MovieChat Forums > South Park (1997) Discussion > Has South Park become soft, liberal, PC,...

Has South Park become soft, liberal, PC, unfunny, and irrelevant?

posted 7 years ago by krl97a (5619)
32 replies | jump to latest

So far this season has sucked.

Ep. 1 - Rebel flag flyers (most of whom aren't racist in real life), white nationalists, and the general working class are all conflated and mocked as stupid in a go with the media flow approach that's far from a profile in courage. No Antifa or BLM are referenced. There weren't many good jokes. Instead they seemed to over rely on themes being inherently funny enough to carry the show, like hicks performing computerized duties and Randy's house show having "white" in its title, but even those were underdeveloped.

Ep. 2 - They stupidly blame Trump's tweets for North Korea's actions in a clunky episode that felt out of date even if they were trying to ape DNC talking points. They didn't even focus on his UN speech, which they had plenty of time to do given SP's quick production schedule. They imply the NK regime is rational and harmless to the US. They also ironically tacked on a story emphasizing the indulgence of feeling over rationality in politics, almost an endorsement of "safe space" style thinking, something South Park in its prime would have ruthlessly mocked.

What's next? An episode supporting gun control? One dealing with the scourge of "hate speech"? One attacking Republicans for trying to reform healthcare or cut taxes? A "white privilege" episode? The "oppression" of US women?

If this trend continues it's easy to predict what we won't see:

- Taking on 95% of the media for being leftist, intolerant, dishonest, and having a herd mentality.

- Mocking Hollywood award shows for being nauseatingly self congratulatory and heavily politicized in one direction.

- BLM, black riots, Evergreen college, and anti-white bigotry in general (the "black lash" episode hasn't aged well).

- Suppression of free speech by Antifa and leftist institutions.

- A hard hitting take down of the BS "Islamophobia" narrative (or any liberal "phobia" narrative).

- Apparently anything favoring libertarian policies except maybe on drugs.

- Criticizing abortion rather than ignoring it or treating it as sacred.

- Mocking Pelosi, Maxine Waters, and other unhinged Democrats (a brief shot at Clinton when even some liberals are saying she should go away doesn't count).

- Taking on Google/FB/Twitter's partisan censorship, purging people who used to comprise SP's core audience.

- Kathy Griffin, Depp, and other liberals encouraging Trump's assassination.

- Murderous liberal violence (James Hodgkinson, Micah Johnson, Floyd Corkins, etc.).

- Rachel Maddow's conspiracy theory show.

- Jimmy Kimmel using his "comedy" talk show to give teary-eyed lectures on subjects he knows nothing about and is too rich to be personally impacted by (for now; if unrepealed Obamacare will eventually erode providers even for the rich and a single payer system would kill most medical innovation; coverage doesn't matter if there's nothing to buy).

- The anti-American far left's hysterical and historically ignorant drive to tear down monuments of Confederates, US founding fathers, Catholic missionaries, and pretty much any white male they come across.

- Entrenched ruling class in the media and civilian federal bureaucracy trying to nullify the results of elections they don't like.

- ESPN's politicization, double standards, and Jemele Hill.

- The delusional, hypocritical "Resistance".

- Failures of socialism in Venezuela and elsewhere.

The old SP would have done at least some of those things and did have similar episodes. This is the same show that once mocked Gore's "ManBearPig", had gnomes sing the glories of corporate economic impact, showed tobacco executives as good guys, featured "Smug" rising from San Francisco and George Clooney, correctly described "transgendered women" as mutilated men, and portrayed Rob Reiner as a sweaty, murderous hog. Now we're living in a society with people like this....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avcyqp_10Yk

...and this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zs98unw0W0

...and SP isn't going to take advantage of that? Either they've gone liberal or just got comfy and don't want to rock the boat at what's turned from a comedy network into a political propaganda outfit.

But we've already got Colbert, Bee, Noah, Conan, Kimmel, Corden, Fallon, Meyers, Klepper, Maher, Oliver, Jefferies, Handler, Ellen, The View, 21st Century Simpsons, 21st Century SNL, and every Seth MacFarlane show for the past decade scrambling over the same far left sliver of the population. Why do we need a liberal South Park? Maybe it's time they cancel the show before its legacy is completely wrecked like The Simpsons' has been.

