"The moral in South Park is that the truth is always in the middle"

Odradek

Not true! Sometimes they take the straightforwardly wrong side of a debate. Sometimes they take the right side, but long after it'll mean anything to the audience they have. Sometimes they take no sides and it's just an episode about queefing or something

Odradek

I am down for hatin' on South Park, but I demand accuracy!

Salix Babylonika

South Park's political position is libertarian apathetic.

Odradek

Yuyuko Saigyouji said:

South Park's political position is libertarian apathetic.

Yeah that's true.

Obā-san

south park yaoi

Odradek

That exists, I guarantee you

Odradek

Google has taught me South Park has an episode about yaoi

Obā-san

oh I know it does, had a friend who drew it in high school

made AMVs too

Anonus

CarnEvil said:

I am down for hatin' on South Park

I have a complicated relationship with the hatin' on South Park, tbh

Imipolex G

"libertarian apathetic" is a good way of putting it.

Section42L

Anonus said:

CarnEvil said:

I am down for hatin' on South Park

I have a complicated relationship with the hatin' on South Park, tbh

Same, honestly.

Anonus

what is it for you? mine is of course South Park's regional origin and focus

Section42L

I haven't entirely thought my thoughts out yet, but Matt and Trey grew up and became popular when it was cool not to care, then insulated themselves so they never had to change, so now they're out of touch.

People seem really angry at them for this, and I don't entirely get that.

(I'm pretty sure I would like South Park much less than I once did if I tried to watch it today, but still...)

lee4hmz

South Park is very much a product of its time; it just seems to have forgotten that it's not 1997 anymore.

Salix Babylonika

Delirium said:

I haven't entirely thought my thoughts out yet, but Matt and Trey grew up and became popular when it was cool not to care, then insulated themselves so they never had to change, so now they're out of touch.

People seem really angry at them for this, and I don't entirely get that.

(I'm pretty sure I would like South Park much less than I once did if I tried to watch it today, but still...)

it's annoying because people still treat South Park like a Big Important Art Thing (which it's not) and a brilliant show that only produces the highest quality of satire (it isn't and doesn't) and that the opinions expressed therein are The Right Ones and should be taken as profound truths (they aren't and shouldn't).

Saying that the creators "grew up in another time" is technically true but it doesn't really excuse the incredibly lazy politics South Park has.

It's also just not very funny.

Section42L

See, that's the kind of invective that makes me want to defend them, although again I'm pretty sure I'd dislike the show these days.

I acknowledge that's my own problem, though, and I'm sorry for contaminating this thread with it.

Aliroz

The real lesson of South Park is that I do not have the ability to kill through sheer force of hate, and that no matter how hard I try, I cannot do magic or wishes.

Aliroz

Or, more soberingly, the lesson is that there is an audience for satire and filth. Also, that the economic forces driving the mass-media are far more significant to this world than any sense of standards, and far bigger than any influence I, or almost any individual, can exert.

Bee

The moral of South Park isn't necessarily that the truth is in the middle, so much as that everyone ever is idiots and it's fun to mock them.

Hexartes

And yet their ire inexplicably seems to always come down on trans people, environmentalists, social justice advocates, and left wing people in general. Yeah, they poke fun at backwards right wingers, but they only truly criticize the left.

Hexartes

Also Sec, trust me, defending South Park based on fuzzy memories of it is a fool's errand. A lot of that show is actively repugnant on rewatch the Ms. Garrison arc being probably the standout example.

I mean, I'm not denying that it had great episodes or even that it wasn't consistently hilarious. But it's always had bad politics, and it's only getting worse.

Imipolex G

the best parts were when kenny died

Odradek

They hate conservatives but they really fucking hate liberals

They were the chapo trap house of their  day

Anonus

yeah, this is where that complicated relationship comes into play

on one hand, we're so starved for any kind of pop cultural representation that we love South Park just for that, but on the other hand, the bad politics? the self-righteousness? it's because Colorado is, deep down inside, a shitty redneck state, and the "native vs. transplant" thing seems to reflect that, though this state's superiority complex manifests in ways besides that too

Section42L

Halloween said:

Also Sec, trust me, defending South Park based on fuzzy memories of it is a fool's errand. A lot of that show is actively repugnant on rewatch the Ms. Garrison arc being probably the standout example.

