Pen's Blog
I Make Fun Of Everyone: How South Park Fails
Jun 18, 2024
South Park. The edgy comedy occuring in the titular town of South Park. This show fucking sucks. There are many reasons to hate South Park. You might think that the toilet humor is bad, or that it's really accessible to kids. Maybe you're religious, and you don't like how they represented you. You could think that the characters are annoying. Honestly, I could spend this entire blog post talking about why almost everyone on the earth has a reason to get mad at south park. They make fun of everyone. It's their thing.[1]
Of course, the issue with this ethos, that anything is on the table to make fun of, is that it's fucking STUPID. It's libertarian bullshit. South Park believes that having belief is dumb.
Quick trigger warning for climate change denialism, religious mockery, transphobia, and drug mentions.
Part 1: South Park versus religion
Out of all the things South Park critiques, religion has the least actual fact backing it. I'm not denouncing religion, I'm not some weird militant atheist, but I am saying that there is very little concrete evidence for religion. This makes it easy to critique. We all know about the Scientology episode (S9E12)[2]. This episode follows the character Stan joining Scientology after a personality test. They think he's the reincarnation of Scientology's founder. Scientology secrets get leaked. Normal stuff. People don't really find issue with the Scientology episode because of how much of an actual cult they are.[3]. I do agree that cults should be criticized, but the issue is that South Park doesn't hate Scientology because it's a cult, they hate it because it's a belief.
What people do take issue with is the Islamic representation in the show (S14E5/S14E6). In S14E5, the celebrities South Park has mocked sue the town. We're not even at the religious depiction, but I still want to pause for a moment. See what I just said. South Park (the show) is gleefully mocking the fact that celebrities don't like being mocked by them. Keep this in the back of your head. Anyway, Tom Cruise says he'll stop the lawsuit if he can meet the Islammic prophet Muhammad. Context; depicting Muhammad is a big no-no for Islamic faith. Anyway, townsfolk are afraid that if Muhammad appears in public Muslim radicals will bomb the town? Jesus Christ and a bunch of other religious figures are superheros for some reason. Whatever. I've described the plot enought for you to understand why people would be offended by it.
It should be pretty clear that South Park doesn't give a hoot about religion. They'll mock a literal cult and a major religion with the same levels of vitriol. South Park thinks you are stupid if you believe in religion. But hey, militant atheism is nothing new. Maybe the show is just against religion.
Part 2: South Park versus identity
Identity is the modern religion. That's something you might say if you're as cynical as the creators of South Park. In this section I will cover the absolutely abhorent trans representation that is Garrison. Shout out to Lily Simpson, their video on this is great. This article is about the ideology of South Park, so I won't be focusing on the transphobia as much.
We get one source of major trans representation in this show. Mr/Ms/Mx. Garrison. They're a teacher who was already established in the show as a freaky gay guy. I'm really struggling to cite my sources here because my source is just the show. This is what happens. Garrison's trans stuff starts with them getting a sexual re-assignment surgery. No build up. No taking estrogen for years. Anyway, after ignoring a bunch of "edgy" humor, Garrison ends up detransitioning. They're represented as a gay man who just rushed into things.
There's a bathroom episode where Cartman says he's transgender so he doesn't need to wait for the men's bathroom. Whatever. There's also a sports episode.
South Park does not believe trans identity. The message is very much that trans people are either faking, or misguided. If you have a belief about your own identiy, that's still a belief, and we can't be having that. Not in south park.
Part 3: South Park versus reality
It's the climate change episode (S10E6)! In a very weird metaphor, Al Gore visits South Park and spreads information about a fictional cryptid. Randy tells the main cast that ManBearPig (the cryptid) isn't real and that Gore is just looking for attention. Al Gore and the kids team up to hunt ManBearPig. The cave they're looking for him in collapses, they get rescued. Gore tries to take credit for the rescue. Cartman yells at Gore for faking ManBearPig. Gore goes to make a documentary about fighting ManBearPig.
If you're not getting it, ManBearPig is climate change. The reason Al Gore is here is because he was fighting climate change. By making the stand in of climate change in this episode imaginary, South Park disavows anyone who believes in climate change. Believing in a cause is stupid, even if we've had evidence of it's existence since the NINETEEN FUCKING FIFTIES[4]
Part 4: South Park versus the trivial
Do ou want to know how far South Park will go? Do you want to see the depths of it's depravity. Look to S7E13, Butt Out. In this episode, the fictional and titular out of touch anti-smoking group Butt Out tries to prevent smoking in kids. Because of how out of touch Butt Out is, the boys start smoking. Eventually, they end up visiting a tobacco factory. The vice president there teaches them about tobacco and goes on a libertarian spiel about how mandated warning labels on cigarettes let consumbers make an informed choice. Finally, the townspeople turn on Butt Out, and Kyle gives a speech about how cigarettes are great because of personal responsibility, and that the leader of Butt Out is a facist for being against smoking.
I shouldn't have to tell you that being anti-cigarette isn't facist, but if you didn't know that, anti-cigarettes movements are not fucking facist. This is how much South Park hates believing in a cause. If you think smoking cigarettes is bad, you're a facist, according to south park. Also, if you want to know more about cigarette denialism, check out this video by knowing better.
Part 5: Why this doesn't work
I've given you enough information to work with. South Park believes that belief is stupid. They think that if you believe in a cause, you're a fucking idiot, and that if you get offened when they tell you that, you're just as dumb. They proceed to act like this assumption is common sense. We could end this discussion here. However, I think that there's something deeper running underneath all of this
The true ideology of South Park is libertarianism.[4], and not the kind my Dad says he follows. No, this is right wing, everything is your fault, corporations are guiltless, you're stupid if you think otherwise libertarianism. It's written in the outline. Climate change is fake. Cigarettes are a matter of personal responsibility. Religious people and trans people need to smarten up. This is the ideology of South Park. It is an anti-belief, libertarian show. Attempts to regulate corporations are stupid. All these ideas, presented simply as common sense, and how the world works. The idea that "I make fun of everyone" fails, because South Park will always, without fail, refuse to introspect, and make fun of it's own ideology. It doesn't make fun of everyone. It makes fun of everyone else.