Moh! -- I mean, Doh!
Actually, for all the "controversy" this forthcoming episode is supposed to stir, the only thing creator Matt Groening is poking fun at is "islamophobia" -- or, "stereotyping." Homer, the boob, accuses next-door Muslims of terrorism, only to be proven wrong. "Controversial" is reserved for when someone actually portrays Muslims as terrorists -- not as victims of "stereotyping." As one spokesman was quick to reassure, “At the end of the show, all the issues are resolved and Homer realises the error of his ways.”
"Simpsons Creator Defends Muslim Plot," from IMDB, January 10:
The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has defended a controversial storyline in the comedy cartoon which sees Homer Simpson accuse his Muslim neighbours of terrorism.In a forthcoming episode of the long-running show, dad Homer Simpson convinces friends that a Middle Eastern family are plotting to blow up a shopping mall but is proved wrong when it turns out the family's father, Amid, works in demolition.
When the Simpson family have their Muslim neighbours over for dinner, Homer shows his ignorance of the Muslim faith calling Allah "Oliver" and holy book The Koran "The Corona".
A spokesperson for Britain's The Islamic Cultural Centre + The London Central Mosque has commented on the episode, telling U.K. newspaper the Daily Star, "I hope Muslims take no notice of the show."
But Groening has come out in defence of the plot, saying, "Cartoons deal in stereotypes. We try to be sensitive."
It is not the first time the show has been mired in controversy, with Simpsons bosses recently being criticised for a storyline which implied America's Republican party was involved in a vote-rigging scandal at the 2008 presidential election.
For anyone who wants to see a more "nuanced" take on a similar plot line, go to www.southparkzone.com and watch the 11th season episode entitled "The Snuke". Homer Simpson is not Eric Theodore Cartman, a true fat-assed bigot at heart.
There are actually several episodes of South Park which involve Muslim/Islamic storylines and characters, and Matt Stone and Trey Parker (creators of South Park) don't hold back one bit. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, the 10th Season episodes Cartoon Wars Parts I & II deal with the Danish Cartoon "controversy", and Imaginationland Parts I, II, & III involve Islamic jihadists who hijack "our imaginations". The first part of Imaginationland recreates a jihadist beheading video down to the smallest detail (poor Care Bear). Have to give them credit for the effort and the balls to put it on air...
Corona, ummmm.
'Ah, our little Paki friend...'
LOL, that was priceless.
To King Harry. Gulp, gulp, gulp.
Notice how his press agent handled the apology. Sad how times change. He was in the freekin service you twits.
Just finished the corona, mate. I only keep it to two. Good post.
Like a lot of faux-"politically incorrect" satires, the Simpsons prove to be about as daring as a government-owned "dangerous" comedy club in communist China.
I find that south park treats Muslims a little lightly. For example, the Snuke episode seems to imply that Muslims are only terrorists because racist Americans drive them to it, and the Imagination Land episodes seemed to say that the threat of Islamic terror was all in our imagination ("The terrorists are attacking our imagination!") although I could be wrong...
The Cartoon Wars episodes didn't really deal with Islamic issues, but with the issue of TV Stations being censoring pansies. It didn't tackle anything specifically Islamic, although it was good what they tried to do.
Homer is lucky on two accounts:
First, he has actual peaceful Muslims for neighbours. That's good.
Second, he's a toon. He can't get killed.
In other words, MG has done nothing more than fit perfectly into the politically correct atmosphere about Islam, from the sound of it. It's all just stereotyping by idiots like Homer, right? How brave, how bold of MG.
Ok guys, this guy's on YouTube if ya want some real poking fun at islamo-disneyworld.
http://www.youtube.com/user/NoLegButAllah
Watch the one with mohammed and his black donkey. Bwahahahah...
If you are going to "offend' Islam you might as well go whole hog.
Oh no! Did I just make a reference to the p-word?
Worst Simpsons Ever!
But seriously, it was like watching a campy, politically-correct after-school special that the show would have lampooned 15 years ago.
Lets not forget Matt Stone and Trey Parker also produced "Team America".
