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Opinion

Hypocritical Scientologists threaten tradition of satire

Jude Maydwell 
Opinion Columnist

Recently, Isaac Hayes resigned as the voice of Chef on South Park because an episode that targeted Scientology. As a Scientologist himself, he says that "there is a place where satire ends and bigotry and intolerance begin." Creator Trey Parker said that Hayes had no problem with the show when they were parodying Christianity or Judaism or any other topic the show tackled. 

This example of pure hypocrisy is one of many that make our country one of the most powerful crybabies in the world. The show South Park came on the air in 1997 and since then has attacked homosexuality, Judaism, Christianity, polygamy, poverty and many other social issues.

Their take on these issues are those of intense, scathing satire not meant for everyone. They rival early satirist like Dorothy Parker and Jonathan Swift, whose Modest Proposal was about fattening up poor Irish children and eating them as sustenance. 

The problem here is not the fact that Parker and Matt Stone take such an extreme view on these topics; it's America's intolerance of new ideas and fear of offending anybody. 

Today, we go through life always wondering if the next thing we say will offend anyone. We have developed hundreds of politically correct terms for religion, physical disabilities and race just to keep from hurting anybody's feelings. 

The truth is we live in a diverse world that is sometimes more screwed up than it should be. Humor has been used for thousands of years to attempt to get people through hard times, and television has become the greatest tool for conveying this humor to the masses. However, thanks to a liberal media hell-bent on keeping the nation in a shroud of fear and celebrities thinking they are gods among men, television is not doing its job of delivering the humor we need to get through these tough times. 

Along with Tom Cruise and John Travolta, celebrities have headed the campaign to make Scientology more of a fad than a system of religious beliefs. Much like Madonna with Kabbalah, many people are following these Scientologist celebrities and don't know exactly what they are doing. 

People think, "if I do what the cool kids are doing, then I will be cool." This lemur-like way of running our lives makes people think less for themselves; therefore, helping others to influence our beliefs, making us weaker people. 

If a celebrity like Cruise or Mel Gibson were to say something like Jonathan Swift did about eating our children, a small iota of people would begin to baste their children. Parker and Stone are just trying to show the world that there are still things to laugh at. Americans have to stop being thin-skinned babies and start laughing at ourselves.

Maydwell, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, can be reached at jmaydwell@gmail.com.
 

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