Protesters would be better off by keeping quiet

Two weeks ago the HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm” generated some controversy when the star of the program, “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David who plays himself on the show, accidentally urinated on a painting of Jesus. Catholic groups, as well as a Muslim group, protested the show, saying it crossed the line in mocking religion, as David’s urine was located in a place that caused a character on the show to believe Jesus was crying.
Instead of protesting, an act that has drawn the attention of a number of news media outlets, thus generating attention to the show, those groups should have stayed quiet to keep the spotlight off the show. It’s a mistake too many protesters have made to the detriment of their causes.
I saw the show when it first aired, and my personal opinion of it was that it was one of the show’s weaker episodes, an opinion I communicated to a co-worker who also watches it.
While I understood the show was essentially mocking people who believe Jesus or other religious figures can take the form of such random things as a Cheetoh or a piece of toast, the humor the show was trying to convey got lost in a tirade of other jokes it was spewing at the same time. “Curb” often does this, and most of the time the majority of the jokes work, with the end result being a show that is sometimes funnier than David’s other masterpiece, “Seinfeld.”
Once in a while, though, “Curb” overreaches and the end product is like that clunker of a “Seinfeld” episode when Jerry, George and Kramer went to Los Angeles and Kramer is mistaken for a serial killer in his pursuit of an acting career. I filed the “Curb” episode with David urinating on the Jesus painting into the clunker file, right next to this “Seinfeld” episode, thinking it’s one I’ll never need to watch again.
But then Deal Hudson, author and publisher of InsideCatholic.com, came out and questioned why the episode could publicly show that level of disrespect for Christian symbols, demanding an apology from the show’s producers.
And then Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, also criticized the episode, saying David intentionally mocks Catholics because he is Jewish.
Anyone that has ever watched the show knows David is an equal-opportunity mocker, as “Curb” grabs every opportunity to mock not just religion, including Judaism, but also every gender, race, sexuality, profession, belief and anything that can be targeted for mocking. This season’s mockery even included a way for him to find a way to dump a woman he was dating who got cancer.
HBO acknowledges this fact, issuing a statement in response to the controversy: “Anyone who follows ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ knows that the show is full of parody and satire. Larry David makes fun of everyone, most especially himself. The humor is always playful and certainly never malicious.”
When it’s on again, I plan on re-watching this controversial episode, as I know I’ll find it funnier than my first viewing just because of the controversy it generated. And I’m sure many others who never watched the show before might make it a point to watch the episode, just to see what all the controversy is about. Some of those people might discover the humor in the show and watch other episodes.
I highly doubt the protests against the show are going to cause regular viewers to suddenly stop watching it, which leads me to point out again that protests don’t work. It only helps the subject matter that is being protested.
How many people re-watched Janet Jackson’s “Nipplegate” performance from the Super Bowl after protests made it the top news story? Certainly millions more than would have had people simply said it was a boring performance.
How many people would have bothered to watch “Roseanne” when another woman kissed her? The show was on its final legs at that point, and though it was still popular, it achieved a huge ratings surge with people tuning in to see something others were protesting.
John Lennon once said in an interview that The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus.” In context, he was saying that Christianity was on a downtrend, as exemplified by the plausible fact a rock band seemed more popular than an entire religion. It was a statement that went unnoticed for four months, but when a teen magazine reprinted part of the quote, out of context, people went on the protest.
Beatles’ records were banned, burned and broken, and some radio stations refused to play the group’s music. Did the protests work? The fact that the group, which broke up nearly 40 years ago, was the biggest selling band of this decade demonstrates it didn’t.
I know I’m giving sound advice to would-be protesters of anything: don’t bother because it won’t work to your favor. I also know it’s advice that will go unheeded.