Muslim radicals threaten the lives of South Park creators.
Last week, South Park aired their 200th episode, an episode which revisited many of the series' past controversies. But the central controversy they revisited was the depiction of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.
Years ago, the show's creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker had no trouble depicting Mohammed in an episode entitled "Super Best Friends", in which Mohammed appeared with other religious figures as a member of a superhero team reminiscent of the Justice League from the 1970's cartoon Super Friends.
However, after the infamous Danish riots broke out over cartoons depicting Mohammed, the South Park creators devoted another entire 2-part episode called Cartoon Wars to address the media's cowardice when free speech itself has been challenged with violence. But despite Stone and Parker's promise to try and actually depict Mohammed in the second part of Cartoon Wars, Cartoon Network refused to allow it, leading to Mohammed's image being censored from the episode.
And yet, even though they were no longer allowed to depict Mohammed in the show, Comedy Central continued to air reruns of the "Super Best Friends" episode uncensored, Mohammed and all. And the episode is available in an unaltered form on DVD.
And so last week Parker and Stone tried again by airing the first of another 2-part (or more) installment of South Park. And again, they used depicting Mohammed on screen as the possible solution to the town's problems. They further acknowledged Comedy Central's inconsistent position on this issue by making numerous references to the "Super Best Friends" episode that to this day still depicts Mohammed.
But now the South Park boys are forced to hide Mohommed's image inside a large bear costume, which they ultimately conclude should be sufficient to not anger Muslims. It turns out, however, that even that is considered insufficient to appease Muslim fundamentalists as now a radical Islamic Web site Revolutionmuslim.com has launched thinly veiled threats on the lives of Parker and Stone:
The posting on Revolutionmuslim.com says: “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.”
Theo van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker who was murdered by an Islamic extremist in 2004 after making a short documentary on violence against women in some Islamic societies. The posting on Revolutionmuslim.com features a graphic photograph of Van Gogh with his throat cut and a dagger in his chest.
The site goes on to provide its readers with Comedy Central’s New York address, as well as the Los Angeles, California, address of Parker and Stone’s production company.
Contacted by CNN, the author of the post, Abu Talhah al Amrikee, said that providing the addresses was not intended as a threat to the creators of South Park but to give people the opportunity to protest.
Over still photographs of Parker, Stone, van Gogh and others, the Web site runs audio of a sermon by the radical U.S.-born preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who is now in hiding in Yemen. The sermon, recorded some time ago, talks about assassinating those who have “defamed” the Prophet Mohammed – citing one religious authority as saying “Harming Allah and his messenger is a reason to encourage Muslims to kill whoever does that.” U.S. officials say al-Awlaki is on a list of al Qaeda leaders targeted for capture or assassination.
The clip ends with a warning on a graphic directed at Parker and Stone, saying “The Dust Will Never Settle Down.”
Here is the video from the site:
Right. They only presented the addresses of the network and the creator's production company while innocently suggesting they deserve violent, criminal deaths like that of Theo Van Gogh.
But it's all innocent, right?
This is not innocent. This is not only a direct attack on free speech itself but a direct threat on people's lives. And in my opinion, it's legitimate grounds for arrest. This is where free speech crosses the line. Despite the slick language, no reasonable jury would conclude that this is innocent and not intended to incite people to murder.
No other religion threatens violence over how they are portrayed in the media and no other religion has proven powerful enough to frighten the media into submission like Islam. Matt Stone and Trey Parker have not only exposed Islam for the dangerous ideology that it is; they've also exposed why Islam stands in direct opposition to Western democratic values as well as the hypocrisy of media outlets who only provisionally stand up for free speech when it is convenient but turn their backs on free speech as soon as a bully comes along with threats of violence.
This is unacceptable in civilized society. Cartoonists shouldn't be alone in defending free speech. When events like this occur, the response should be saturating the media with depictions of Mohammed, not accommodating the fanatics. Otherwise, the bullies win. If free speech is expendable and we allow ourselves to compromise our most sacred values, then what are we fighting for anyway?
