Muslim extremist groups attack South Park

Yet again Muslim extremists show just how out of touch with reality they are. I think we should start a website when those who find the opinions expressed by these Muslim groups can launch thinly veiled attacks and terrorist threats against these groups.

Video report here.

- Nothing is sacred on "South Park."

This is a show, after all, that once painted God as a gap-toothed rhinoceros-monkey, portrays Satan as a simpering milquetoast and regularly features Jesus as a superhero -- the kind who's not afraid to ignore the peaceful teachings of the Sermon on the Mount to smite his opponents. The show has mocked Jews, Catholics, Mormons, Scientologists and atheists, among (many) others.

It's a formula that's generally served "South Park" well, allowing it to score comic points by riffing on hypocrisy while emphasizing a message of libertarianism and tolerance, and it's one that goes back to the show's beginnings, points out former Dallas Morning News TV critic Ed Bark, who blogs at UncleBarky.com. After all, he recalls, the show began as a Christmas short violently pitting Santa Claus against Jesus.

But have they gone too far this time with a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed in a bear suit?

In the beginning, it wasn't so much the religion that bothered observers but the language used by the series' pint-sized cast, he said.

"The most shocking thing back then was, you had little kids exercising a vocabulary that you hadn't heard before [from children]," he said. "I go back to the days when [the sitcom] 'Uncle Buck's' 'You suck' was a major point of contention on a CBS sitcom and everybody went crazy about 'how can they have an 8-year-old kid saying this?' And then 'South Park' ratcheted that way up."

However, the show can still ruffle feathers.

For its 200th episode April 14 -- the beginning of a two-part story that concludes Wednesday night -- "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker decided to go all-in, creating a plot line about free speech in which most everybody the show's ever offended comes back. Among the episode's characters: the Prophet Mohammed, who is first pictured behind a black "censored" bar and later in a bear suit.

That didn't sit well with Revolution Muslim, an Islamic group that objected to Mohammed's portrayal.

According to some Muslim traditions, the visual depiction of Mohammed is not allowed.

"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," the group said on its website. "This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality that will likely happen to them."

Islamic group: 'South Park' post a call to protest, not violence

Van Gogh was the Dutch director who was killed in 2004 by an Islamic extremist. Among his works was "Submission," a short film about abuse of women in Islam.

The creator of the Revolution Muslim posting said that the group only wants those offended to be able to voice their opposition in letters to the show's creators and that it did not advocate violence.
Video: Reaction to 'South Park' sparks debate

CNN commenters were generally angered by the story, which was featured on Tuesday's "Anderson Cooper 360°."

"I have no respect for a prophet or god that needs its followers to defend it by threats and murder. 'South Park' should be applauded," Andrew said on the "AC360°" live blog.

"I'm a Muslim that loves the message of the Qur'an dearly, but that is not MY Islam," Erbab added.

Parker and Stone knew what might be coming. In an interview with the pop culture and tech site BoingBoing.net during production of the 200th show, they acknowledged that Mohammed would be a character but didn't know how he would be portrayed -- or whether Comedy Central, "South Park's" network, would let them show Mohammed at all.

"If they would let us show it, that would be great," Stone said.

"We're having fun with the same fight," Parker said.

Comedy Central had no comment on the controversy, the network said.

It wasn't the first time Mohammed was featured on the show. In the July 2001 episode "Super Best Friends," he appears as "the Muslim prophet with the powers of flame," along with other religious figures -- Buddha, Moses and Mormon founder Joseph Smith among them -- who help the other "South Park" kids rescue Kyle from a cult devoted to magician David Blaine

But that, said Stone and Parker, was before September 11, the van Gogh murder and the 2005 Muslim protests over the Danish cartoons that appeared in the newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

"Now, that's the new normal. Like we lost. Something that was OK is now not OK," Stone said.

Of course, for a long time, religious mockery on TV wasn't OK either, Bark observed. "Networks used to be loath to even touch religion," he said.

With rare exceptions ("The Simpsons" the most notable), until the mid-'90s, shows with religious themes -- such as "Highway to Heaven" or "Touched by an Angel" -- stressed earnestness and optimism.

But in the 500-channel universe, questioning religion, and all that comes with it, is now more acceptable, Bark said.

"Things are done now that weren't done then," he said.

If the satire is handled well, there's no reason for Mohammed to be untouchable either, Muslim writer Aziz Poonawalla said on his Beliefnet blog.

"I don't watch 'South Park,' and likely never will," he wrote. "But I much prefer their attempt at depiction of the Prophet SAW [May Allah's prayers and greetings be upon him], which is rooted in a simple need to assert their creative freedom, rather than any genuine intent to defame or insult Islam -- quite unlike the Danish newspaper cartoons, which were created with only malice in mind."

Bark remains surprised at the controversy the episode has stirred.