I think the warning contained in the "Snuke" episode has some added urgency now the Hillary is SecState and will be in continuous close proximity with the future President. Good God ...the Inauguration! Or is my imagination running wild?
"Cartoons deal in stereotypes. We try to be sensitive."
Yes, being sensitive to Muslims' feelings is priority one, isn't it. Not so when it comes to the rest of us. I was at an ACT! for America meeting this past week when several of us met for lunch at a popular restaurant. One of us brought some books from U.S. mosques to show us what kind of literature and propaganda is being promoted there.
Our eastern European waitress went by the table, looked at the books we were discussing and then scurried off. One of the people in our party said, "Oh here we go. We're going to have some trouble." Now we were sitting quietly having a discussion, not waiving the books around. The only way the waitress could have known what we were looking at was by coming right up to the table and sticking her big nose in our business. A few minutes later a chubby black woman comes marching up to the table and with a big smile says, "What are you all looking at?" The man who brought the books said, "Oh, we're just studying." Then the woman who was obviously a manager says, "Oh, I'm a Muslim." (Well goody for you.) She chatted for a moment more with our friend and then went off. The thought that kept running through my head was, who do you think you are and why are you coming to our table and bothering us? And why would the little snitch waitress run off and tell her manager we were looking at books? (Probably had something to do with her growing up in a formerly Communist country.)
As one of the friends and I discussed the next day, this incident was preposterous and we decided to do something about it. We both complained to the district manager of this popular restaurant and he told us he was going to talk to this woman who had only become a Muslim about two months ago. We will hear back this coming week as to what took place. I told the manager he should watch out for a lawsuit from CAIR. It will be interesting to see if this woman lies through her teeth. After all, we were just looking at the same materials that her Imam passes out at her local mosque. I suppose the big crime is we're not supposed to know what their up to. Like I always say, sunlight is the best disinfectant.
It's time to stop being polite and every time they push us we push them back, but a little HARDER. Otherwise they'll just keep up the raping an pillaging. A nice 2" X 4" swap up the side of the head should suffice.
What if someone is discouraged from reporting a suspected 'Islamic terrorist threat' to the authorities, because they think back to this episode of the Simpsons, and it convinces them not to report the threat, which then turns out to be a real threat, causing absolute carnage, which could have been avoided, had the person reported the threat in the first place.
Sure, criticise people for being ignorant, but don't criticise people for expressing legitimate concerns about Islamic terrorist threats.
I haven't seen the episode, but this is what I would conclude, based on what I've heard about it.
"What if someone is discouraged from reporting a suspected 'Islamic terrorist threat' to the authorities, because they think back to this episode of the Simpsons, and it convinces them not to report the threat, which then turns out to be a real threat..."
Wow! Rogster, I AM impressed by the way you think! I hadn't thought of it, but you're absolutely right. It's another kind of propaganda to keep us and our kids dhimmified.
Isabellathecrusader,
It is a restaurant , that is being run by a Muslim , a Muslim you have complained about ... I suggest you never eat there again.
reference:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/021087.php
Ummah Gummah & others
He is lucky he is a Prince because remember this?
Some years ago (8?) in Ipswich a 10 year-old “Asian” was harassing a fat schoolmate for weeks – for being fat. Eventually the boy pushed him and shouted something like “Leave me alone you Paki b******”.
The “Asians” Father complained to the headmaster who said “Its just a kids' playground thing” and did nothing. So the "Asians" father then went to the local police who said, “It's just a kids playground thing” and did nothing. I don't know where the "Asians" father went next, perhaps the Race Relations people but the fat kid ended up with the Crown Prosecution Service no less, charging him with “Aggravated racial assault” which these days is a pretty serious offense.
The fat kid was hit by the full weight of the judicial system and it was only an outcry in the national press that stopped the proceedings. To save the authorities face he was allowed a plea bargain and ended up with a police record. I think the deal was he had to admit he was guilty and a record of the offense would be kept on file. This meant that if he ever again called an "Asian" who was giving him a hard time Paki b******” or anything like it, he would be punished as a repeat offender, in short a convicted racist. The “Asians” father naturally thought the outcry was unreasonable and they should have proceeded with the prosecution.
