the last thing i ever thought that i would do on this blog is defend comedy central’s south park. i don’t even watch the show. i’ve only seen commercials and short previews for it. i have seen enough to know that the majority of south park episodes would offend just about everybody at some point. the creators of south park are equal opportunity offenders and everybody gets skewered. it’s a fair point that Christians are more likely to get abused on this show than Muslims, as recent events have demonstrated.

i just don’t see how it’s possible for outside groups to tell comedy central what kind of junk they can put on the air. comedy central is a cable channel, after all, and isn’t subject to the same restrictions put on regular broadcast channels. most of those who are terribly offended by this show probably don’t watch it on a regular basis. that’s the way we should handle shows like this. if you don’t like the content of south park, don’t watch it. boycott comedy central’s advertisers if you want to. write letters of protest and share your opinion with the network, as many have already done. if comedy central doesn’t lose any viewers, it won’t really matter to them what Christians think of shows like south park.

it’s admirable that people of faith are brave enough to stand up and say that pictures of Jesus Christ should be just as respectful as those of Mohammed. it’s less likely that Christians will riot and burn things here in the united states than it is that Muslims will do so. BUT…i’m not convinced that either would happen here in america. we have better things to do with our time than organize protests around something trey parker and matt stone decided to make their characters say on south park.

maybe the Christian community would have more impact on the culture if they were more interested in changing lives than on changing what’s on TV. that’s not to say that their criticisms of shows like south park are unfair, or that they should shut up and deal with a corrupt culture that celebrates this kind of entertainment. absolutely not. i’m just saying that we should be just as concerned about people as we are about TV shows.

related:

CNN.com – ‘South Park’ aims at censors, hits Bush, Jesus
Michelle Malkin: CARTOON DHIMMITUDE
Sister Toldjah– Southpark and Mohammed – art imitating life

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