"Religion is touchy, but ... in this case, since they're lumping all religions [together] -- as usual -- and they've made fun of Jesus [and others], I'm surprised that anybody gets upset anymore over what they do," he said.

Certainly, Stone and Parker aren't going to suddenly change their attitudes. The pair recently announced a new musical based on the Book of Mormon, and they care too deeply about the "South Park" universe to go soft.

"You guys aren't afraid to pick at an old scab?" BoingBoing's Xeni Jardin asked.

"We're 200 shows now, so now what?" Parker responded.

Morlar

Islam vs South park ? in the west islam would lose.

rossie1977

the stupid thing about this story is that southpark SHOWED Mohammed like 9 years ago and nothing was made of it :rolleyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTsR820ofEQ

landsleaving

rossie1977 wrote: »

the stupid thing about this story is that southpark SHOWED Mohammed like 9 years ago and nothing was made of it :rolleyes:

Extremism fail.

starbelgrade

South Park used to be consistently, not just funny, but f*cking laugh out loud hilarious. Most of the new stuff is just f*cking tedious and / or obvious.

I don't care who or what they rip the piss out of, just as long as they do it well & with gags. With the Brittney Spears episode in mind, they did neither.

rossie1977

starbelgrade wrote: »

I don't care who or what they rip the piss out of, just as long as they do it well & with gags. With the Brittney Spears episode in mind, they did neither.

....

starbelgrade

rossie1977 wrote: »

....

B*lloxs. I don't give a flying fudge about her. But I do like my humour to be entertaining.

The_Kew_Tour

Who cares what they think?

Nick_oliveri

It seems comedy central pussied out and bleeped not only the representation of mohammed, but the actual ****ing word. Fail.

IvySlayer

It's South Park, they rip the piss out of everything. Same guys who did Team America.

South Park will have their next episode written because of this.

Overheal

Nick_oliveri wrote: »

It seems comedy central pussied out and bleeped not only the representation of mohammed, but the actual ****ing word. Fail.

Not in the US. Maybe in Europe.

old_aussie

Not in Oz either

Karl Hungus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAdcTwNwYKs

Just because.

old_aussie

If younes abdullah mohammed hates the US so much why doesn't he just leave

He says in the video that all muslims should terrorise the non believer to stop the non believers from raping their women and going to their lands and stealing their resources.

So if we switch to all electric power(cars) the oil will not be of any value to them so therefore their resources are worthless.

It's only a resource if its worth something.

younes abdullah mohammed should be deported back to some cave dwelling coountry and any other muslims with the same views should be sent with him

Opium led greed

Overheal wrote: »

Not in the US. Maybe in Europe.

Really? It hasn't been aired in Europe yet, only been aired in the US 2 hours ago.. so logically the only copies of the episode (14x06 - 201) are sourced directly from the US. Have you seen it ? (201)

old_aussie

Opium led greed wrote: »

Really? It hasn't been aired in Europe yet, only been aired in the US 2 hours ago.. so logically the only copies of the episode (14x06 - 201) are sourced directly from the US. Have you seen it ? (201)

Don't have paytv, we watch it on youtube

discobeaker

Just seen the new south park. I really cant see what the muslims are mad about! I would be more annoyed to be a ginger or Tom Cruise cos they get the worst doing in it.

It might just have been a slow day at the office for the muslims so they needed something to get their turbans in a twist about. Crazy Bastards really have little to be at

old_aussie

Muslims will find fault with just about anything to raise jihad.

muslims only know the way of violence to resolve anything, that's why sunny and sheite will never be able to live in the same country without trying to destroy each other, and they're both muslim:rolleyes:

m@cc@

old_aussie wrote: »

Muslims will find fault with just about anything to raise jihad.

muslims only know the way of violence to resolve anything, that's why sunny and sheite will never be able to live in the same country without trying to destroy each other, and they're both muslim:rolleyes:

And while we're at it with sweeping generalisations, all Irish love spuds.

Kiith

Any religion that condones, and even encourages, violence for something as trivial as this can **** right the hell off. Its a bunch of angry old men who dont know how to handle people thinking for themselves. Its a shame as well, as a small bunch of violent extremists makes the entire religion look ****ing crazy.

Snowie

yep clever south park is bad so what do the creators do...

take the piss out of them even more

tom cruise is a fudge packer.

m@cc@

Kiith wrote: »

Any religion that condones, and even encourages, violence for something as trivial as this can **** right the hell off.

It would be pretty easy to prove that all major religions condone violence if you wanted to use religion to further your own aims.

Mahatma coat

m@cc@ wrote: »

And while we're at it with sweeping generalisations, all Irish love spuds.

Ah, But we do Though

galwayrush

I don't believe they have ever mocked Jedi.:rolleyes:

old_aussie

I just noticed that younes abdullah mohammed(in the video) is a bit of a porker.