Actually the kid was probably lucky because so far as I know Ipswich is not a particularly Asian area. On more than one occasion when an Asian has come off worst in a playground scuffle their cousins arrive at the school mob-handed to beat up the islamophobe.
Finally do not be too hard on the Police because they are under considerable pressure in these cases. I think there is a government instruction that they must investigate and prosecute in every reported instance and heaven help them if they don’t.
Second thoughts on the Prince Harry story.
For the benefit of international posters the "News of the World" that bought and broke the story is the reddest of the red top papers. The general public used to call it "The News of the Screws" or the "Whores Gazette". It comes out on Sunday and used to specialise in the most lurid sex stories. When I was a kid parents always kept it out of reach and burned it as soon as they had read it.
David Xavier,
It is an Mexican restaurant run by a non-Muslim district manager who happened to employ some chick who decided to become a Muslim after she was hired. Believe me, I knew exactly what I was dealing with the second she walked up to the table.
I don't intend to ever eat there again, in that particular location, because I learned that there are people there who inform on customers for no good reason and there's a Muslim female manager who thinks its okay to stick her nose in other peoples' business. But it is important that the district manager know WHY I won't be eating there again so he can do something about it for the rest of the Americans who might like to eat there and so that this Muslim chick never does it again.
As to doing something to my food, we were halfway through the meal when this happened but I did not order coffee afterwards for precisely that reason. An ounce of prevention...
Homer is lucky on two accounts:
First, he has actual peaceful Muslims for neighbours. That's good.
Second, he's a toon. He can't get killed.
Posted by: Henrik
No, but he can be erased. Remember Roger Rabbit.
heatsketch...not to get off topic, but you'd have to listen to the commentaries, as they do talk about their position. they definitely weren't saying that terrorists are "in our imagination". they know a lot more than they're letting on, which is more than I can say for most writers in Hollywood these days.
As for the Cartoon Wars episodes, they did provoke Comedy Central into censoring the episode that actually showed Muhammad on screen (they even took a swipe at the CBC up here in Canada, which I thought was priceless being a Canadian). Before 9/11 they had another episode that showed Muhammad as a minor character ('Super Best Friends'), and at the time Comedy Central didn't have any problem with it. Again calling a network out on their hypocrisy on this issue (of all issues) is more than most people in Hollywood are doing these days, and is much more than the partisan writers at the Simpsons are doing, sadly....
I'm with heatsketch on South Park, and I think Diggler is like a starving guy who is making a big deal out of a few crumbs that fell his way. We should be expecting a hell of a lot more from our artists than the measly crumbs South Park has provided about Islam.
LOL
Better be starving than blockheaded, but what do I know?
LOL
Just as long as Homer's Muslim neighbors don't smash Apu's idols or declare him an apostate. :P
Everyone knows that anyone who thinks Muslims might be involved in terrorism is a cartoonish, boneheaded ignoramus.
Sounds like that's the message--pretty offensive, alright, but not in the way they are implying.
Parker and Stone did right by calling them out for censorship (I saw the episode), and I haven't listened to any commentaries past the early seasons, but I still think they put on the kids gloves with Islam, considering both Snuke and the horrible way they treat Christianity, Judaism and pretty much every thing else
D-oh!
MMMMMM falafel donuts. May I have one or a dozen?
Personally, I don't care to watch/listen to MG moralizing through Homers mouth...
The segment was so soft on Islam as to be disgusting.
The Simpsons is an adult cartoon with adult themes, not suitable for children...
Yeah I tried to watch this last night, it was so bad that I stopped a little more than half way through
The Simpsons has been gettign worse and worse for the past few years but last nights episode was just ignorant.
Does anyone besides me think it's funny that Amid
works in demolition? Just found it amusing that's all.
Does anyone besides me think it's funny that Amid
works in demolition? Just found it amusing that's all.
'D-oh!'
It was the main segment today (12th) on at least one morning talk show in the States.
d-oh. lol.
'He is lucky he is a Prince because remember this?'
Just trying to be like one of the guys, huh, F.
I don't wanna be prince! oh ok, I'll be prince.
He never apologized himself though. fergetaboutit, speaks loud and clear. Some world we live in.