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Similar thing happened here with Sikhs. A young Sikh writer produced a play about child abuse in a temple (you thought catholic priests had a monopoly). The loc

Similar thing happened here with Sikhs. A young Sikh writer produced a play about child abuse in a temple (you thought catholic priests had a monopoly). The local peace loving religious leaders threatened to burn down the city run theatre. So the play was taken off. The city then went further to suggest that all future plays with Sikh characters should be approved by the religious leaders. Since no writer was going to go for that it simply removed all Sikh character from plays and to be careful from tv aswell. So the result of this censorship is going to be that the only time muslims are seen on TV it will be in news reports about terrorists. Way to go guys!

cglee 16y ago
You didn't say where "here" was, but I'm going to assume it's somewhere where Sikhs are the minority. I think one aspect of media is that it should be called out when it misrepresents a minority who don't typically get the well rounded coverage that the majority culture gets. For example, Christianity in the US. It's "ok" to make fun of Christians because we are inundated with Christianity; the joke is obvious and there's an abundance of positive portrayals to offset the negative impact of the satire. In the case of a marginal minority, it's a lot more hurtful, and so the response is more dramatic (ie, death threats).
- savrajsingh 16y ago
  +1 smart comment cglee, and what I was going for too.
- kjhgbhnjklkjh 16y ago
  Sorry here - was the UK. In an area with enough of a Sikh community to have people to protest but still a minority. Somebody said, you know you have reached equality when it's ok to portray you as the villain! Ever wondered why Brits are always cast as the bad guys in Hollywood movies. Can you imagine the press if you had a black/female/gay/disabled/minority villain.
- pbhjpbhj 16y ago
  If atheists are to be believed Christians are also in the minority though, so why no protection from infantile attempts to denigrate Jesus Christ. Case in point - Behzti (sp) was cancelled the month before the BBC airing "Jerry Springer the Opera" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Springer_The_Opera http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Springer_The_Opera) which was widely criticised as being needlessly defamatory of Jesus. A few Sikhs complain and the the UK authorities react and shut down the show, thousands [of Christians] complain (the most complaints ever received by the BBC apparently) and nothing is done. The difference, well the Sikhs threatened to kill the Sikh playwright, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/dec/21/religion.arts http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/dec/21/religion.arts (add pinch of salt!), and took part in violent protests at the theatre. So violent protest is the way to win. Aside: IMO both shows should have been put on. Interestingly the Jerry Springer:The Opera show includes the use of the word "cunt" which from what I can tell is the only word the BBC won't normally allow - exceptions are made if your show is considered blasphemous, obviously.
btilly 16y ago
So the result of this censorship is going to be that the only time muslims are seen on TV it will be in news reports about terrorists. Way to go guys! What do Sikhs have to do with Muslims other than the fact that ignorant Americans have trouble telling them apart?
- kjhgbhnjklkjh 16y ago
  Sorry 'this' as in the south park case. The result of the South Park episode will be various official (and unofficial) rulings in TV companies that if you put a Muslim character in a show there might be trouble. It doesn't have to be a picture of the prophet it just has to be a muslim character who isn't perfect, or is a sunni/shia and you get threats from shia/sunni. Safer to just leave them out - soon they will be as rare as black characters were in the 50s. Now do you think you would have a black president if the majority of middle americans had never seen a black person in the flesh and the only ones on TV were on America's most wanted?
savrajsingh 16y ago
If you don't know who Sikhs are, check wikipedia, visit sikhswim.com / sikhnet.com / sikhs.org or watch the official US-DOJ introduction on Sikhs for the TSA and law enforcement: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6224218468847681650# http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6224218468847681650# I don't know the details of the situation you mention, but severely underrepresented minorities are understandably unhappy when the only TV & Film portrayals they get are negative and one-sided. Efforts like the Sikh American film festival http://www.sikhlens.org/ http://www.sikhlens.org/ are proactive solutions to this problem. I took a course titled "The Asian American Experience" in college. In that course, we learned about how all minority groups start out negatively portrayed, get mad, and find that the only way to earn a seat at the table is to be positive and churn out actors, writers, and directors. :)
mokchuk_ 16y ago
I believe the play being referred to here was called "Behzti - Dishonour" and was due to play in Birmingham (UK) in 2004 before protesters stoped it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/dec/21/religion.arts http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/dec/21/religion.arts Birmingham is home to a very large Sikh community, and as a religious group in the UK they tend to have integrated and adapted to British life pretty well. The events surrounding this play was seen as being very unusual (at least from the perspective of the middle class English) Interestingly the writer herself is a Sikh, and is currently touring with a play based around the incident. http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/mar/15/gurpreet-kaur-bhatti-behud-behzti http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/mar/15/gurpreet-kaur-bh...

