Sectarian
Posted: Tue 14 March, 2006 Filed under: Thoughts, Weirdness 3 Comments »Ah, you’ve got to love a good bit of “OK ’til it affects me” hypocrisy when it rears its head.
In today’s great instance, Isaac Hayes has decided to stop doing Chef’s voice in South Park. Why? Because South Park is “bigoted” and has an “inappropriate ridicule of religion”. OK, now neither of those points are exactly revelations – if you’ve ever seen South Park you’ll know it doesn’t take any prisoners, and doesn’t really care who it offends.
What is offensive, though, is Hayes’ attitude. Over the years (as the creators say in the story) they’ve aimed at Christianity, Islam, Mormons and Jews. And Hayes has never complained. Now, though, they’ve aimed at Scientology, which just happens to be the religion Hayes is a member of. And all of a sudden it’s not funny any more.
How come? Is Scientology somehow better than any other religion? Or is it more of a “Not in MY Back Yard” (AKA “NIMBY”) reaction where it’s OK to take the piss out of something a person doesn’t believe in, but it’s not OK to poke fun at that person’s own beliefs? You know, I think it might just be the latter option…
Actually, I think that South Park might just be one of the more balanced programmes – in that it pokes fun at everything, rather than just one specific item.
Deffo a bigot in his own right, I hate Southpark but I respect it for having an ‘everyone is a twat’ attitude.
Maybe he just wanted to hide in Tom’s closet
Years ago, when South Park first started, I remember an interview in which Trey Parker and Matt Stone were asked if there was anything that they wouldn’t make fun of. Their answer was: Scientology, because they didn’t want to annoy Hayes.