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Opinion

Has South Park finally crossed the line?

We're laughing with you

Comedy Central recently pulled an episode of its star program that satirized Scientology from the airwaves. Should Matt and Trey bow to pressure or cry censorship?

Scientology's popularity the cause of the uproar

No, South Park has not gone too far. This situation has been blown out of proportion because Isaac Hayes decided to quit. Scientology is not the only religion that has been ridiculed on South Park, but since Scientology has been a hot topic lately the situation has gotten out of hand. It was the same with the episode of The Boondocks that aired on Sunday; they ridiculed Christianity and at the end of the episode, they showed a comment that someone wrote saying the show had crossed the line. The response to the comment said it is the comedian's job to find that line and cross it deliberately. South Park crossed the line on purpose because that's the creators' job. -- Ariner Graham

‘South Park' just doing what it always does -- ‘poking fun' 

South Park has always been known for its outrageous sense of humor, political indiscretion and of course, its choice to make fun of any and every group it can possibly think of. Comedy Central's decision to pull an episode poking fun at Scientology is disgraceful. The show pokes fun at every religion; Scientology should not be free from its ridicule. An episode titled "The Passion of Jew" depicted Cartman as Hitler and features Mel Gibson as a maniac bent on taking over the world. I am Jewish and have seen this episode numerous times and am not offended by its content. South Park was created as entertainment. If we can't make fun of ourselves, who can we make fun of? The episode in question depicts Tom Cruise in some less than desirable ways, and as we all know, Cruise rules the world and would never do anything to portray himself in a bad light, right? If Scientologists are angry with the ideas expressed in South Park, they should be embarrassed to have Cruise as a spokesman. After all, the man bad mouths psychiatry, jumps on couches, buys ultrasound machines for no reason and just seems to offend anyone he can think to insult. South Park is only practicing equality, folks. If they make fun of one religion, they must offend another, so Scientologists, just sit back and laugh with the rest of us. -- Robyn Morrow

Not even Scientology above ‘South Park's' jests

As an avid South Park fan, I realize the whole point of the show is to cross the line. No groups are exempt from being satirized. When watching anything created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, it's best to take it with a grain of salt. Besides fat people, Jews are probably the single most targeted group by the show. This is despite the fact that Stone is Jewish himself. Hayes cited religious intolerance for his reason to quit providing Chef's voice in South Park. South Park's critique of Mormonism made the Scientology episode look tame. Hayes seemed to have no problem in satirizing other groups, but seems to apply a double standard when Scientology is targeted. -- Hasan Rizvi

Show has gone too far before, but not in this case

I don't think South Park has gone too far, at least not concerning Scientology. It did go too far with the episode of a menstruating statue of the Virgin Mary however. In general, I just think Matt Stone and Trey Parker's show has just run its course. Family Guy, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and The Simpsons are all vastly superior shows that don't rely on controversy to be funny. After the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, the guys should have ran a couple of more seasons then moved on to another show, a la Mike Judge going from Beavis and Butthead to King of the Hill. But then again, Judge had the creativity to make a movie like Office Space, while they made Baseketball. But there is no problem with skewering religion, whether it's Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Scientology, etc. The fact that it was created by a science fiction writer makes Scientology all the more vulnerable. -- David Salinas

Recent controversy will only add fuel to ‘South Park' fire

Isaac Hayes quitting South Park over the "Trapped in the Closet" episode is a joke. For 10 years, Hayes had no problem collecting paychecks from the show whose history is nothing but religious intolerance and bigotry. Does anyone remember the episode when the two handicapped characters Jimmy and Timmy fought to near death? Remember the episode when Jimmy beats up his girlfriend and mom during a bout of ‘roid rage? Let's not forget the episode where Cartman turned his Mel Gibson fan club into a goose-stepping anti-Semitic mob. As offensive as those episodes were, Hayes had no problem remaining associated with the show. Yet, he balks when South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone reminded the public that a science-fiction writer founded Scientology. "Trapped in the Closet" was tame compared to other satirical episodes South Park has aired. If Scientologists were upset over this, I cannot wait to see how upset they will get when they air another Scientology episode. Instead of dancing on the line of good taste, they will jump 100 yards past it and beg anyone to sue them. -- Fabian Sifuentes

Send comments to dccampus@mail.uh.edu