NL- Of course you know that I totally oppose this article. I think we should write the CEO of Showtime and tell him not to allow the Catholic League to squash the first amendment rights of Penn & Teller.
Catholic League: Penn and Teller Must Go
8/18/2009
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
CBS/Showtime needs to send Penn & Teller a message and let them know that they have crossed the line for the last time.
NEW YORK, NY (Catholic League) – Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an ad he wrote for today’s edition of Variety:
"Today’s ad in Variety (see the text below) is a direct response to the latest hate speech by Penn & Teller against Catholics.
"Both Penn Jillette, and Showtime (owned by CBS), are flagging the attack on the Vatican that is featured in its season finale, August 27.
"Given the history of Penn & Teller’s vicious record of Catholic bashing, we have no reason to doubt that this episode will be particularly vile.
"In the ad, we cited previous examples of their malicious assaults, especially on Mother Teresa.
"CBS management has spoken to the Catholic-bashing duo before, but to no effect. Though we are not calling for CBS/Showtime to cancel the upcoming episode, we are saying that the time has come to pull the plug on their show; their contract should not be renewed.
"Those who agree should contact Matthew Blank, the Chairman and CEO of Showtime.
Contact: Matthew.Blank@Showtime.net
THIS IS THE FINAL STRAW:SHOWTIME SHOULD NOT RENEW PENN & TELLER
On August 27, Showtime, owned by CBS, will feature a vicious assault on Catholics. In the season finale of Penn & Teller’s show, they “take on the secretive inner world of The Vatican, the holy city of Catholicism and home of the Pope.” How do we know it will defame Catholics? Because on the show’s website, it says so: There is a Showtime Advisory for “Graphic Language, Adult Content.”
If Showtime posted that warning about a show on Islam, Muslims would brace for the worst (and so might CBS). But Muslims need not worry: it’s not all religions that Showtime likes to trash — just Catholicism. Indeed, Showtime is currently working on a show, “Revelation,” that promises to be at least somewhat respectful of Protestantism.
What will the upcoming show be like? On his Twitter page, Penn Jillette brags how he rips a Catholic encyclical on sexuality: “I’m dressed as Darth with a condom c–k light saber.” He even boasts that the show is “hardcore,” admitting that “we attack the Vatican.” From trashing The Last Supper to mocking Catholic prayers, anti-Catholic bigots who feed on this kind of stuff will have a stomach full.
This is not the first time Showtime has featured a vile Penn & Teller show. In 2005, Mother Teresa was called “Mother F—ing Teresa,” and her order of nuns were branded “f—ing c–ts.” The year after, Jillette said on his CBS radio show that Mother Teresa “got her [sexual] kicks watching people suffer and die.”
Just recently, Jillette took after me again in his usual foul way. That doesn’t matter, but what matters greatly is his pathological obsession with bashing Catholics and their religion. There is no legitimate place for this kind of frontal assault on any demographic group.
CBS/Showtime needs to send Penn & Teller a message and let them know that they have crossed the line for the last time. This should be their final season. We know that they’ve been told before to drop the Catholic bashing, and yet they persist. By doing so, Penn & Teller have effectively stuck their middle finger right in the eye of CBS.
Contact Showtime Chairman and CEO Matthew Blank: Matthew.Blank@Showtime.net
The show is still really good, but it has gone down somewhat. There just aren’t an unlimited amount of topics to call bullshit on. As much as I like the show, it’s also largely propaganda, just like Bill Maher’s show, and just like Faux News.
“As much as I like the show, it’s also largely propaganda, just like Bill Maher’s show, and just like Faux News.” I add, CBS, Time and Newsweek lately. The US media is replacing news with propaganda, debate with fake outrages.
Yes, and Bill Donohoe is well known and embarrasing to Catholics in the US by being a professional outrager. It seens that his only purpose in life is to find things to be outraged with and ask money for doing so. Kinda like Al Sharpton.
At least Penn & Teller and Bill Maher’s shows don’t pretend to be straight news, like “fair and balanced” Fox… Bill used to have Ann Coulter all the time on Politically Incorrect, I wonder why she doesn’t go on his HBO show
Y guess that the “fair and balanced” moto is a cynical joke by Rupert Murdoch on the big three plus CNN.
Let em bash the collars and the Pengiuns all they want, including that old Nazi with the Big Hat, just waiting for it to come out that he was in the Waffen SS. Turned out Gunter Grass was, so why not the Pontificus Maximus. I am Catholic too, bad one, my grandmother was a three mass a week one.
