The Genius Of South Park‘s Handling Of The Prophet Mohammed

“The dustup revolves around a set of seeming absolutes that, upon closer scrutiny, dissolve into a dizzying array of questions. For starters, were [the writers] trying to ‘make fun’ of Mohammed, were they trying to merely ‘depict’ him, or, once we find ourselves within the mirthful city limits of South Park, Colo. (not to mention the give-no-quarter limits of fundamentalist Islam), is there no meaningful distinction between parody and depiction?”