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South Park: Pushing the boundaries of freedom of expression

Source: Global City (Ryerson University)
Date: April 9, 2007
Author:  Shivan Micoo

A show with construction paper characters and background objects made its debut in Canada on The Comedy Network on September 25, 1997. Viewers were not deceived by what they saw – the animation was simple, rudimentary at best. The show had a low budget; it looked like a group of fourth-graders made it as part of a school project. But as the episode progressed, the adult content became noticeable: swearing, rude humour, offensive allusions to religion and tradition…there’s no way a fourth-grader was behind this.

I remember the night the show debuted. The handful of friends that I was with couldn’t seem to agree on how the show originated. An amiable discussion emerged at the end of the premier. “That’s gotta be Matt Groening’s new show,” said one of my friends in a confident voice. The room came alive with objections in response to this remark; the poor soul who made it was almost automatically on the end of our childish, teenage insults and chidings. While no authoritative decision was reached as to who was responsible for the show, we did manage to settle on two conclusions. The first was that some of us needed to go back to school, especially the Matt Groening guy. The second was that the new show had a unique brand of comedy and wit. We all agreed, it pushed the boundaries of freedom of expression while managing to satiate our desire for juvenile humour. Many of my friends became (and still are) loyal fans.

Now in its 11th year, South Park has managed to step on the toes of almost every major religious group in North America. Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s unprecedented foray into the austere world of sanctity and religion has been one of success; they have won five awards – including an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program in 2005. According to ratings tabulated by TV.com, a website that provides news, listings and rataings for television shows, South Park ranks number seven on their list of top 100 television shows – far ahead of hits like CSI: Miami, The Sopranos, and 24. But while South Park’s popularity may be cresting, there are those who oppose the show’s “pointed” brand of comedy. On March 27, 2007, David Koepsell, Visiting Fellow at Yale University’s Center for Bioethics, gave a lecture at the Centre for Inquiry (CFI) in Toronto. The topic of his talk: freedom of expression and South Park. The CFI is an organization that provides humanists, atheists, and freethinkers of all shades and stripes with an open, public forum to meet and discuss contemporary events. According to Centre Director Justin Trottier, the CFI is the first of its kind in Canada. Koepsell’s speech offered a rebuttal to individuals like Susan Cohen, who is currently petitioning the F.C.C. to ban South Park from the airwaves.

“I believe in utter free speech,” said Koepsell. “Bans move ideas underground. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.” Koepsell also added that “it’s a shame” that people want South Park banned, and that “no faith should be beyond questioning, criticism, or even mockery. If the faith is true, and the believers sincere, the faith should survive any words or challenges.

“Free expression ought to protect all speech. The limit to free expression is where the end of one's fist meets another's face. John Stuart Mill expressed it best when he argued, in On Liberty, that no topic should be beyond debate, for that is how we weed out truth from falsehood. This goes for debate and even mockery of religious claims and icons. If a religion cannot withstand criticism, then something about its claims are lacking. So, no, they ought not to be censored,” said Koepsell.

But there are those in Toronto who strongly oppose this view. “Anything that is hurtful and offensive to others should not be allowed to be shown in public,” said Nahyan Chowdhury, a student at the University of Toronto and member of the Muslim faith. “There should be limits to freedom of expression, and the portrayal of the Prophet in South Park is an example of this.”

Chowdhury also said that even though a “true” Muslim is not allowed to watch television, he has seen episodes of South Park and thinks that it is offensive.

“It misleads people and distorts the way they think about our Prophet and our religion,” said Chowdhury as he handed out copies of the Quran to pedestrians and shoppers in front of the Eaton Centre in Toronto. “It upsets me because I stand out here (at the corner of Yonge and Dundas) every weekend without pay and what people see on TV is harming my work. When they watch shows like South Park they think they get an idea of what religions like Islam is all about, but it’s false.” He added, “If people really want to know about Islam, they would come and talk to us.”

Fares Elahi, a member of the Muslim Students Association at Ryerson University agreed with Chowdhury.

“If something is spreading hate or is disrespectful then it should be banned,” said Elahi. “I would call South Park hate speech because it gives people a wrong impression of us, which can lead to misunderstandings and conflict between people.”

But Abi Rashad, a member of the Islamic community who works with Elahi and Chowdhury in spreading education about Islam, disagreed. “South Park should not be banned because everyone has the right express themselves. If that’s what they want to show people then that’s their choice. We have the choice not to watch.”

Carolyn Sunich, a self-described “follower of Christian beliefs” echoed Rashad’s sentiment. “It blows my mind,” said Sunich. “The swearing, violence, and mockery of religions icons – especially the Bloody Mary episode – it’s easy to see how people can get offended. They push the boundaries a lot, but I think that (Parker and Stone are) within the boundaries of freedom of expression because they’re expressing their views and beliefs. Once you start censoring certain things, then where is it going to stop? We all have the choice to change the channel or turn off the T. V. if you don’t like it.”

Koepsell also asserted that it is important to have shows on TV that express minority view points. “Every religion began as a minority viewpoint and persevered against bans and persecutions until they succeeded and moved into the mainstream, all points of view should have the same opportunity in the marketplace of ideas,” said Koepsell.


This article was retrieved from http://media.www.centralfloridafuture.com/media/storage/paper174/news/2007/10/31/News/South.Park.Deemed.Educational-3066571.shtml
 

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