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Perhaps I've been taking my Tolkien class too seriously (yes, I have an English special topics class on J.R.R. Tolkien, and yes, it kicks butt), but maybe help really does come from absurdly unlooked-for places.
As probably all of you know, the crudely drawn comedy "South Park" stirred up a hornet's nest last fall when it aired an episode critical of Scientology. This would have died down on its own, just like the mess with Tom Cruise and his couch-jumping was starting to, except the Church of Scientology has a mindless, reflexive policy of indiscriminately harrassing all critics; and the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, have a perverse lust for calling attention to themselves (hence the show).
Fast-forward several months and various minor threats and censorings. Isaac Hayes, the voice of the Chef, is a scientologist, but his reaction to the episode in question a few months ago was basically indifference. These guys go after every religion, all the time, and nobody takes it seriously, he said. Only a few days ago, he quit the show, citing concerns over mockery of religious belief in general, blah blah blah.
Anyone with more than cursory knowledge of the CoS's past behavior can see what's happened: they either belatedly realized Hayes was a pressure point they could use, or else they took a while to talk him into quitting. Due to the chaotic, "organic" structure of mindless obedience the CoS shares with all totalitarian organizations, a more sensible policy of letting it go so people would forget about it was out of the question. The whole situation was aggravated by some conspiracy-theory charges about Tom Cruise blackmailing the studios by threatening to sabotage the promotion of his own films and something-or-other. All parties deny it, and it certainly makes no sense to me, but whatever, Parker and Stone are up in arms now.
The tenth-season premiere of South Park has been (supposedly) hastily rewritten to revolve around Chef's "return" to the SP community....only the boys notice something funny about how Chef's been behaving lately, and they have to band together to snap him out of it. Doesn't take a genius to see where this is going. This was announced on CNN.com a few days ago, I've just summarized the gist:
So, the two of them have essentially declared war on the CoS, which has managed to survive fifty years despite its obvious lunacy and unethical behavior by mercilessly crushing its critics. I get the funny feeling these guys might actually have a chance, though. South Park is obnoxious, and as an expression of free speech offers little more than a supply of overly-simplistic platitudes expressed by Stan, but it's too big to easily squash with lawsuits, and they profit immensely from the notoriety of getting sued anyway. After it was already weakened by the ludicrous Tom Cruise series of fiascos last year, I seriously doubt the cult will be able to bully Comedy Central into submission. Nor, like I said, have they ever had the sense to cede a losing battle. Parker and Stone will milk this controversy for all it's worth.
So (after a typical Elokian lengthy intro), place your bets, folks. How far do you think this zoo will go? Who will eventually come off worst? And why?
As probably all of you know, the crudely drawn comedy "South Park" stirred up a hornet's nest last fall when it aired an episode critical of Scientology. This would have died down on its own, just like the mess with Tom Cruise and his couch-jumping was starting to, except the Church of Scientology has a mindless, reflexive policy of indiscriminately harrassing all critics; and the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, have a perverse lust for calling attention to themselves (hence the show).
Fast-forward several months and various minor threats and censorings. Isaac Hayes, the voice of the Chef, is a scientologist, but his reaction to the episode in question a few months ago was basically indifference. These guys go after every religion, all the time, and nobody takes it seriously, he said. Only a few days ago, he quit the show, citing concerns over mockery of religious belief in general, blah blah blah.
Anyone with more than cursory knowledge of the CoS's past behavior can see what's happened: they either belatedly realized Hayes was a pressure point they could use, or else they took a while to talk him into quitting. Due to the chaotic, "organic" structure of mindless obedience the CoS shares with all totalitarian organizations, a more sensible policy of letting it go so people would forget about it was out of the question. The whole situation was aggravated by some conspiracy-theory charges about Tom Cruise blackmailing the studios by threatening to sabotage the promotion of his own films and something-or-other. All parties deny it, and it certainly makes no sense to me, but whatever, Parker and Stone are up in arms now.
The tenth-season premiere of South Park has been (supposedly) hastily rewritten to revolve around Chef's "return" to the SP community....only the boys notice something funny about how Chef's been behaving lately, and they have to band together to snap him out of it. Doesn't take a genius to see where this is going. This was announced on CNN.com a few days ago, I've just summarized the gist:
So, the two of them have essentially declared war on the CoS, which has managed to survive fifty years despite its obvious lunacy and unethical behavior by mercilessly crushing its critics. I get the funny feeling these guys might actually have a chance, though. South Park is obnoxious, and as an expression of free speech offers little more than a supply of overly-simplistic platitudes expressed by Stan, but it's too big to easily squash with lawsuits, and they profit immensely from the notoriety of getting sued anyway. After it was already weakened by the ludicrous Tom Cruise series of fiascos last year, I seriously doubt the cult will be able to bully Comedy Central into submission. Nor, like I said, have they ever had the sense to cede a losing battle. Parker and Stone will milk this controversy for all it's worth.
So (after a typical Elokian lengthy intro), place your bets, folks. How far do you think this zoo will go? Who will eventually come off worst? And why?
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