I mean, I'm not denying that it had great episodes or even that it wasn't consistently hilarious. But it's always had bad politics, and it's only getting worse.

Mr./Ms. Garrison was honestly primarily what I was thinking of when I said I wouldn't like the show now.

With regards to fuzzy memories, I admit I've felt the same on Dilbert as of late. 

Anonus

honestly even before the Ms. Garrison thing there were things that were pretty nasty

the ending to "Jared Has Aides," the treatment of Butters in "Good Times With Weapons"

Sredni Vashtar

I recall the Rock Band one being a pretty spot-on parody of that kind of narrative, so it's not like they're entirely incapable of being funny.

Odradek

I think the episode where they go on a skiing trip is genius.

That said, their impact on the world has been largely negative.

Odradek

I will say that they at least haven't ruined a generation's ability to communicate the way a certain other show that is otherwise superior to South Park in every way did.

Sredni Vashtar

I feel like my overall opinion of South Park is that it has its moments, some quite brilliant, but is largely not my kind of show, and frequently indulges in a brand of soapboxing that I don't particularly care for when not simply being rude for its own sake.

Tatterhood

CarnEvil said:

I will say that they at least haven't ruined a generation's ability to communicate the way a certain other show that is otherwise superior to South Park in every way did.

you didn't go to my high school

Odradek

Okay yes, but teenagers will teenage.

I don't know anyone who's still making Austin Powers or Borat jokes

Obā-san

CarnEvil said:

Okay yes, but teenagers will teenage.

I don't know anyone who's still making Austin Powers or Borat jokes

MY WIFE

Odradek

Nanners Sub Sandwich Esquire said:

CarnEvil said:

Okay yes, but teenagers will teenage.

I don't know anyone who's still making Austin Powers or Borat jokes

MY WIFE

Except for that, which people have maintained for some completely unknown reason

Imipolex G

machine gun jubblies

Sredni Vashtar

CarnEvil said:

Nanners Sub Sandwich Esquire said:

CarnEvil said:

Okay yes, but teenagers will teenage.

I don't know anyone who's still making Austin Powers or Borat jokes

MY WIFE

Except for that, which people have maintained for some completely unknown reason

Probably because it's easily confused with a reference to the scene in Azumanga Daioh which gave rise to the term "waifu."

Hexartes

CarnEvil said:

I will say that they at least haven't ruined a generation's ability to communicate the way a certain other show that is otherwise superior to South Park in every way did.

I do not mean to be unkind when I say this is literally the least true thing you have ever said

Hexartes

Like blisteringly, astonishingly, remarkably untrue

Anonus

hasn't "respect my authoritah" really, REALLY caught on

Hexartes

As has virtually every obnoxious pseudo-centrist moral of South Park

And ManBearPig

Hexartes

Double post

Odradek

Halloween said:

CarnEvil said:

I will say that they at least haven't ruined a generation's ability to communicate the way a certain other show that is otherwise superior to South Park in every way did.

I do not mean to be unkind when I say this is literally the least true thing you have ever said

Okay South Park has also done that

Upon thought, you are correct

Hexartes

Thank you

lee4hmz

(Full disclosure: I was really only big into SP during the first and second seasons, and even then I didn't watch all of Season 2. Anything after the movie, aside from a few episodes that went viral, is 🙃 to me.) 

Though I did hear about the Ms. Garrison thing, and yeah, that was pretty awful.

Calica

compare manbearpig to al gore's appearances on futurama and you will see that the latter is clearly superior

except the futurama writers actually apparently really like south park so ?????

Anonus

tbh isn't futurama better in just about every way

Sredni Vashtar

Yes, it is.

Hexartes

And then Rick and Morty so often feels like a better version of Futurama

Anonus

Sredni Vashtar said:

Yes, it is.

I know this is super-spergy, but I wanted to point out Futurama's top-shelf voice cast as a reason it would be better, even though I find it irritating how the show's fans act like Billy West is some combination of Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Don Messick, and Frank Welker

(Besides, if there's a modern analogue to Daws, it'd be Tom Kenny)

Anonus

Don't get me wrong Billy West is great though

Klinotaxis

futurama is less cynical, which is nice sometimes

weird thing to say about a show with president nixon

both are more sincere than south park