“Pornographic, extremist and immoral – that’s how Russian prosecutors are describing popular US cartoons like The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park.”
And because they don’t like them they want to stop everyone else in Russia from watching them.
From the Melon Farmers:
Russian TV channel faces closure over the airing of South Park
Based on article from abc.net.au
Pornographic, extremist and immoral – that’s how Russian prosecutors are describing popular US cartoons like The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park.
The channel that carries them has been forced to suspend broadcasts of the offending programs pending legal action. On Wednesday (local time), a meeting of a government monitoring agency could take channel 2×2 off the air.
Throngs of teenagers have taken to the streets to demand their favourite cartoons back.
Fans of the cartoons say critics just don’t get the joke and are engaging in Soviet-style moral censorship, while opponents say the cartoons are poisoning the minds of Russia’s young.
Channel 2×2 is also facing a criminal investigation under strict new Russian legislation against extremism for broadcasting the notoriously foul-mouthed South Park.
Judging by a highly critical statement issued by the prosecutor general’s office this month, the prospects for the channel and its cartoons appear bleak in a Russia that commentators say is becoming increasingly conservative: The cartoons broadcast by 2×2 propagandise violence, cruelty, pornography and anti-social behaviour.
The Federal Service for Monitoring in the Sphere of Connections and Mass Communications is set to meet on Wednesday (local time) to discuss whether or not to renew the channel’s licence, which runs out on October 17.
“Throngs of teenagers have taken to the streets to demand their favourite cartoons back.”
Good on them. Why should they be prevented from viewing their favourite shows because a bunch of self righteous puritans don’t want them watching them?
“Fans of the cartoons say critics just don’t get the joke and are engaging in Soviet-style moral censorship.”
That’s excactly what is happening here.
Russian fans of South Park and co should demand to know why they should be banned from watching these programmes just because prosecutors have decided they are immoral.