The Waffen SS was not as bad. They were mostly elite soldiers.
The Allgemanine SS did most of the dirty work.
Penn & Teller’ show isn’t even close to being ‘propaganda’. They’re entertainers first and foremost. Say what you want to say about the major network news and 24/7 cable news stations, but what Penn/Teller do is presented upfront and quite clearly as entertainment first and then information second.
In fact, I’ve watched most all of their shows this season and find them to be better than ever. Their show about the US Tax Code was quite good, as it didn’t demonize either those who advocate less, more or a flat tax. Instead, the conclusion was basically that this nation’s tax code is so confusingly complex, it’s a wonder it manages to collect any significant revenues (much less, that more people are not audited each year for making mistakes). While the nation was founded on the idea of ‘no taxation without representation’, we’ve gone waaaayyyyy beyond that to the point where we’re probably overly represented in regards to that simple principle.
Likewise, their show last season about Porn made the effective argument that this nation is far too uptight for it’s own good — as the notion this industry is somehow corrupting America was disproved decades ago (I believe with a study done during either the LBJ or Nixon Administration). People need to be given more credit than they are when it comes to viewing Porn. For much like how playing videogames isn’t going to create teenage spree killers, another topic they tackled this season, porn isn’t going to lead to rapists roaming the streets.
Although, many of their topics over the years have make the same argument (that American’s need to lighten up and not take everything so seriously to the point of inducing daily media heart-attacks). If anything, Penn and Teller use their program to demonstrate how a reasoned debate (with a little levity mixed in) can help to clarify weighty issues.
Similarly, Bill Maher, Colbert, Stewart and even SNL are ‘entertainment’ shows that use the ‘news’ to crackwise while speaking truth to power. They don’t purport to be a ‘news organization’ like ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, MSNBC, CNN or CSPAN. Yes they have ‘journalists and pundits’ on their shows as guests, but that’s about the beginning and end of the facade.
People who complain about the media being full of lies, are either not paying much attention to it, or willingly consume sources that simply validate their own myopic worldview. For much like how a balanced diet is far better for your body than just eating donuts, beer and pizza all day — the mind needs to look at various news outlets (from various points of view) to get the best sense of the ‘truth’ within an issue or event.
It is entertainment, but if you are gonna have a show claiming things to be bullshit you should take more effort in showing all the sides. It’s like if an alien came down from earth and I told them I’m the best looking guy on the planet. I might think that, and can find some people to back that up, but if I’m not making any due diligence in presenting oppossing opinions, and in fact when I do simply find oddballs and weirdos to make their case and then mock them, that’s not how you win arguments.
And at least CNN has conservatives on their staff… As far as I know, after Alan Combs left, Fox News has now outted liberals. Maybe Geraldo is one, I’m not sure
You are an alien Mr. Blanco.
First of all, did you ever think (I know, it’s tough for you, but try this once), that the title of their show is a bit of a pun? In that, each week things are presented on their face as ‘bullshit’ — only to sometimes be, yes in fact…total bullshit and other times, minor or not at all bullshit.
At the end of each program, we’ve had our ideas challenged, ridiculed, validated and clarified…because Penn/Teller have faith their viewers like to be challenged to critically think about issues that range from the absurd (communicating with dolphins) to the serious (gun control in an democratic society). Each show takes the established conventional wisdom (as in, organic foods are by their very nature of being ‘organic’ exceptionally good for you) and then turn it on its head by showing a various points of view.
Yes some of those points of view are presented by “oddballs and weirdos’, but then, some of the TOPICS invite these sorts of people to invest ungodly amounts of time to studying/creating business/writing books et cetera. You think you’re going to find someone with the intellect and gravitas of Charlie Rose, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton to talk about the merits of ‘life coaching’, ‘handicapped parking’, or ‘cultural nostalgia’?!
When they explore more serious issues, they get the appropriate guests.
As for if a typical cable news network has a ‘balanced’ staff of anchors and reporters, again, you’re living in a fantasy land. Granted, MSNBC and Fox News cater to their demographics, both have all sorts of political views represented. MSNBC has Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan, Dan Abrams, other ‘conservatives’ or those who lean ‘Right of Center’, Fox News has Shep Smith, Mort Kondracke, Mara Liasson, Bob Beckel, Geraldo Rivera and others who are either ‘Left of Center’ or ‘Liberal’.