I have never seen South Park, and have never wanted to. I’ve heard enough about it to know that it isn’t something I would like, although I have never considered burning down any embassies in protest against it. It has also crossed my mind that the show has been just another example of the inconsistency and lack of courage that are all-pervasive on the Left: the writers have engaged in repeated and relentless attacks on Christianity, but even in this age of global jihad violence leave the mujahedin and Islam alone — not out of sympathy to the goals of the jihad, but simply out of fear.
But now South Park has confronted all that head-on in a show about the Muhammad cartoons, and the irrational and violent reactions they have provoked. And they seem to have done it in a worthwhile way — a way that focuses on the key issue involved, which is freedom of speech, and violent intimidation intended to stifle it.
Michelle Malkin (thanks to Foehammer) has posted a useful summary by John Noonan at the Officers Club:
I just finished watching an episode of South Park that I’m certain will be generating its share of buzz tomorrow.
SP creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone gave their audience alot to chew on, so I’m going to recap from memory and TiVo best I can.
The show’s plot centered around the Mohammed cartoon controversy, opening with a scene where main character Stan is startled out of bed by his hysterical father, who rushes the family out of the house to join the shrieking masses already frantically seeking shelter.
The reason for their panic? In the South Park episode, Fox’s animated sitcom The Family Guy is planning to air an episode where the Prophet Mohammed makes a cameo appearance. Family Guy is an animated sitcom, meaning a Prophet appearance would be -gasp! You guessed it- a Mohammed cartoon.
The townsfolk of South Park barricade themselves into the village community center, fearing an American repeat of the violent Muslim response to the Danish cartoons. Only after a news report airs the following morning that Fox made a last minute decision to censor Mohammed do they emerge from their makeshift fortifications.
I’ll skip to the end of the episode, as the middle was filled with subplots. This is where it gets a little complicated.
Fox announces that the Family Guy episode was a two-part series, and that Mohammed would appear uncensored the following week. The South Park show ends on a cliffhanger, as the people of America begin burying their heads in the sand to prove their sensitivity to Muslims (they won’t hear the show or see the show with their heads buried, get it?), while a voiceover announces that South Park is also a two-part series, and begins asking that Adam West-Batman style of questioning: “Will the people of America be safe? Will Fox let the Family Guy air? Will they show Mohammed Uncensored? Find out next week to see if Comedy Central pusses out.”
I told you that story so I could write the following.
South Park used the Family Guy as a metaphor for their own show. Trey Parker and Matt Stone announced to the world that they will caticature Mohammed next week, and dared Comedy Central to stop them.
South Park may be an odd place to find inspirational speeches, but one came from a SP citizen responding to a professor’s call to submit to the Islamist temper tantrums:
Freedom of speech is at stake here, don’t you all see? If anything, we should all make cartoons of Mohammed and show the terrorists and the extremists that we are all united in the belief that every person has a right to say what they want. Look people, it’s been really easy for us to stand up for free speech lately. For the past few decades, we haven’t had to risk anything to defend it. One of those times is right now. And if we aren’t willing to risk what we have now, then we just believe in free speech, but won’t defend it.