Yes, people need to grow a sense of humor, but at the same time... others need to quit crossing the line.
This reminds me of a very current event that happened to me.
My university newspaper (The Sheaf) ran a comic the other week that depicted Jesus performing felatio on a pig. The comic was called "Capitalist Piglet" and was "supposed" to be a satire of the relationship between religious organizations and money... unfortuneatly it was not funny in the least, and I was very offended by it. In my school political studies forum I posted this in response to a person who felt that the freedom of the press was violated when the comic was later blacked out in the paper and several apologies were given from the editors (one even resigned).
(My Response)
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"I've got to say, as a fan of comedy, this comic brought out some mixed feelings in me. On the one hand, I've always believed that jokes are jokes, and not meant to be taken seriously. If a joke offends someone, chances are they got so caught up in worrying about it's political correctness so much that the humor of it went completely over their head. Whether it be a racial, political, or religious "attack" I've always believed people should simply "find the funny" in the joke.
That being said, I found the cartoon "Capitalist Piglet" to be completely reprehensible. Once the initial shock of seeing Jesus in such a compromising position wore off, I actually re-read the cartoon to try and find out what was funny in it. However, I could not find anything funny about it at all. Perhaps it's just not my style of comedy, or perhaps I've become ctoo aught up in it's political correctness myself, but aside from shock value this comic seemed to offer nothing at all.
While one can argue about the freedom of the press all they want, I think what's more important is acting with a little decency towards fellow human beings. When someone has the ability to speak to an audience they are obligated to do so with respect to those who will be listening. On paper it may be our legal right to say whatever we want whenever we want, but in reality everyone has to conduct themselves with some reserve, especially when writing for a newspaper (even if it's just the comics section of a university one).
I think the fact that a Christian group was targeted makes it that much easier to say that those opposed to the comic are "ridiculous" and "unreasonable." If the joke depicted someone like Martin Luther King Jr., or Ghandi, in the position of Jesus then it would have been a very different story. Obviously the "pun" of the comic itself would change if someone other than Jesus was in it, but you know what I'm getting at. I highly doubt black or Indian people would be referred to as making "ridiculous and unreasonable demands of the sheaf" if they asked for an apology. And I highly doubt any newspaper editor would justify printing something like that by saying they have the right to say what they want.
I'm sorry for making such a lengthy reply, generally I try to keep my rants to a maximum of two paragraphs. I just found this joke to be absolutely tasteless, and I was offended not only as fan of Jesus, but also as a fan of comedy. While it's one thing to tell a racist joke in a bar to a couple of buddies, it's another thing entirely to print that joke in a newspaper."
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While this does not relate spefically to what happened on South Park, it clearly shows what I think about comedy and "crossing the line." I do agree with you BV, that there are lines that shouldn't be crossed, but if you think South Park crosses that line, you haven't seen anything yet.
