(no subject)
This is an article out of relevant magazine. I will post the URL at the end incause you want to look at the whole thing but this is basically an article about South Park. For years south park has been on tv bashing all different religions. No one ever seemed to give a hoot. Yet it took a television star to stand up in the name of scientology! I mean, there has not been a single Christian that has spoke out about it, but scientology! Here are a few quotes..
Ok I can't pick out quotes... so here is the entire article... lol
"For all its foul language and repulsive imagery, the animated series South Park has always been an equal opportunity offender of religious traditions. Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, Jews, Hindus and Muslims have taken hits from the crudely drawn, pint-sized potty mouths that inhabit the Colorado mountain town.
Jesus, a regular character on the Comedy Central series, is the ineffectual host of a public access chat show. Moses, the prophet Muhammad, Hindu Lord Krishna and Mormon prophet Joseph Smith make occasional appearances as flawed movie superheroes.
Sexually abusive Catholic priests and fake Pentecostal faith-healing have both been pummeled unmercifully. God appears occasionally as a cat with a dwarf hippopotamus' head. Satan's gay lover in hell is Saddam Hussein. Everyone in heaven is Mormon.
For years the show flew below the nation's interest group radar. Despite its outrageousness, it rarely provoked protests, complaints or advertiser boycotts common with network shows embroiled in the culture war.
Thus emboldened, last fall the show took on Scientology and its most visible proponent, Tom Cruise. When they did, the show's writers and its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, went into overdrive. One of the characters, Stan Marsh, is mistaken for the reincarnation of Scientology founder and science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, and is given a behind-the-scenes look at the faith made famous by Hollywood celebrities.
For the next 20 minutes, the religion is described as a "global scam," and ripped to shreds. Objects of ridicule include Scientology's complex, cosmic cartoon origins involving an evil alien lord in a galaxy far away, and disembodied wandering souls frozen and dropped into volcanoes. Another target is the religion's money-grubbing levels of enlightenment. For a time, the words "This is what Scientologists Actually Believe" appear on the screen.
The last lines of the episode, repeated three times, is a challenge from Stan to Cruise and the Scientologists: "I'm not scared of you. Sue me!"
The reaction of the notoriously thin-skinned actor and his notoriously litigious religion was predictable. They succeeded in blocking the episode from being aired in England. Then, the week it was set to rerun in the United States., longtime cast member Isaac Hayes, who plays the loveable cafeteria chef, resigned from the cast.
"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs of others begins," said Hayes, who was raised as a Baptist but is a practicing and outspoken Scientologist. "Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored."
Parker and Stone, no shrinking violets, shot back.
Stone told the Associated Press that he and Parker "never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin ... This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology ... He has no problem-and he's cashed plenty of checks-with our show making fun of Christians."
To be fair, no other religion sniped at previously on South Park received the unrelenting negative treatment meted out to Scientology.
"I'm glad Mr. Hayes is finally recognizing South Park's bigotry and intolerance toward religion, and hope it is not just because his own beliefs were attacked on the show. Christians have been outraged with the show's handling of their faith, especially Trey Parker's portrayal of Jesus Christ, since day one," said Focus on the Family's Bob Waliszewski.
"However, comments by Matt Stone raise an important question. Why has it become acceptable in Hollywood to completely skewer the Christian faith, but many other religions are considered taboo? Hayes' current opinion of the show as out of bounds is entirely accurate and he should be commended for seeing it as such, despite the amount of time it took for him to come to this conclusion. Hopefully, this decision will go a long way to getting this trash pulled from the tube once and for all."
On March 15, the night of the scheduled rerun, the episode did not air. Without explanation, another episode was run, this one showcasing the libidinous side of Chef's character, as well as some scatological material.
Speculation for pulling the episode, in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic and widely on the Internet, shone a spotlight on the corporate media culture. Cruise, it was alleged, threatened to withhold publicity support for Mission: Impossible 3, which Paramount Studios has high hopes for this summer. Comedy Central, the profitable cable network where South Park appears, is owned by Viacom, the same corporate parent as Paramount.
In the end, it's difficult to say how much of this was a Tom Cruise issue and how much was a Scientology issue. However, this much is clear: What the South Park gang failed to realize is that America's unassailable religion is corporatism and its unholy son, synergy. The command that is inviolable is: Thou Shalt Not Jeopardize the Commercial Prospects of Another Business Unit. As Stan Marsh might say, "I think the lesson here is that a minor profit center, like a single cable series, is no match for a major profit center like a movie studio."
