Russia sours on South Park
Delivered to us via cossack from The Moscow Times:
Prosecutors on Monday fired a broadside against 2×2 television, accusing the cartoon network of promoting extremism with an episode of the iconoclastic U.S. cartoon “South Park” and violating children’s rights by airing shows such as “The Simpsons” and “The Family Guy.”
The City Prosecutors Office said in a statement that a commission of experts had determined that the South Park episode “Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics” was extremist in nature because it promotes “hatred between religions.”
I’m not going to dive into the usual debates over censorship or cultural misconceptions because I’m pretty sure that everyone and their dog has beaten me to it by now. Of course, anyone with some insight on such things should feel free to raise these points in the comments if you want.
Now, what really weirds me out about this story? The timing. This particular episode of South Park aired way back in 1999. Furthermore, it has been syndicated a thousand times on a thousand different networks worldwide in that time and is available in multiple video formats to boot. You’re only taking issue with this now? One possible explanation in the article - somebody out there wants that station’s frequency - suddenly doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
Reader homework: turn this into a Yakov Smirnoff joke. I’m drawing a blank.
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