[117701] in Cypherpunks
Oh my God!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (BPM Mixmaster Remailer)
Thu Sep 9 03:20:06 1999
Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1999 00:00:05 -0700 (PDT)
Message-Id: <199909090700.AAA09160@acid.bpm.ai>
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: BPM Mixmaster Remailer <remailer@bpm.ai>
Reply-To: BPM Mixmaster Remailer <remailer@bpm.ai>
Oh My God - They'll keep killing Kenny!
http://mrshowbiz.go.com/news/Todays_Stories/990903/southpark090399.html
Oh my god, they killed Kenny! That oft-spoken line on the satiric
South Park, about the poor-parka'd lad who's horrifically bumped off
each and every episode, is causing one poor Canadian lad personal
trauma.
See, his name just happens to be Kenneth, and this Kenny's mom feels
her 8-year-old son shouldn't suffer the indignity of having an
unrelated namesake killed quite so often.
The mother filed a complaint with the Canadian Broadcast Standards
Council (CBSC) July 15, 1998, saying that when she first read about
the show and its Kenny-killing motif, "I felt a tight knot in my
stomach as the words sunk into my brain. What effect might this have
on our son, how deep into our popular culture would this show seep
and how could I take action now to stop any harm; physical or mental;
coming to our son."
The mother did nothing until her son, seeing "South Park" written on
the sidewalk in front of his house, asked: "Is that the show where
they kill Kenny?" The young Canadian had already heard of the many
horrible ways South Parks Kenny had been bumped off.
The woman writes, "My son, my firstborn, the joy of my life, turned
to me and said, 'When they talk about Kenny being killed, I feel like
I'm going to die early. How old is Kenny in the show, Mom?' Shock,
anger, and fear flooded over me as I held Ken in a tight embrace.
Then something in me clicked, and I knew I would have to fight for
this to end NOW."
The mother's demands? That "at the very least" the character of Kenny
be changed to "a nonexistent name. May I suggest Dweebie or Doofus or
any name that has no potential of deeply hurting the psyche of any
Canadian." She adds, "Of course, I would prefer the show to be
canceled in Canada."
The council, which finally ruled this past June, responded,
"You suggested that the Kenny character in the program should have
a name change so that there would be no connection between this
character and your son. Should every victim in every story in every
book, movie, play, or TV show be given a number? This, of course, is
not practical."
The organization also points out that the show is for adults, not
children, and is screened after midnight, with the usual parental
warnings. The spokesperson compared the death of Kenny to the frequent
deaths of Wile E. Coyote: perfectly harmless.
The mother, disappointed in the response, volleyed back that she's
never met anyone named Wile E. Coyote. She added, "Killing a child
is no 'running gag.' It is sick and should be stopped."
The CBSC considered the matter, and decided that the "brief violent
elements which are present are integral to the development of the
plot." The council stressed that the running gag is purposefully
unrealistic. (Dude, you can't die and come back to life in the real
world.)
"This is an adult show," says Comedy Central's Tony Fox. "It is
cartoon violence, and cartoon violence has been around for a long
time."
Let's hope the Canadian complainant doesn't have any pets named
Itchy or Scratchy.
