Thoughts about South Park
If you're a fan of South Park, you may enjoy this piece in today's NYT, "What? Morals in 'South Park'?" The show's treatment of religion, morality, and the models of behavior kids see everywhere they look, probably deserve closer thought--if you want to spend time thinking about South Park at all. But this is a decent start, mostly inspired by a recent episode in which Cartman pesters his jewish friend Kyle into seeing his new favorite movie, The Passion of the Christ. Kyle wants his synagogue to apologize, now that he sees what they did to Jesus, while Cartman transforms into Hitler and rouses the community--who sees him only as a benign, prodigy James Dobson kind of "inspirer"--against the Jews. Guess which kid gets more flak?

"...the real strength of "South Park" is that it flatters freethinkers by mocking Christians and Jews, including Jesus himself (a resident), along with the stand-out holy figures Buddha, Muhammad, Krishna and Laotzu. (They form a clique called Super Best Friends.)

But that stylized freethinking carries, of course, some dogma of its own. True, the boys of "South Park" — Cartman and Kyle, together with a schmo called Stan Marsh and some hangers-on — are unaffected by whatever spiritual troubles used to depress the "Peanuts" gang.

They have a more specific problem: American hypocrisy, the combination of greed and sanctimony that lets religion and would-be spirituality provide cover for rapacity. Where the "Peanuts" children were sad, the kids in "South Park" are furious and vengeful.

No wonder. They're surrounded by frauds."

Buying into most episodes of South Park requires accepting the idea that pre-adolescents have their own immediate concerns (getting candy, watching Terance and Philip, not being disrespected, etc.) unrelated to those that would be imposed on them by their parents/teachers; and that the way adults interfere with those concerns exposes their own duplicity, laziness and greed, leaving the kids unable to take seriously the ideas and institutions those same adults speak up for. Growing up appears to them to be the process of learning how to act like you believe in things you don't really. Because that doesn't especially appeal to them, and doesn't fit their style, they end up learning more substantive lessons, in the end (well not Cartman), their own way.

Also, if you like ass jokes, that helps.