Ok I can't pick out quotes... so here is the entire article... lol
"For all its foul language and repulsive imagery, the animated series South Park has always been an equal opportunity offender of religious traditions. Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, Jews, Hindus and Muslims have taken hits from the crudely drawn, pint-sized potty mouths that inhabit the Colorado mountain town.
Jesus, a regular character on the Comedy Central series, is the ineffectual host of a public access chat show. Moses, the prophet Muhammad, Hindu Lord Krishna and Mormon prophet Joseph Smith make occasional appearances as flawed movie superheroes.
Sexually abusive Catholic priests and fake Pentecostal faith-healing have both been pummeled unmercifully. God appears occasionally as a cat with a dwarf hippopotamus' head. Satan's gay lover in hell is Saddam Hussein. Everyone in heaven is Mormon.
For years the show flew below the nation's interest group radar. Despite its outrageousness, it rarely provoked protests, complaints or advertiser boycotts common with network shows embroiled in the culture war.
Thus emboldened, last fall the show took on Scientology and its most visible proponent, Tom Cruise. When they did, the show's writers and its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, went into overdrive. One of the characters, Stan Marsh, is mistaken for the reincarnation of Scientology founder and science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, and is given a behind-the-scenes look at the faith made famous by Hollywood celebrities.
For the next 20 minutes, the religion is described as a "global scam," and ripped to shreds. Objects of ridicule include Scientology's complex, cosmic cartoon origins involving an evil alien lord in a galaxy far away, and disembodied wandering souls frozen and dropped into volcanoes. Another target is the religion's money-grubbing levels of enlightenment. For a time, the words "This is what Scientologists Actually Believe" appear on the screen.
The last lines of the episode, repeated three times, is a challenge from Stan to Cruise and the Scientologists: "I'm not scared of you. Sue me!"
The reaction of the notoriously thin-skinned actor and his notoriously litigious religion was predictable. They succeeded in blocking the episode from being aired in England. Then, the week it was set to rerun in the United States., longtime cast member Isaac Hayes, who plays the loveable cafeteria chef, resigned from the cast.
"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs of others begins," said Hayes, who was raised as a Baptist but is a practicing and outspoken Scientologist. "Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored."
Parker and Stone, no shrinking violets, shot back.
Stone told the Associated Press that he and Parker "never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin ... This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology ... He has no problem-and he's cashed plenty of checks-with our show making fun of Christians."
To be fair, no other religion sniped at previously on South Park received the unrelenting negative treatment meted out to Scientology.
"I'm glad Mr. Hayes is finally recognizing South Park's bigotry and intolerance toward religion, and hope it is not just because his own beliefs were attacked on the show. Christians have been outraged with the show's handling of their faith, especially Trey Parker's portrayal of Jesus Christ, since day one," said Focus on the Family's Bob Waliszewski.
"However, comments by Matt Stone raise an important question. Why has it become acceptable in Hollywood to completely skewer the Christian faith, but many other religions are considered taboo? Hayes' current opinion of the show as out of bounds is entirely accurate and he should be commended for seeing it as such, despite the amount of time it took for him to come to this conclusion. Hopefully, this decision will go a long way to getting this trash pulled from the tube once and for all."
On March 15, the night of the scheduled rerun, the episode did not air. Without explanation, another episode was run, this one showcasing the libidinous side of Chef's character, as well as some scatological material.
Speculation for pulling the episode, in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic and widely on the Internet, shone a spotlight on the corporate media culture. Cruise, it was alleged, threatened to withhold publicity support for Mission: Impossible 3, which Paramount Studios has high hopes for this summer. Comedy Central, the profitable cable network where South Park appears, is owned by Viacom, the same corporate parent as Paramount.
In the end, it's difficult to say how much of this was a Tom Cruise issue and how much was a Scientology issue. However, this much is clear: What the South Park gang failed to realize is that America's unassailable religion is corporatism and its unholy son, synergy. The command that is inviolable is: Thou Shalt Not Jeopardize the Commercial Prospects of Another Business Unit. As Stan Marsh might say, "I think the lesson here is that a minor profit center, like a single cable series, is no match for a major profit center like a movie studio."