What happened to Free Speech?

No.

You ever been at a party or something, or a bar, where some asshole was just intentionally starting shit and saying inflammatory shit to try and piss a bunch of people off?

Didn't you just want to shut that asshole up?


The interpretation that still stands of the 1st amend is that "freedom is speech is not the freedom to yell "FIRE!!!" in a crowded theater".

I understand that they're not inciting an instant riot, the kind that would ensue from yelling "FIRE", but they are intentionally aggravating a volatile political situation where lives are at stake every day.

 

Comedy Central didn't infringe upon anything. They, a private entity, dictated to their employees. This has nothing to do with the first amendment.


But seriously, they suck. Islam is more or less the single worst thing in the world.

 

Bothers me, but not as much as other more bothering things.

The US is afraid of Muslims and terrorists, and Obama is trying his hand at reconciliation with the Muslim world; this is a great thing, after the devastation that the US has caused there. So you can understand where the attitude for censorship is coming from - I personally think it's utterly piss weak though. I don't care about the Constitution, I just think that it's ridiculous to get so wound up over a bear. If they depicted Muhammed as a raving lunatic or in some really provocative fashion then I might be able to at least understand why particularly passionate Muslims would feel pissed off - I wouldn't support censoring it (I believe too strongly in freedom of artistic expression), but I would at least understand their anger. But South Park had a bear mascot named after him, that's not offensive at all. To kick up a fuss about it is petty and pathetic.

It doesn't cut both ways, they don't respect the culture of the West. This doesn't mean we should say "We don't respect your culture either, fuck you!", it means we should say "We won't go out of our way to offend you, but we're not going to hold your religious values to some extreme standard that is beyond all comment but praise. We won't ask you to change your values to accomodate for Western thought, don't ask us to change our values to accomodate for Islamic thought."

 

Comedy Central's management has made a simple business calculation.

The increased risk of buildings being blown up, people being stabbed (in the way Theo Van Gogh was), and other such problems being caused is not outweighed by the potential benefit of showing the Mohammad.

As such they decided to censor the image.

It seems that their calculation wasn't entirely correct, however, as the usual suspects are now going apeshit over the mere fact that the Mohammad was depicted even in censored form.

Mormons, Methodists, Mennonites, and Muslims. Out of those 4, three of them won't kill you if you piss them off.

Even SPEAK badly about Islam, however, and you're running the risk of ending up like Theo Van Gogh.

Confused about what happened to Theo Van Gogh? Behold the religion of peace. (Graphic image, so URLing it instead of directly posting image).

http://serenitythruhaiku.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/theo-van-gogh_web.jpg

 

comedy central decided to not stir the pot any longer, so their HQ isn't blown up.

Its like saying free speech is dead because I know better than walking through the ghetto shouting "fuck obama." Sure, legally I'm allowed to, but that doesn't mean some dumbfuck isn't going to stab my ass for going against his personal opinion.

edit: Elliot illustrated my point better than I did.

 

I'm not quite sure where people keep getting this idea that "Freedom of speech" means that they can say, or print anything they want to.

There's specific laws against that; Defamation, calumny, vilification, slander and libel.

The right to freedom of speech is not guaranteed in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations.

The Only way to be critical, and express your views safely is to be Anonymous, which Trey parker, Matt stone, and the owners of Comedy central are not

 

Bring it fuckers.

 

Well atleast it wasnt a jewish penis, thats got to count for something right?

 

lol, thats exactly what I thought when I first saw it.

 

Like others have said... this has nothing to do with freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech doesn't mean that you can just say whatever the fuck you want without consequence. People are still going to react to your "freedom", and sometimes the smart thing to do is to just shut the fuck up.

 

Any links saying it was Comedy Central's decision? This is the channel that let them say 'shit' like a hundred and something times uncensored in one episode. The episode really surprised me.

EDIT: Apparently it was Trey and Matt's decision after they got threatened by some muslim group.

UPDATE 2-'South Park' airs 'censored' episode after threat | Reuters

Stupid fucking fundamentalist Muslims, giving Islam a bad name.

I still kind of think they censored it more as a joke than anything though. Either way props for Trey and Matt for really not giving a fuck.

 

I thought Muslims circumcise also?

 

You mean like how they showed Jesus watching porn? I don't see any christians getting their panties in a wad.

 

You are asbolutely right. I didnt think Comedy Central had made the decision, i thought it was meant to make you think that just to setup that ending. but i guess it was the other way, or both...

Not the same thing at all. They were absolutely right on how Islam and Muhammad especially is so intolerant of criticism it leads to violence, which is UNACCEPTABLE in todays world. Your analogy isn't similar at all to being able to openly discuss shortfalls or criticisms of an ideology/religion as pertinent as Islam.

Or Buddha doing coke? I loved how they did that. Like the first time they did the Muhammad thing and they showed Jesus covered in poop. So IRONIC.

 

Hey, you're free to say and think that all you want. I just think that the world would be a better place if people would respect one another, instead of everyone being so insecure and having to go through all the formalities of making sure we only respect people who respect us first and blah blah blah.

It's just childish and crass for anyone on either side of a debate to resort to some of the things that people do. Not only can it be irresponsible, but immature as well.

 

So you're saying that because a company excersised their right to choose what to air that free speech is dead? Perhaps South Park should get its own channel, but its probably owned by Comedy Central by now. The creators signed an agreement (presumably) giving CC that level of control in the first place, so they can't seriously complain about being disenfranchised.

I really wish they had aired the show as it was meant to, because I really wouldn't be terribly put out if SP had to stop because its creators got suicided up against a wall. But constitutional disenfranchisement? No.

 

As has been stated several times in this thread, this is not a free-speech issue because the South Park creators are working under a company that has the rights to their creative works. That's just the nature of television.

However, I think the issue that we're getting at here is why it should be acceptable for people/companies to have to limit what they say about a particular religion because its followers are more liable to go batshit insane when one does so.

Jeez... Muslims have as much arrogance in regards to their religion as Americans do in regard to their country

 

I thought their point was driven home much better by the comic use of censor bars and bleeping than it could have been with neither of those things.

I loved it.

EDIT: Since Matt and Trey are employed by Comedy Central voluntarily, following the instructions of their superior is in no way a violation of their freedom of speech.