Posted on 12/09/2005 5:50:13 AM PST by NYer
Catholic League president Bill Donohue remarked today about last night’s episode of “South Park” (it will run again for the next three nights):
“A ‘South Park’ character gets a DWI and is ordered to attend AA meetings. Told about the 12-step program, he concludes that he needs a miracle to cure him. The plot then focuses on a statue of the Virgin Mary who is ‘bleeding out her ass.’ The Vatican dispatches a cardinal to investigate and he is sprayed with blood when he walks behind the statue. He then declares this to be a miracle, which draws even more people. The alcoholic, now in a wheelchair, is also sprayed with blood: he then claims he is cured and jumps out of his seat.
“Pope Benedict XVI goes to investigate. He, too, is sprayed with blood when he walks behind the statue. A reporter says, ‘The pope investigated further and determined that the statue was not bleeding out its ass, but its vagina.’ To which the pope replies: ‘A chick bleeding out her vagina is no miracle. Chicks bleed out their vaginas all the time.’
“Comedy Central is a subsidiary of MTV, which is owned by Viacom. On the board of directors of Viacom is a practicing Catholic and a distinguished public servant, Joseph A. Califano; he served under Presidents Johnson and Carter. We are writing to him today requesting that he intervene in this matter. We want a) an apology to Roman Catholics and b) a pledge that this episode be permanently retired and not be made available on DVD. In the event Viacom does not cooperate, we are asking Mr. Califano to issue his own statement of condemnation. We are asking our members to contact him as well. Remember, they chose to insult Our Blessed Mother on the eve of the Immaculate Conception, and the holy day itself.
“Joseph A. Califano is chairman of the board of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. He can be reached at CASA, 633 Third Avenue, NY, NY 10017; phone, 212-841-5200; fax, 212-956-8020; email, employment@casacolumbia.org.”
Well this Catholic does not ask for an apology. I hardly see South Park as the perveyor of a new wave of Catholic hatred. Poor taste perhaps, but I'd like to see someone whos actually harming this great nation and religion apologize for it.. not some crude cartoonists.
Heh, reminds me of the time during the 80s, when there was a spate of miraculous virgins in Ireland - every village had one. A friend of mine had invited me to visit him in his home village which boasted a famous moving virgin.
After a night on the Devil's buttermilk I was taken to see the moving virgin on the village green. Some wag had put an "Out of Order" sign around her neck.
Hey, they didn't claim she wasn't a virgin, so I don't know that you can say she was defiled. Very insulted, but not defiled.
This was on the Feast of the Virgin Mary, a Holy Day of Obligation when Catholics are required to go to Mass, so it really is horribly offensive, but I've laughed when they've insulted others so I'm not going to get in a bunch about this. Dish and take, that's what makes the world go round.
BEsides the IDolators that flock to any percieived image of the virgin are really over the top and give Catholics a bad name and that's the crowd they were going after primarily, even though it splashed on all.
The first time I saw that episode, I caught it when Martha Stewart was dressing the Christmas turkey with K-Y jelly.
Since Martha Stewart can be weird, nothing will surprise me from her. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, a spoof of the colesterol-free diets.
Stolen right from the plot line of Dogma BTW.
Mormons were the correct answer. ;)
Man 4: Hey, wait a minute, I shouldn't be here. I was a totally strict and devout Protestant! I thought we went to heaven!
Hell Director: Yes, well I'm afraid you were wrong.
Soldier: I was a practicing Jehovah's Witness. Uh, you picked the wrong religion as well.
Man 5: Well, who was right? Who gets into heaven?
Hell Director: I'm afraid it was the Mormons. Yes, the Mormons were the correct answer.
And lets not forget when Kyle takes Kenny to Jew Camp, to meet Moses... who looks like the CPU from TRON.
They have 2 seasons a year, with 6 or 7 episodes each, so about 12 a season. So when other shows are going into reruns, they have the other half of their new season start.
Or what about "Jew Scouts" or "Jew-liard" school?
Howard Stern just got a half BILLION dollar contract to pmake farty pants jokes.
Me too.
Intentional choice of words, or just chance?
The Virgin Mary was not defiled, a statue of her was. No one is safe from South Park. The Catholic church has been a target many times.
Is that what it was? I thought it was a golden dreidel.
I actually fell asleep during this episode. What I did see I did not think it was funny at all and I was a bit offended. However, I am a South Park fan. I take the good with the bad. If you can't take it don't watch it at all. Being a red-head, the "Ginger" episode was hard to take too. Tough.
One of the reasons I like the show is because they skewer everybody. You got to be able to shake it off when it's your turn to be ridiculed.
My husband told me the next morning that the show was basically going after AA and the belief that alcholism was a "disease" permitting the alcholic to have no responsibility for his actions.
What's your point?
Yeah I turned the channel......
Can you explain Aristotle's "comedic nuance"?
I'm surprised it took 8 years for them to start trashing the Catholic Church, they've taken on everyone else.
You haven't been watching it closely enough. There was one episode (a few years back), where they strongly implied all priests were pedophiles. The Vatican council met to discuss the "Priest Abuse Scandal"--the problem to the Vatican was't that priests were abusing children, just than they were getting caught.
Anyone who watches South Park should be prepared to check their taboos before airtime.
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