SlabMurphy

It's a stupid, silly programme. It's sh!te, give me the Simpsons any day.

rovert

SlabMurphy wrote: »

It's a stupid, silly programme. It's sh!te, give me the Simpsons any day.

Troll

hal9000

Oh My God They Killed Matt & Trey! You Bastards!

baltimore sun

Fudge 'em
suck on my chocolate salty balls

Thomas828

Feh! It's common knowledge that South Park will satirise anything for cheap laughs. That shows what this extremist Islamist group is like - alienated, out of touch, insecure, immature, and moreover a group that oozes hate and anger.

Volvagia

Noone mentioned anything about Buddha doing coke in the same episode.

I like Buddhists, they're cool.

prinz

Opium led greed wrote: »

Really? It hasn't been aired in Europe yet, only been aired in the US 2 hours ago..

It was on comedy central a couple of nights ago

Volvagia

prinz wrote: »

It was on comedy central a couple of nights ago

I believe he was talking about the 2nd part, which is the conclusion. Aired last night in the US.

wes

These guys need to calm down, and media need not give some random ass web site so much publicity. There idiots, should get over it, South Park is just a cartoon.

Wheelsonthebus

Sharif don't like it.

orourkeda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYsUSBG0BN4&feature=PlayList&p=B272C98052AAFDFD&playnext_from=PL&index=3

orourkeda

wes wrote: »

These guys need to calm down, and media need not give some random ass web site so much publicity. There idiots, should get over it, South Park is just a cartoon.

Surely the whole point of a show like south park is to provoke this sort of reaction.

irishconvert

old_aussie wrote: »

Muslims will find fault with just about anything to raise jihad.

muslims only know the way of violence to resolve anything, that's why sunny and sheite will never be able to live in the same country without trying to destroy each other, and they're both muslim:rolleyes:

Another bigoted anti-Muslim post from old_aussie.

Sanjuro

SlabMurphy wrote: »

It's a stupid, silly programme. It's sh!te, give me the Simpsons any day.

Stay on topic. STAY ON TOPIC

prinz

orourkeda wrote: »

Surely the whole point of a show like south park is to provoke this sort of reaction.

Exactly without this kind of response South Park becomes irrelevant. Funnily enough I watched the first part a few nights ago. I was completely unaware that South Park was even still on the go. The cynic in me thinks the whole thing is nothing more than a ratings booster.

orourkeda

irishconvert wrote: »

Another bigoted anti-Muslim post from old_aussie.

Perhaps it is bigoted but it's true.

wes

orourkeda wrote: »

Perhaps it is bigoted but it's true.

No more truer, than saying that American's are always looking for a excuse to go to war, for instance. Both statements are nonsense.

wes

orourkeda wrote: »

Surely the whole point of a show like south park is to provoke this sort of reaction.

I taught the reasoning behind this particular episode was about free speech.

irishconvert

orourkeda wrote: »

Perhaps it is bigoted but it's true.

No, it's complete ****e. If it was true you would be dead now. With 30,000 Muslims in Ireland and over 2 million in the UK we would be waging a "jihad" and killing everyone in sight. Complete nonsense and bigoted rubbish.

h57xiucj2z946q

Apparently the website that carried the threat has since been hacked - http://www.revolutionislam.com/

Volvagia

Bradley Delicious Peanut wrote: »

Apparently the website that carried the threat has since been hacked - http://www.revolutionislam.com/

That's hilarious

wes

Bradley Delicious Peanut wrote: »

Apparently the website that carried the threat has since been hacked - http://www.revolutionislam.com/

Well, they did bring it on themselves. Morons.

WhiteRussian

What irks me is the play-dumb attitude of the creators of Revolution Muslim. By claiming that people do not need a post on the internet to inspire them to commit a terrorist attack then they must be incredibly naiive. They are terrorists, pure and simple. I mean why would they even have their website if they did not want people around the world to view it?

Smug, slimey terrorist kunts.

EDIT: lol that's a funny hacking of the website

bluto63

People brush South Park aside as a ridiculous show because of its toilet humour, but really South Park delivers messages that everyone needs to adhere to. It's quite a clever show. This episode is showing it again. It's playing on the fact that any other religious character can be made fun of but as soon as Mohammed is made fun of, it's something different, something wrong. That's bollocks. I live by their credence, either you can make fun of everything or you can make fun of nothing. I choose the former

m@cc@

orourkeda wrote: »

Perhaps it is bigoted but it's true.

Moronic.

Prof.Badass

discobeaker wrote: »

Just seen the new south park. I really cant see what the muslims are mad about! I would be more annoyed to be a ginger or Tom Cruise cos they get the worst doing in it.

yep, spokeperson against southpark's anti-gingerism coppercab had this to say;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK6NbGhMw4w