cglee 16y ago

You didn't say where "here" was, but I'm going to assume it's somewhere where Sikhs are the minority. I think one aspect of media is that it should be called out when it misrepresents a minority who don't typically get the well rounded coverage that the majority culture gets. For example, Christianity in the US. It's "ok" to make fun of Christians because we are inundated with Christianity; the joke is obvious and there's an abundance of positive portrayals to offset the negative impact of the satire. In the case of a marginal minority, it's a lot more hurtful, and so the response is more dramatic (ie, death threats).

savrajsingh 16y ago
+1 smart comment cglee, and what I was going for too.
kjhgbhnjklkjh 16y ago
Sorry here - was the UK. In an area with enough of a Sikh community to have people to protest but still a minority. Somebody said, you know you have reached equality when it's ok to portray you as the villain! Ever wondered why Brits are always cast as the bad guys in Hollywood movies. Can you imagine the press if you had a black/female/gay/disabled/minority villain.
pbhjpbhj 16y ago
If atheists are to be believed Christians are also in the minority though, so why no protection from infantile attempts to denigrate Jesus Christ. Case in point - Behzti (sp) was cancelled the month before the BBC airing "Jerry Springer the Opera" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Springer_The_Opera http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Springer_The_Opera) which was widely criticised as being needlessly defamatory of Jesus. A few Sikhs complain and the the UK authorities react and shut down the show, thousands [of Christians] complain (the most complaints ever received by the BBC apparently) and nothing is done. The difference, well the Sikhs threatened to kill the Sikh playwright, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/dec/21/religion.arts http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/dec/21/religion.arts (add pinch of salt!), and took part in violent protests at the theatre. So violent protest is the way to win. Aside: IMO both shows should have been put on. Interestingly the Jerry Springer:The Opera show includes the use of the word "cunt" which from what I can tell is the only word the BBC won't normally allow - exceptions are made if your show is considered blasphemous, obviously.

btilly 16y ago

So the result of this censorship is going to be that the only time muslims are seen on TV it will be in news reports about terrorists. Way to go guys! What do Sikhs have to do with Muslims other than the fact that ignorant Americans have trouble telling them apart?

kjhgbhnjklkjh 16y ago
Sorry 'this' as in the south park case. The result of the South Park episode will be various official (and unofficial) rulings in TV companies that if you put a Muslim character in a show there might be trouble. It doesn't have to be a picture of the prophet it just has to be a muslim character who isn't perfect, or is a sunni/shia and you get threats from shia/sunni. Safer to just leave them out - soon they will be as rare as black characters were in the 50s. Now do you think you would have a black president if the majority of middle americans had never seen a black person in the flesh and the only ones on TV were on America's most wanted?

savrajsingh 16y ago

If you don't know who Sikhs are, check wikipedia, visit sikhswim.com / sikhnet.com / sikhs.org or watch the official US-DOJ introduction on Sikhs for the TSA and law enforcement: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6224218468847681650# http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6224218468847681650# I don't know the details of the situation you mention, but severely underrepresented minorities are understandably unhappy when the only TV & Film portrayals they get are negative and one-sided. Efforts like the Sikh American film festival http://www.sikhlens.org/ http://www.sikhlens.org/ are proactive solutions to this problem. I took a course titled "The Asian American Experience" in college. In that course, we learned about how all minority groups start out negatively portrayed, get mad, and find that the only way to earn a seat at the table is to be positive and churn out actors, writers, and directors. :)

mokchuk_ 16y ago

I believe the play being referred to here was called "Behzti - Dishonour" and was due to play in Birmingham (UK) in 2004 before protesters stoped it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/dec/21/religion.arts http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/dec/21/religion.arts Birmingham is home to a very large Sikh community, and as a religious group in the UK they tend to have integrated and adapted to British life pretty well. The events surrounding this play was seen as being very unusual (at least from the perspective of the middle class English) Interestingly the writer herself is a Sikh, and is currently touring with a play based around the incident. http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/mar/15/gurpreet-kaur-bhatti-behud-behzti http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/mar/15/gurpreet-kaur-bh...