With no national network catering to the majority of Americans, any well done conservative or even just truly anti-PC, non-leftist talk show or sitcom would crush its competitors and make a killing. But where is the new insurgent show going to come from if all the networks are colluding to prevent such a series from rising again?

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Cool story bro!

[–] krl97a (5619) 7 years ago

That's better than "TLDR". Slightly. The exclamation mark is a nice touch, but the fact that you went out of your way to post a reply here instead of other threads undermines your message.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

The follow up story...not so much so...it became too liberal and soft...its unfunny, political correctness has rendered it irrelevant...

[–] krl97a (5619) 7 years ago

You're freakin, brah.

[–] pankoeken (469) 7 years ago

deliciousfeet is a nutcase. I made her have a hardcore meltdown once by asking her a question. It wasn't even a rude or sarcastic question. she then proceeded to post a dozen psychotic comments each crazier than the last and finally said she had to always have the last word and claimed to put me on ignore.

All that over a few hours or so. She's most likely some obese 12 year old loner.

[–] krl97a (5619) 7 years ago

What was the question, lol?

[–] crc32 (2584) 7 years ago

deliciousfeet is a female?

[–] pankoeken (469) 7 years ago

You make some really valid points. Considering they claimed they were going back to the beloved theme of kids doing dumb shit and away from the tired politics theme that has made the last 2 seasons somewhat joyless this season has been a disappointment.

Throw in the fact both creators are insanely wealthy guys who live in nice safe gated communities that are OVERWHELMINGLY white they look like the typical hypocritical smug left leaning douchebag celebrities. I wonder if they married non white women for the street cred? Parker dumped his swarthy wife and married a stripper so that says a lot.

[–] Burk48917 (10983) 5 years ago

Yeah, they are also completely entrenched in leftist views in Hollywood. They really might have started to lose touch with the other side of America and not even realize it.

[–] crc32 (2584) 7 years ago

With no national network catering to the majority of Americans, any well done conservative or even just truly anti-PC, non-leftist talk show or sitcom would crush its competitors and make a killing. But where is the new insurgent show going to come from if all the networks are colluding to prevent such a series from rising again?

most of the media comes out of New York and Hollywood. Both the defining leftest states of the nation. I was really suprised to learn that CNN is headquartered in atlanta georgia while fox news is in New York. How did that happen?

[–] krl97a (5619) 7 years ago

CNN was founded by Ted Turner, a Georgian media magnate who owned TBS, TNT, the Cartoon Network, and the Braves for a while, among other things. He's also a far leftist of the most obnoxious sort, the type who's accused Israel of "terrorism" while defending the use of Palestinian homicide bombing of Jews, who hates Christianity, and who married Hanoi Jane Fonda of all people. That's why CNN is the way it is. Fonda even cited her toying with converting to Christianity around 2000 as one of the reasons for their divorce, saying she kept it secret for a long time because she knew he'd refuse to accept it and would try to "bully" her out of it. His serial philandering was another big factor.

I think basing FNC in Manhattan was a mistake. The employees live, work, and hang out there. One could see the network's drift into social liberalism over the years, to the point where it lost touch with the American heartland. Unfortunately the reverse hasn't really happened to CNN, probably because it's easier to be a liberal in urban Atlanta than a conservative in Manhattan. FNC might have stayed truer to itself if it had been based in a city like Atlanta or Dallas though that's at least in close proximity to conservative suburbs.

[–] crc32 (2584) 7 years ago

Thanks for that info. It makes sense now. Being anything conservative in Manhatten is pretty hard. You'd think liberals would be non judgmental and laid back but once they hear your from texas you get sounds of disgust like "eww". Like I don't think they even treat the folks Jersey that way. Like I mistakenly met up with a girl from New York and once she found out I was from Texas all she wanted to do was talk politics. I'm like really right now in the middle of all this foreplay?

[–] membrane29 (228) 7 years ago

Modern day liberalism is cancer.

