muhammad.

As the shows creators pointed out, in the dialogue of the show, they showed an image of Muhammad over ten years ago when they first introduced their sacrilegious, satirical, crime fighting group, the Superfriends.  Included among them are Jesus, Buddha, Moses (in a manner of speaking), Muhammad, Krishna, Seaman and I think there's might be a couple more.  In the episode, produced and aired before 9/11, Muhammad was shown fighting crime alongside the other Superfriends.

The network made a decision, without the permission of the show's creators, to censor their work before it went to air.  Thanks to the structure of their contract, they aren't showing the episode online or anywhere else.  Comedy Central succeeded in preventing a show known for pushing boundaries from pushing a boundary the vast majority of its audience was hoping would be pushed.

I mean no religious disrespect to anyone.  I sit here, as a Christian, and see blasphemous depictions of Christ in satirical shows all the time.  The same South Park episode that got censored for any reference to Muhammad had Buddha snorting cocaine off the Superfriends' table.  The episode begged the question of why its alright for comedians to mock one religion, but not another in a free society.

I'm aware that the government was not behind the censorship, so from a legal standpoint there is no free speech violation.  Speaking from a political and citizen's point of view, I believe very strongly that free speech has become more than a protection in this country.  It is a value and one worth fighting for.  Though there is no legal remedy available, there is always political protest - fight censorship by talking louder.

That's a lot of background to tell you what my new thing for the day was.  I was so deeply bothered by the censorship of an episode who's sole purpose was to attack censorship that I wrote a letter to Comedy Central.  I get myself in political tizzies all the time - there are so many things that I wish went better or differently or smoother in the world - but I've never felt so strongly about an issue that I sat down and put pen to paper.  I've signed petitions, but that's not the same as sending your words off to be (hopefully) read by the object of your disgust.

I know this may seem minor to some readers and in effect it kind of is.  At the end of the day, it is just a TV show.  I'm not going to sit here and make the 'slippery slope', 'where does it end' argument.  What I will say is that in learning about the importance of free speech as a legal issue, I express grave concern about any entity more powerful than myself being allowed to censor the comments of an average citizen.  Comedy Central, make no mistake, is a lot more powerful than Trey Parker and Matt Stone.  That they were able to silence them - even if you hate the show - is something that should distress us all.

PS: I promise not to get political again for a while, but I realized I'd never been that upset about something on television before and decided it was a significant enough event to share.  I'll be back to sunshine and rainbows tomorrow.  I do adore sunshine and rainbows.