Posted on 12/09/2005 5:50:13 AM PST by NYer
Catholic League president Bill Donohue remarked today about last nights 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.
Besides, as has been pointed out multiple times on this thread, the point of the episode wasn't to poke fun at the Virgin Mary, but to poke fun at the idiots like the ones who flocked to the "weeping Mary" statue a while back.
Obviously you must be kin to Michyaqel Dukakis. Let me put it a bit stronger. If someone were to rape your mother, would you react or just sit on your tuff? There are things up with which I will not put.
People that believe someone came back from the dead, are not out of their minds, but those that believe statues can weep, are? Why is that?
The people who have gone through the program and adhered to its tenets have achieved not only sobriety but a fuller life. Most of them will testify to that. I'm a little confused as to how you can say that the program was irrelevant, when the people who actually experienced it differ. It occurs to me that if there's any "argument by anecdote," it is coming from YOUR side.
Logically, your argument makes no sense. "Since as many people achieve success without the program as achieve success with the program, the program is not effective." That's like saying that half the people climbed the mountain via Path A, while another half got there via Path B, so Path A is not passable.
I've never said the 12-step program was the EXCLUSIVE solution to addiction. I just said it was effective.
Nice strawman you got there. Your previous strawman didn't get the correct result, so you have to resort to an even more outrageous one.
Were you this offended after the Scientology episode?
So satan beating the crap out of Jesus is acceptable, but a STATUE of mary bleeding isn't?
The idol is more important than the God I guess.
Besides, as has been pointed out multiple times on this thread, the point of the episode wasn't to poke fun at the Virgin Mary, but to poke fun at the idiots like the ones who flocked to the "weeping Mary" statue a while back.
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Which proves it wasn't funny. Ya win some, ya lose some. Some writers, comics frail egos can't take constructive criticism...awwww po babies.
Are you that obtuse? If someone were to pee on your mother's picture--in public--would you not think that an insult to your mother?
Isn't that the one where everyone bets on Satan, and then Satan, the only one who bets on Jesus, purposely loses the fight?
I thought it was hilarious.
And cows. Don't forget the cows, you bovineophobe!
P.S. -- Moo.
They must not have done it well, because there's no Fatwa on them.
"I think the 'apology' came before the trashing"
No, that was part of the Terri Schiavo episode earlier this year, whereas the 'trashing' episode was at least a year ago.
Bill needs to lighten up...
Actually, there is.. Someone posted a link around post 150.
Those were both good episodes. I was expecting "Jewbilee" to be much more offensive than it really was. "Jewlliard" was not about making fun of yeshiva, but making fun of Jon Edward and the people who believed that he really could channel their loved ones.
I think South Park's funniest "Jewish" episode was from the very first season: Ike's Bris.
My assertion was that people who attribute mystical powers to inanimate objects are pagans, not Christians.
Idolatry is specifically proscribed in the Ten Commandments.
You're mixing outrages. If you want to argue a point, you should argue the point, not bring in other points to argue.
The Virgin Mary was not insulted in the South Park episode. Catholics, sure. Alcoholics Anonymous, absolutely. People who believe in miracles, probably so. But a cartoon depiction of a statue of the Virgin Mary bleeding is not an insult to the Virgin Mary.
Are you that obtuse that you confuse a cartoon depiction of a statue of a person as the person itself?
Strawman? Some people will accept insults to anyone except themselves. I don't watch the thing, so don't bring up other episodes.
They gotta find me first! LOL
What about burning an American flag? It is, after all, only a piece of cloth. No insult to the nation intended, right?
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