Islamists threaten South Park over depiction of Muhammed

[Solmyr]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8636455.stm

South Park creators warned over Muhammad depiction
Still image from the 200th episode of South Park
Muslims consider any physical representation of Muhammad to be blasphemous

Islamists have warned the creators of TV show South Park they could face violent retribution for depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit.

A posting on the website of the US-based group, Revolution Muslim, told Matt Stone and Trey Parker they would "probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh".

The Dutch film-maker was shot and stabbed to death in 2004 by an Islamist angered by his film about Muslim women.

A subsequent episode of the cartoon bleeped out references to Muhammad.

Drug-snorting Buddha

The posting gave details about a home Stone and Parker reportedly co-own.

It also listed the addresses of their production office in California and the New York office of South Park's broadcaster, Comedy Central.

"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," warned the posting, written in the name of Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee.

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

Mr al-Amrikee later told the Associated Press the posting was not an incitement to violence. It had been published to raise awareness of the issue and to see that it did not happen again, he added.
   
A Comedy Central spokesman said the network had no comment.

In the 200th episode of South Park, broadcast in the US and UK last week, Muhammad appeared several times inside a bear suit. Figures from other religions were also depicted, including a drug-snorting Buddha.

Wednesday's 201st episode saw any spoken references to Muhammad bleeped out, while a prominent banner stating "censored" was used in the programme.

Speaking in an interview with the Boing Boing website before the 200th show aired, the South Park team defended the scenes.

"We'd be so hypocritical against our own message, our own thoughts, if we said, 'okay, well let's not make fun of them because they won't hurt us,'" said Parker.

"It matters to me when we talk about Muhammad that I can say we did this... and I can stand behind that," Stone added.

"I don't think it's going to change the world, but this is how it's got to be for our show."

In 2006, Comedy Central banned Stone and Parker from showing an image of Muhammad in an episode that was intended to be part of a comment on the controversy caused by the publication of caricatures of the prophet by a Danish newspaper.

An earlier episode, Super-Best Friends (2001), contained an image of Muhammad but passed without comment.

"It was before the Danish cartoon controversy, so it somehow is fine," Stone told Boing Boing.

"Then, after that, now that's the new normal. We lost. Something that was okay is now not okay."

Muslims consider any physical representation of their prophet to be blasphemous. The caricatures published in Denmark sparked mass protests worldwide.

Will the BBC: be "warned" by islamists for posting the image on their website?

[Josquius]

Funny. It was just this kind of crap that episode was joking about.

And watching the second episode now- the beat aint even Mohammed.

[Palisadoes]

Yet further proof that radically religious people have no sense of humour.

[DisturbedPervert]

I can't believe this show is still on

[Faeelin]

For a 200th special episode, it was surprisingly bad. And they didn't show Mohammed

[MadImmortalMan]

I was wondering why this hadn't already happened.

[Bluebook]

What scares me is not the fundamentalists threats or their complaints. What scares me is the propensity to self-censorship that we (at least we in Sweden) see in the media. Newspapers wont print the offensive images, news channels wont show the offensive images. I do not fear islam or any kind of fundamentalism, I do fear the effects these threats seem to have on the media.

[Berkut]

I certainly fear fundies. They might kill me if I do something they don't like.

Granted, afterwards all the "moderates" will decry such violence (or at least decry whatever the victim did to force such violence), but it won't do me any good, I will already be dead.

[jimmy olsen]

I'm surprised that they haven't already threatened South Park.

And only 200 episodes? Haven't they been on the air for at least a decade, or does it just seem like that?

[Bluebook]

I certainly fear fundies. They might kill me if I do something they don't like.

Lots of people might kill you if you do something they dont like, or in an attempt to rob you, or in a psychosis, or because you looked at them/their girlfriend the wrong way, etc. That is something we cope with every day, but still we manage to handle those background noise-type risks without changing our way of life.

Yes, it is presumably quite horrible to have a fanatic coming after you, but can we really give in to that fear? What are the costs to our society, our way of life if we do cower from fear of offending? We only strenghten the lunatics with our silence and complicity, allowing them to shift forward their positions while we shrink away.

The only way to put an end to this is to keep living the way we do, and encourage an open society with dialouge and our freedom that we take oh so for granted. The alternative is unthinkable. 

[Barrister]

I'm surprised that they haven't already threatened South Park.

And only 200 episodes? Haven't they been on the air for at least a decade, or does it just seem like that?

At least - I remember watching it late 90s.

But it's on cable, so they only made a dozen or so episodes per year.

[Berkut]

I certainly fear fundies. They might kill me if I do something they don't like.

Lots of people might kill you if you do something they dont like, or in an attempt to rob you, or in a psychosis, or because you looked at them/their girlfriend the wrong way, etc. That is something we cope with every day, but still we manage to handle those background noise-type risks without changing our way of life.

Indeed. Well, we change some things - there are plenty of things I do to mitigate the risk of getting killed in a wide variety of ways. I wear a seatbelt, I don't wander around shitty parts of town at night, etc., etc., etc.

Yes, it is presumably quite horrible to have a fanatic coming after you, but can we really give in to that fear? What are the costs to our society, our way of life if we do cower from fear of offending? We only strenghten the lunatics with our silence and complicity, allowing them to shift forward their positions while we shrink away.

You are preaching to the converted, although I do note that it is pretty cheap for us to say that we should not change what we do - we aren't being targeted. If I was the producer of South Park, I might have a rather differing view, since the question is no longer theoretical.

[The Brain]

There's lots of stuff I wouldn't do. I wouldn't widely publish Muhammad satire. And I wouldn't testify against organized crime. The Greater Good must take a back seat to My Good.

[DisturbedPervert]

And only 200 episodes? Haven't they been on the air for at least a decade, or does it just seem like that?

I remember watching the very first episode where the fat one got abducted and probed by aliens in the summer of 97. 

[grumbler]

... it won't do me any good, I will already be dead.

You make that sound like it was a bad thing.