Religious Censorship

After reading “Muhammad’s Ghost: Religion, Censorship, and the Politics of Intimidation,” I began to think about all of mass media in the recent years, and how it has become controlled around religious censorship. In this video clip of the South Park episode, “Muslim Sensitivity Training in South Park,” the script mocks the harshness of the Islam religion. When a previous episode was aired, Muslims became enraged at the “insensitivity” that occurred in the episode, even though it was simply a joke and only poking fun – something South Park is known for.

Muslim Sensitivity Training In South Park 

This episode above, once again, mocks the religion and how they reacted to the initial script. It shows a discourse analysis of what the public was thinking – South Park was simply the only ones with enough courage to air the episode. Still, in the middle of this episode, Comedy Central has censored the showing of the prophet Muhammad, simply because they were too scared of what the followers of Islam would do in reaction.

Overall, this censorship to the Islam religion has become something that is implemented into American media, solely because we are terrified of their reaction. This is clearly seen when Comedy Central refuses to air the pictured Prophet Muhammad in the middle of this episode. In fact, it seems as though this religious censorship is starting to control our media. Milton states that, "there is evidence of attempts to control the presses' output of religious materials" (Milton 625). This is relevant in Comedy Central's censoring - it is also a frightening notion. 

Milton, Anthony. 1988. “Licensing, Censorship, and Religious Orthodoxy in Early Stuart England.” The Historical Journal 41.3, 625-651 doi:10.1017/S0018246X98007948