Blasphemous TV Program

[owl]

I just got this email from Joel, normally the most laid-back of characters, but apparently he has actually phoned the Beeb about this. I know some of you don't share my beliefs, but for those who do:


BBC2 plans to broadcast Jerry Springer's "The Opera", immediately after Christmas. This musical, notorious for containing over 8000 expletives, depicts the characters of Jesus, Mary and God as self-centred sexual deviants who give and receive extreme verbal abuse and a horrific series of blasphemies, all in the name of comedy. BBC concedes that the intended broadcast "pushes back the boundaries of taste and decency". Nevertheless, the show is scheduled to be transmitted without any cuts.

If you strongly disagree with the BBC's plans to broadcast this material, please register your feelings with the BBC, this does make a difference - 500 calls are considered as a very significant complaint.

Email: info@bbc.co.uk or Tel 08700 100222

If this were about Mohammed it would never be allowed.

Just in case you still think this is a hoax, the following quotes come from the BBC review of the stage show which was filmed for this.


Jerry, in a delirious dream, is taken down to Hell, which he really doesn't want to do as it would be a sideways step in his career. This is a great excuse for some stage pyrotechnics. In Hell he is made to present a show where his guests are Satan, Jesus, Adam & Eve, Mary and God. This is where the show has come in for some criticism for blasphemy. Indeed the Jerry Springer Show declined to invest in the opera because they objected to its language, and sexual and religious content.

Link to TV listings

Comments

Complain Intelligently, Please

[(Anonymous)]

Of course viewers have a right to complain about this to the BBC, but don't you think it's your responsibility to at least see the show first? Believe it or not, I was in an American mosque as a visitor the day the news of Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" broke, and an I witnessed the undertaking of a furious letter-writing campaign based on damning quotes from a couple of paragraphs. As we know, that little bit of moral outrage resulted in death threats on the author, an act which we Westerners perceived as equally outrageous. Then we went out and bought the book. So before you start burning effigies of BBC officials at the stake, you might want to take a minute or two to ponder the consequences of your condemnations. Chances are the BBC will be discarding letters from misinformed, hysterical fundamentalists who clearly haven't seen the show anyway.

As for your point that the BBC wouldn't broadcast a show that similarly satirized Islam, you're right. We always feel we have the right to ridicule our own religion and ethnicity but hesitate to criticize others. This isn't hypocritical, it's just the way things work. After all, it's not uncommon for black comedians to ridicule their own, but it would look pretty petty and intolerant for a white guy to do it. When you viciously satirize your own people, you're venting. When you satirize others, you're on a war path. Big difference.

Re: Complain Intelligently, Please

[owl]

At least I have the cojones to sign my name when I complain.