We chose to evaluate South Park episodes 200 and 201 as there are various debates and controversial issues which have been raised due to the use of the prophet mohammed as a character.
In the episode 200 the images of mohammed were uncensored as his character was dressed in a bear costume and as a result his face not seen. Following the story plot into episode 201 which was aired on 21st April 2010 on comedy central he is seen in a black censored box.
Following this episode there was a mass response from various communities including the Muslim population. It was taken to such an extent that al Amrikee wrote an April 15 entry on his Twitter page: "May Allah kill Matt Stone and Trey Parker (the cartoon creators) and burn them in Hell for all eternity. They insult our prophets Muhammad, Jesus, and Moses. As well as this a Muslim Organization threatened to kill the cartoon creators if they continued to show the episode with mohammed in shot.
As well as seeing the prophet mohammed in the episodes, we also see Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Joseph Smith, Krishna, Lao Tzu, and Sea Man. These characters have not had the same response to the extent of mohammed has even though they are all treated the same in the episode. This shows that it has become more acceptable to make comedy out of these faiths.
With all this happening it is clear why channel have been forced to censor material which is seen as others to be rude or discriminative, even though it is only a small percentage of the viewing figures who complain or who are affected. Because of this we feel that censoring is not a good idea and that people should be allowed to make up their own decisions whether they watch the program or not. However having an age rating is necessary as it cuts down the amount of exposure to violence that younger generations have.
Following on from this we don't think that films should be banned and that, again people should choose what they watch and when without other people dictating.
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