In my last posting I referred to an episode of “South Park.� That segment is known as the “Bloody Mary� episode. I complained how the Comedy Central channel was going to pull that episode out of circulation, and also possibly prevent it from showing up on the DVD series of the show, as a result of some complaints made by catholic organizations. The Catholic League has been cited in news reports that I have read as being responsible for those complaints.
Now, how many of you feel comfortable with having an organization known as the Catholic League determine, at least to some extent, what you can or cannot see, hear or read? I am not saying this in any way against catholics; but I assure you that I do not feel comfortable with that state of affairs.
Some of you responded to my previous blog posting and I appreciate that. Good to hear from you all. I’m going to very briefly respond to some of the points that you all raised, all of which I felt were interesting in some way. First of all, it was pointed out to me that the banning of the “South Park� episode was not an act of governmental censorship; rather, it was merely the work of market forces. However, though I had referred to censorship, I had never cited government censorship. I think that, perhaps, this situation could be referred to as “corporate censorship� in the sense of the censorship having been made possible through the consent of a powerful corporation. It could also, and this is no less horrifying, be thought of as “religious censorship� since the initial attacks upon Comedy Central, after the broadcast of “Bloody Mary,� were made by the Catholic League.
So it is true, as was pointed out to me, that this situation is the play of market forces at work. However, the way I see it, the Catholic League is skillfully manipulating those market forces in order to enact the kind of censorship that it seeks.
It was also pointed out, by another respondent, that a broadcasting network should perhaps be a little bit more careful about causing serious offense. They could do that, it was suggested, by remaining mindful of who their audience is.
I’m not even sure that there are all that many amongst the regular audience of “South Park� who are making any of the complaints against the “Bloody Mary� episode. Rather, I suspect this situation involves more the manipulation of what others can or cannot see by people outside of that regular audience.
And, once a broadcaster starts acting in fear of the reaction of every possible group that may complain, then where would that process lead and where would it end? That is a very fine line; the crossing of which seems to me to be highly risky.
My main concern is this: if the Comedy Central channel allows the Catholic League to successfully implement the censorship that the Catholic League desires then what sort of precedent will that set? How limited will Comedy Central (as well as other channels, authors, news organizations, etc) be as a result?
And, is there anything to do about it? Another respondent to my previous post pointed out that the Catholic League has been effective in their current censorship campaign against Comedy Central largely because they are, in fact, a “League.� That is, they are a group; they represent many voices. They are acting as the mouth piece for a religion comprised of tens of millions of adherents.
Whereas those opposed to the censorship at hand are acting as individuals. And, one voice here or there will clearly not carry the same sway as tens of millions of voices.
Anyway, it was largely out of that very concern that more should be done by people opposed to this censorship that I wrote this blog posting and the last.
Let me know your thoughts………………….
Catholic League vs. South Park - a case of censorship?
Shiva Shankar - Sunday, January 8, 2006 - 7:38pm
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