This week I came across an article which discussed a proposed television program being opposed by a conservative religious group. The Comedy Central network has a show (actually, it is an animated cartoon) in development which features Jesus Christ as an average person that moves to New York City to, as the network states, “escape his father’s enormous shadow.” The group somehow caught wind of the show, which is in the very early stages of development, and has already begun protesting it. The network has said that if the group is going to protest, they may be better off waiting to see if the show actually even goes into production. The group is saying that the show “would be offensive” (note the future tense), and has already contacted advertisers and gained nearly 100,000 signatures on a petition. This is all over a show which has not even gotten past the development stage.
If the creators of the show, and the network, choose to go forward, they have every right to do so under the First Amendment. This is television, of course, so there is the Federal Communications Commission to consider; some things are simply not allowed on network television. However, this is the network which airs South Park, and that show at times seems bent on trying to offend anyone and everyone. As long as they are not breaking any FCC rules, and the network is willing to show it, the creators of the show have the Constitution on their side. Do you think the group is overreacting, or are they justified in beginning protests this early?
Quotes are taken from this article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100603/ap_en_tv/us_tv_jesus_cartoon
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I'll never understand how someone can protest something that hasn't even been created yet. What is there to protest against??
ReplyDeleteThe article mentions that the network doesn't depict Muhammad, which protester consider to be a double standard:
"Does that indicate that Christians then are punished because they aren't crazy?" Medved asked, "that they get punished because their religion does not encourage threats of violence?"
No, I think that there's a difference in the two situations - christianity doesn't forbid depictions of Jesus, whereas islam does. And we constantly hear the mantra "What Would Jesus Do" - wouldn't this show provide some great modern examples of that?
The First Amendment protects both the right of the people to create the show and the right of the offended group to complain about and protest against it. They may be jumping the gun a little bit here, but like you said, this is the network that airs South Park. I think there is little doubt that the tone and content of the show are not going to be as respectful as the religous group would like. I don't think there is anything wrong with them freely expressing their disapproval. Surely, the show's creators anticipated a strong reaction like this.
ReplyDeletePeople have every right to make a show as offensive as they want, and other people have every right to protest it and say it's offensive. That's fine.
ReplyDeleteThey also have the right to try to lobby Comedy Central to stop the show or threaten to take their viewership elsewhere. That's fine, too.
If the people involved in the show start getting death threats, or get attacked, or if the government gets involved, that's crossing the line.
This is one I almost posted myself!
ReplyDeleteFrom their own point of view the religious group is justified in their protest. From Comedy Central's point of view, they are equally justified in planning and carrying out any kind of programming they choose within the set FCC guidelines. I do think the religious group should have waited to find out if the show was even going to make it to the production stage before they made a big deal out of it, but that's just my practical side talking; why waste the energy on something that may not happen anyways?
I think it is important to point out that CC stopped the South Park episode with Muhammed in it because the studio received specific death threats about it, not due to any internal moral compass. No one wanted to see the VIPs and top writers of the network go out with a very literal bang. Without death threats, SP is probably the epitome of equal opportunity offender when it comes to comedy shows; why gripe when they offend literally everybody at some point or other? If you don't like it, or don't want to be offended, don't watch it.
~Lynn
I can understand the problems that Christians might have, since they consider Jesus to be a divine figure, this really blurs the distinction between the sacred and the profane. Christianity is suffering very heavily in the Occident because of a desacralization of Christianity. I will give the Christians credit in that they are putting economic pressure on advertisers, and not physically threatening people. They do have to accept that the society that we live in allows for people to create these shows, this freedom overrides their concept of the sacred.
ReplyDelete@Lori - Well spoken! I couldn't agree with you more.
ReplyDeleteAh, the games people play.
ReplyDeleteComedy Central had to know that the protests were inevitable as soon as they began planning this show. Their shocked protestations about First Amendment rights have no doubt been carefully orchestrated by their Marketing Department.
Just as predictable are the threatened boycotts by the religious groups, as their action groups look for events to keep their base group focused on the "assaults" on Christianity and their Constitutional rights.
I'm tired of this game from both sides.
It seems like everyone just wants to make money and get noticed.
ReplyDelete