Post #2 The “Right Side” of Trey Parker and Matt Stone

Is South Park Right?
By: Lonnie Harris
http://www.flakmag.com/tv/southpark.html

In his post, “Is South Park Right?”, Harris opens with comments about Parker and Stone’s “narcissistic apathy” for political issues of extreme importance to most Americans. He points out that Parker and Stone have, for the most part, portrayed a centrist point of view in the first seven seasons.

It definitely was difficult to descry the true opinions of the writers when they kept playing the neutral card. However, as the post points out, the release of the South Park movie, “Team America,” and the following eighth season, shows convincing evidence that Parker and Stone are leaning right.

You would think that the writers of a show like South Park, which satirizes any and everything, would have taken the opportunity to ridicule the Bush Administration in their movie about the War on Iraq, at least if they were trying to be impartial. But they didn’t. Instead they saved their best parodies for the liberal figures who are opposed to the War on Iraq and other liberal views.

The post goes on to point out the blow against transsexuals in another episode of the eighth season. It was a somewhat veiled opinion that Parker and Stone intertwined into their writing. Nonetheless, the message was clear to those whom it may have offended: being a transsexual is wrong and having an operation that alters one’s sex, in the attempt to make one more satisfied with oneself, is profane.

These two attempts to poke fun of these social issues are more personally offensive than jokes in the first seven seasons. Why Parker and Stone decided to start offering their personal opinions now, despite possibly offending a portion of their fan base, is pending. Possibly, they have grown to such an extreme state of unconcern for the opinions and emotions of their viewers that they just don’t care to find that middle ground anymore. Or, maybe, as Harris points out, since Parker and Stone see the end of South Park in sight they feel more open to share their views, even if the entertainment value of the show lags.

So, it can be stipulated that Parker and Stone have revealed their right-sided inclinations, for whatever reason. But, I pose this question: does it really matter? There are obviously two main sides to most social issues, left and right, and they will never become the same. Although I do disagree with them, the argument here shouldn’t be about Parker and Stone’s personal opinions about the War on Iraq or transsexuals. Who cares what these distasteful, shameless writers’ ideals are?

The greatest concerns about South Park should be the racist, sexist, dirty, foul, immoral content in each and every episode, and that they are played on network television. The people that enjoy this raunchy humor, which is offensive to many races, classes and genders, should have to pay to see it. HBO or some other “pay per view” channel would be a more suitable place for this show, not to mention all the other offensive shows out there. At least then, younger generations would have less of a chance to be molded by the filthy, discriminatory humor Americans seem to find so necessary.