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.”
I think the reason South Park stings so badly is because the barbs are being stuck not so much into the religion as they are into some of the practitioners of it.
The episode wasnt very funny and Im pretty tolerable about offensive things.
The show just wasnt funny regardless of the anti-catholic sentiment.
We all praised them for the Scientology episode and now all of a sudden, we are suprised when Matt and Trey do this?
Everyone needs to know that any and everything is fair game with these guys and to not expect them to tread lightly on anything held dearly to us.
Which is why I wont sit here and act all indignant like Im suprised...
"We know that God is just, and He will smite these decadent infidels in this decadent culture in His own time."
That sounds like something Osama would say. "Smite the infidels!!"
Isn't there a song on South Park. . .Merry f'ing Christmas?
*thinks*
Someone else who watches try to remember. I remember it because initially I almost choked on what I was eating then, well giggled. Mr. Garrison sang it.
They insult everyone. Usually it is a very funny show. That episode was weak.
He's obviously matured a lot in the last year.
WOOT! Best scene is. . .France.
"Hello French people. Everything is Bon"
*giggles some more*
Oh gosh, this is a bad thread for a Friday morning!
What kind of action would you like? Changing the channel is my recommended action.
Because it's the federal government, and the federal government knows all and sees all.
You will bow to its will. Government is your master now.
Because it's funny.
Exactly... if it isn't a funny part of the human experience that real people flock to strange apparitions that appear in toast, or statues, or the tailgate of a pickup truck, seeking cures for what ails them, then what is funny?
IMO, Penn and Teller took on the 12 Step AA program on their Showtime program Bullsh*t. It's worth watching and considering in light of the religious aspects of "miracles" portrayed in South Park.
I found it an interesting juxtaposition between Trey and Matt's use of the title Bleeding Mary and the drink by a similar name, AA meetings and religiousness of icons to the mind, and healings from diseases through mind power or through the supernatural. I wonder if it occurred to any literalists on this thread that this episode is a complex satire. Afterall, it is a cartoon known for biting satire.
Well, why not just tell the census taker it's none of the government's business?
It was a survey on treatments for alcoholism, the 1996 National Longitudinal Alcoholism Epidemiological Survey. AA is the biggest thing mentioned in the survey since it's by far the biggest treatment method.
IIRC that was the first and last time I ever watched south park.
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