Somehow, a google news search for "Rumsfeld" led me, through about 3 degrees of separation, to an article claiming that Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and by extension South Park, are "
as socially conservative as they come." And, surprisingly, the article kind of makes sense.
Except that in some cases the author is completely missing the parody aspect, and in others he is claiming that certain things are "social conservative" views when they are actually widely held.
South Park supposedly
takes a stand against stem-cell research by showing Christopher Reeve sucking out fetuses' spinal fluid in order to regain his feet.
But I interpret this as a shot
against the anti-stem-cell-research crowd, poking fun at their
false belief that stem cells come from aborted fetuses.
The article also argues that Trey and Matt don't mind gays, as long as they're only gay in private:
the injustice of Mr. Garrison being fired from his teaching job is central to the show, but such sympathy for him is not present later when he and Mr. Slave take to the stage to try to lewdly shock the audience into getting him fired so he can sue the school district for millions. As long as they're in the privacy of their home, the two of them are among the show's pillars of righteousness.
I thought this was more a condemnation of how greedy and litigious our society has become. Granted, this one can cut both ways - many lawsuits are filed to try and defend civil liberties. But
it's not as if liberals are the only ones using this strategy.
Interpreting the South Park message differently than I do is understandable, but I get a little annoyed at stuff like this being held up as a purely conservative value:
last week's South Park outing took square and unsubtle aim at parents who fail to impress firm enough moral values on their preteen daughters to keep them from wanting to be "stupid spoiled whores" like Paris Hilton.
Raise your hand if you are a liberal and you want your daughter to act like Paris Hilton. I didn't think so.
And here's my favorite quote from the article, which comes when the author answers his self-asked question of what to call a show that does all the things mentioned above:
I call it conservative. All the profanity and lewdness and sex and so on notwithstanding.
So, am I a confused little man, or is South Park really a conservative show? I mean, I'd hate to think that I'm supporting a "red" show.