Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm interested in your opinions.
South Park 200-201 episodes involved Muhammad. In it, all the celebrities they have ever mocked demand to get him, for his power to not be ridiculed. As probably you've all heard, an internet group has published a threat on the creators' lives. This isn't really the issue, because I'm sure everyone here doesn't believe that this is the way to go.

I'm just out for your opinions, Muslims who have watched those episodes. Myself, I'm trying to think about it, form my own opinion. The truth is, I'm an avid South Park fan. I've watched every episode so far. I may be an Atheist, but as a student of Arabic language, literature and culture as well as Islam, I understand the issue regarding the depiction of Muhammad.

I'm to assume those of you reading this are Muslims either living in the US and Europe, or Muslims in Asia / Africa who are fluent in English and well acquainted with American / European culture. Where do YOU think the line should be put?

In the last episode, on Wednesday, Comedy Central has added additional bleeps and censored the episode further. It has bleeped the word "Muhammad". According to the show's official website, none of the censorhip on the show was their own.

I find it ridiculous, because Muslims say his name and the name of Allah all the time. Do you feel your religion / prophet has been mocked? And if so - should it really be censored?

Many religions and points of view have been ridiculed in South Park throughout its 14 years on the air. It has mocked atheism, suggesting atheists "crap out their mouths" (Red Hot Catholic Love), and vegetarianism, implying all vegetarians were pussies (Fun with Veal). Sure, I didn't like it all that much - and I realize vegetarianism and atheism aren't the same as an actual religion, which sees the depiction of the prophet as blasphemy.

But, and this is the reason I've edited my signature yesterday night, I realized one culture can not, in my opinion, only be considerate of another, without the other culture understanding and accepting it. Otherwise, there's no real communication between them. In Islam, the idea of not depicting Muhammad is a very important thing; in the United States, the freedom of speech is extremely important.

But when trying to live both with religious ideals as well as the ideals of Western society, how do you decide what's right and wrong? How do you settle those clashes?

Thank you for your time, I hope I managed to get my point through.

Since I'm not from the US I can't watch it on TV, it isn't aired live. I always watch it on their official website. This time they haven't uploaded it, because they refuse to upload a censored version. Comedy Central doesn't allow them to stream the original version of the episode.
I downloaded it, something I almost never do. So I saw it with all the bleeps as it was on television. They claim the "I learned something today" speech wasn't supposed to be bleeped.

Although, maybe Comedy Central has gotten their points across better than they could ever had.

From what I've seen, ALL Muslims see that depicting Muhammad as terrible, since he said, he did not want people to draw him and such.

I like South Park, but I dont see why they didnt stop at showing Muhammad the first time, in the Super Best Friends episode. I feel that this last season, their ratings have sucked. So they needed to cause a fuss.

Also, did anyone make the connection: bear costume = ***** bear (internet meme)?? confused

i have only one thing to say about it all, and i find that in these little words i can address every issue of my ******** CENSORSHIP!

So, do you mean that all Muslims that follows the Sunnah and Hadiths of the Prophet, will always follow them to the letter?
I heard, that Islam at least used to have a tradition of discussion and re-interpretation.
Are that gone?
If so, your fananatics has won your discussions ......

Heck! Every time Southpark or Family guy makes fun of something, then people get curious about it and start asking questions about whatever they made fun of. If you watch Google trends after new episodes come out, their topics almost alway come up into the top 100 queries.

I think that anyone who gets made fun of by those shows should say "thank you" for the free publicity. rofl

this is also a point:
if muslims are going to get mad over this, it could be that other religions could jump on the bandwagon also ('hey the muslims can bully people areound and bend them to their will, so we as christians/buhddists/mormons/jews/taoists/hindus etc can also', which would essentially ban the super best friends, (because moses is a zordon-type entity, buhdda does coke, jesus has an online porn problem, and i'd have to watch more south park to add on here)and could eventually get south park pulled.)
i think first time around, the danish bombing over the muhammed cartoon hadn't happened, so it was fair to say it was fair game like everything else. the only reason muhammed became off limits but nobody else did is because nobody else resorted to violence to get their way.

and i thought about what kyle said, although it got bleeped, and i put it together in my head, and it didn't have to do with not muhammed himself having this non ridiculing power, but the peole who gave it to him by acting out in such ways. in comedy, it's safe to assume everything is fair game.
i'm sure if jesus/moses/buhdda/joseph smith/lao tzu had a say in this like muhammed did (picking this up from reading this), none of them would want to be depicted. these aren't celebrities hunting for fame, so why should they want to be depicted like this?

@Chieftain, do you realize that without censorship, children would be corrupted? & there are people who don't want to see things that are disturbing & harmful to the mind. & how is it okay to take someone's faith & make a joke of it? Do you even understand what that implies if we stay silent? & freedom is not defined by degrading others. No one should be trying to bash others & yet most people don't even bother to try not to. -shakes head- Censorship has a purpose. & if your soul is crushed by not disrespecting another human's beliefs then I fear for your morals & values. V_V