• katy ✨@piefed.blahaj.zone
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    1 day ago

    nothing says not political like making an entirely new character called “starvin’ marvin” to mock food inequality and famine in african countries.

  • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    South Park has been political for a quarter century running. Libertarian dipshits don’t know what the word means. Nothing they do is politics, because they’re the default. Like how they don’t have an accent, or an ethnicity. Those are ways other people are being different at them.

  • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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    1 day ago

    The weirdest thing is how true this statement is:

    “It’s like the government is just in your face everywhere you look,” Parker said. “Whether it’s the actual government or whether it is all the podcasters and the TikToks and the YouTubes and all of that, and it’s just all political and political because it’s more than political. It’s pop culture.”

  • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    Famously non-political South Park episodes:

    • Black people who complain about racism are the real racists (Chef Goes Nanners, S04E7)

    • Asking a doctor to do a gender reinforcng operation is the same as asking a doctor to make you black or a dolphin (Mr. Garrison’s Fancy New Vagina, S09E1)

    • Global warming was made up by Al Gore (Multiple, starting with ManBearPig, S10E9)

      • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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        2 days ago

        Also

        • The Iraq War proves we need to have a balance between pro-war and anti-war (I’m a Little Bit Country, S07E04)

        • Rainforests should not be preserved and they are the reason developing countries have shantytowns and prostitutes (???) (Rainforest Shmainforest, S03E01). Before you say that’s clearly satire, a quote from wikipedia

        Parker and his girlfriend went to Costa Rica and hated the country, and that everything Cartman says about the rainforests and Costa Rica during the episode is how he (Parker) personally feels.

          • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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            1 day ago

            There was an episode where they praised the arrival of Starbucks, as the mom and pop coffee shops all served shit.

            Also one episode with a hippie Woodstock kinda thing where Cartman breaks the whole thing with a giant “Journey to the center of the earth” type of drill

  • pachrist@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    South Park wasn’t always pop culture either. The best South Park episodes are kids being kids where the scenario is forced to a kid-logic conclusion.

    Fun Times with Weapons is the best example of that.

    • remon@ani.social
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      1 day ago

      That episodes makes a direct references to the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction earlier that year as well as pointing out the double standard between portraying violence compared to nudity in American culture.

      I know what you mean with the kids being kids story, but that episode was referencing pop-culture and was political.

  • protist@mander.xyz
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    3 days ago

    Trey and Matt have always been political. Remember when they ridiculed California for empathetic homelessness policies? Some might even say Team America: World Police may be perceived as political

  • SloganLessons@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Reading the comments is weird because to me it feels like either people are unaware of the context, or are ignoring it on purpose.

    His response was about this season’s unusual targeting of the administration. South Park was always political, but it is unusual for the show to focus so much on the current administration of the US, that’s what he was talking about and asked about.

    Maybe he could’ve used different words but to me it’s clear what he meant.

    • turdcollector69@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I used to think it’s just a reddit thing but now I don’t think anyone actually reads the article and instead just argues their interpretation of the article.

      • Bennyboybumberchums@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Dude, people dont even read the comment sometimes. Ive had people get super mega angry at me for the first sentence in a comment, and they had proceed to spew information at me… that I had put in the rest of the comment. It is 100% not just a reddit thing.

        • turdcollector69@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          I think it’s a bot and zealot thing.

          They don’t have enough buffer to fully process what you said so they take the smallest digestible chunk and extrapolate the argument they wanted to have.

          Bots are weighted to use language that prompts an emotional response and zealots are genuinely frustrated that their ideals don’t match reality.

          What Lemmy lacks in bots it more than makes up for with tankies so blatant bad faith arguing is going nowhere.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      His response was about this season’s unusual targeting of the administration.

      It isn’t unusual. South Park has dedicated an episode or three to mocking US and foreign politicians, NGOs, and popular figures going back to their first season. This feels like the old “When Did Star Trek Get Political?!” whine.

      it is unusual for the show to focus so much on the current administration of the US

      That hasn’t been true in decades. The episode About Last Night… pillared both '08 presidential hopefuls. A year before that The Snuke bashed Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, a character who has appeared in no less than fifteen episodes. On the flip side, Bush Jr got an appearance in thirteen episodes, starting as early as 2001. And they weren’t afraid of taking some deeper cuts, too. FFS, Gary Condit appeared three times.

      The early seasons were largely an expression (abet, significantly more abstract relative to any sitting politician) of Matt and Trey’s own libertarian brand of politics - including their takes on gay marriage, gun ownership, climate change, drug policy, state censorship, the anti-muslim/pro-war post-9/11 politics. And they tip-toed around naming names until they’d built up a brand.

      But to imply the show wasn’t critical of contemporary administrative policies, you really need to squeeze your eyes shut and refuse to read some pretty naked allegories and references.

      • SloganLessons@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        To be clear, I didn’t say that it never did, what I said is that it never did >as much< as it’s doing now. Because in this season, so far, it’s been every single episode

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          it never did >as much< as it’s doing now

          :-/ South Park does news-of-the-day cartoons and the news-of-the-day is overwhelmingly this shit.

          • SloganLessons@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            … hum, you lost me

            News of the day != administration

            Like, I’m double checking the article, what I wrote, what you wrote, and I find myself scratching my head if there’s something obvious that I am missing in the middle of all this

            I’m reading the first two paragraphs and they show, clearly, that his quote is in reference to them talking about the administration this season. Which, as I said, it’s unusual how vicious and non stop it has been. (Deservedly, but that’s a tangent and another discussion)

            This is what I was talking about, this was the point I made. I have no clue what you are talking about

  • rafoix@lemmy.zip
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    3 days ago

    Once Trump became a very public and very loud cult public ridicule became inevitable.

    I wonder if the dumbest members of society will fly Trump flags in 100 years just like they fly confederate flags now.

  • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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    3 days ago

    wasnt south park alway political, why are conservatives acting like it suddenly became it. whats up with all the conservative comments not knowing what sOUTH park is about.

    • imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      It was always political. But I dont think it was always primarily about politics. Like, back in the day episodes wouldn’t be interconnected with each other. And not all episodes would tackle any sort of political agenda. Only during presidential run of 2015-2016 South park became pretty much all politics.

      I remember hearing an interview where Trey Parker said that Trump began to steal the show, occupying majority of the story and that Trey and Matt hated it and got tired of Trump. They also promised not to become serialized after that.

      • DigitalDilemma@lemmy.ml
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        2 days ago

        Everything is political, and South Park has been one of the most political popular shows. I guess he means it didn’t explicitly feature politicians as much.

        You think genocide has only existed for two years?

        • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Jst the one which was in global media for 2 years and a major political subject internally. But somehow fully ignored by South Park.

          Name another massive political subject which they decided to spend no attention on.

          • Bongles@lemmy.zip
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            2 days ago

            I didn’t realize people were waiting on the comedy adult cartoon South Park, known for characters such as a talking piece of shit and a towel that gets high, to comment on global issues.

  • Guy Ingonito@reddthat.com
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    3 days ago

    Gen Xers who’ve been conditioned to think politics were for losers their whole lives unable to comprehend their own politics well into middle-age.

  • sobchak@programming.dev
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    2 days ago

    Everything is political, and South Park has been one of the most political popular shows. I guess he means it didn’t explicitly feature politicians as much.