Matt Stone and Trey Parker discuss their 200th episode including the Mohammed controversy:
Last week, South Park aired their 200th episode, an episode which revisited many of the series' past controversies. But the central controversy they revisited was the depiction of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.
Years ago, the show's creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker had no trouble depicting Mohammed in an episode entitled "Super Best Friends", in which Mohammed appeared with other religious figures as a member of a superhero team reminiscent of the Justice League from the 1970's cartoon Super Friends.
However, after the infamous Danish riots broke out over cartoons depicting Mohammed, the South Park creators devoted another entire 2-part episode called Cartoon Wars to address the media's cowardice when free speech itself has been challenged with violence. But despite Stone and Parker's promise to try and actually depict Mohammed in the second part of Cartoon Wars, Cartoon Network refused to allow it, leading to Mohammed's image being censored from the episode.
And yet, even though they were no longer allowed to depict Mohammed in the show, Comedy Central continued to air reruns of the "Super Best Friends" episode uncensored, Mohammed and all. And the episode is available in an unaltered form on DVD.
And so last week Parker and Stone tried again by airing the first of another 2-part (or more) installment of South Park. And again, they used depicting Mohammed on screen as the possible solution to the town's problems. They further acknowledged Comedy Central's inconsistent position on this issue by making numerous references to the "Super Best Friends" episode that to this day still depicts Mohammed.
But now the South Park boys are forced to hide Mohommed's image inside a large bear costume, which they ultimately conclude should be sufficient to not anger Muslims. It turns out, however, that even that is considered insufficient to appease Muslim fundamentalists as now a radical Islamic Web site Revolutionmuslim.com has launched thinly veiled threats on the lives of Parker and Stone:
The posting on Revolutionmuslim.com says: “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.”
Theo van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker who was murdered by an Islamic extremist in 2004 after making a short documentary on violence against women in some Islamic societies. The posting on Revolutionmuslim.com features a graphic photograph of Van Gogh with his throat cut and a dagger in his chest.
The site goes on to provide its readers with Comedy Central’s New York address, as well as the Los Angeles, California, address of Parker and Stone’s production company.
Contacted by CNN, the author of the post, Abu Talhah al Amrikee, said that providing the addresses was not intended as a threat to the creators of South Park but to give people the opportunity to protest.
Over still photographs of Parker, Stone, van Gogh and others, the Web site runs audio of a sermon by the radical U.S.-born preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who is now in hiding in Yemen. The sermon, recorded some time ago, talks about assassinating those who have “defamed” the Prophet Mohammed – citing one religious authority as saying “Harming Allah and his messenger is a reason to encourage Muslims to kill whoever does that.” U.S. officials say al-Awlaki is on a list of al Qaeda leaders targeted for capture or assassination.
The clip ends with a warning on a graphic directed at Parker and Stone, saying “The Dust Will Never Settle Down.”
Here is the video from the site:
Right. They only presented the addresses of the network and the creator's production company while innocently suggesting they deserve violent, criminal deaths like that of Theo Van Gogh.
But it's all innocent, right?
This is not innocent. This is not only a direct attack on free speech itself but a direct threat on people's lives. And in my opinion, it's legitimate grounds for arrest. This is where free speech crosses the line. Despite the slick language, no reasonable jury would conclude that this is innocent and not intended to incite people to murder.
No other religion threatens violence over how they are portrayed in the media and no other religion has proven powerful enough to frighten the media into submission like Islam. Matt Stone and Trey Parker have not only exposed Islam for the dangerous ideology that it is; they've also exposed why Islam stands in direct opposition to Western democratic values as well as the hypocrisy of media outlets who only provisionally stand up for free speech when it is convenient but turn their backs on free speech as soon as a bully comes along with threats of violence.
This is unacceptable in civilized society. Cartoonists shouldn't be alone in defending free speech. When events like this occur, the response should be saturating the media with depictions of Mohammed, not accommodating the fanatics. Otherwise, the bullies win. If free speech is expendable and we allow ourselves to compromise our most sacred values, then what are we fighting for anyway?
Matt Stone and Trey Parker discuss their 200th episode including the Mohammed controversy:
@ islam
