The "South Park" Controversy: Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and Free Speech -- plus Jon Stewart Shines

If you are unfamiliar with the current "South Park" controversy, here is a summary. Read this too. And this. In short, Matt and Trey took potshots at Muhammad, and a New York City-based Muslim group calling itself "Revolution Muslim" warned/threatened violence.

We've talked about speech freedom and the freedom to offend before, so I won't rehash it here. But what you must see is this commentary from Jon Stewart. Watch the whole thing. Near the end, he makes the excellent point about not conflating actual terrorists with decent people with whom one disagrees. He doesn't like Fox News, he says, but they are not the enemy. Quote of the week: "Revolution Muslim, your type of hatred and intolerance -- THAT's the enemy."

Bravo! *MM throws roses and kisses.* Bravissimo indeed!

Note too Jon's lightly humorous but clearly substantive acknowledgment of how other targets of his satire, from Jews to Buddhists to Christians, have never responded with violence.

Caveat: Jon's final response to the haters of Revolution Muslim (and everyone like them) is definitely rated R for language. But really, I'm hard pressed to find a more fitting riposte since obviously attempting to reason with such maniacs is useless.

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