[–] MyCousinMose (86) 7 years ago

Its a real shame that they finally have turned PC. I'm ok with South Park making fun of white people or conservatives, it wouldn't be the 1st time SP made fun of a group I'm in. Just as long as they continue to share the love and make fun of everybody. After episode 2 and the preview for 3 it appears as though the whole season is going to be just another extension of liberal media like every other "comedy" in 2017. If thats the case then I hope the show ends after this season before it becomes muff cabbage.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

What is funnier than white conservatives in 2017???

[–] krl97a (5619) 7 years ago

Liberals of all colors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avcyqp_10Yk

[–] CountJohn (579) 7 years ago

OP sounds triggered by a cartoon.

[–] krl97a (5619) 7 years ago

CountJohn was triggered by an op.

[–] CountJohn (579) 7 years ago

OP was triggered by CountJohn being triggered by an OP. Infinite trigger sprawl.

[–] krl97a (5619) 7 years ago

The best ways to escape a vicious trigger cycle are to stop talking or address substance.

[–] Frogarama (12942) 7 years ago

So you desperately want South Park to tout a bunch of far-right talking points?

You do realize that creative people are generally liberally-minded, right? If conservatives could tell a story, or a joke, they would. The conservative mind does not think outside the box and therefore it does not indulge very much in creativity, if at all. I've known plenty of conservatives in my life, and I find this to be a hard true fact.

This is also why you rarely find a right-wing viewpoint on TV or in movies.

I'm not going to defend South Park, specifically. The show has never really been that good. It has one very funny episode (the "naggers" episode), and there was another one I liked (Cartman making his friend eat his parents). That's it for me. Never was a fan.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

See...I was wondering when someone was going to bring this up...South Park has always been most of the things the op is bitching about...guess it took twenty years for them to finally get offended...do not understand!!!!

[–] Frogarama (12942) 7 years ago

I dunno either. People tend to see what they want to see, I guess?

[–] krl97a (5619) 7 years ago

Everything you said is moronic and wrong. Liberals aren't funny or creative, if we're generalizing. They're the ones imposing the PC regime and clamping down on free speech. The left seized control of the tv/film industry decades ago and blacklists any conservative they can. Purging legitimate creative talent is why they're stuck producing remakes and bland liberal garbage most people don't want to watch, and is why Hollywood is dying. Ratings and box office are down almost across the board. At least you admit to never having been a South Park fan though.

[–] Frogarama (12942) 7 years ago

I know a mindless rant when I see it, and your post is such an excellent example of one.

Oh and I didn't say liberals are funny and creative, I said creative people are generally liberally-minded. Those are two different concepts. Creative types are still a fairly small percentage of the overall population, and they're a small percentage of "all liberal thinkers" as well.

Also, being liberally-minded is not the same as being a capital-L Liberal. I'm liberally-minded but I don't take that side and find plenty of annoying "Liberals" out there. Economically, I agree more with the conservative side. My views are closest to Libertarianism because of that, but I have no political affiliation.

Politics (and nationalism in general) is for tribalists, and I am definitely not one of those. I find the very concept to be inhuman. I'm not into group-think and I pity those who are.

[–] krl97a (5619) 7 years ago

What a load of confused tripe you just posted. You don't even know what terms like "liberal" and "conservative" mean. Mark Steyn and Ann Coulter have funnier biting wit than any left wing political pundit. I'll take Norm MacDonald, Gavin McInnes, PJ O'Rourke, Nick Di Paolo (in two fisted, uncensored mode), Drew Carey, Dennis Miller, Colin Quinn, Tom Shillue, Jeff Foxworthy, Greg Gutfeld, David Zucker, and many other conservative comedians over Chuck Schumer's niece or any of the hacks hosting the dozen or so Daily Show clones currently spouting the same partisan talking points to clapping seal audiences of hard core Democrats on tv right now. Rush Limbaugh has always been a master of satire. Eric Metaxas is a serious conservative Christian author who's funnier than most professional comedians. Not sure what Jeff Dunham's politics are but he's a Christian, very un-PC, and hilarious. Mike Judge has the funniest sitcom on tv right now with Silicon Valley, and the best cartoonist in recent years has been Scott Adams of Dilbert fame, a Trump supporter. Trump himself is hilarious. George W. Bush was certainly funnier than Al Gore, John Kerry, and Barack Obama. Average conservatives in person or online have better senses of humor than liberals do. Even legendary, not very partisan comedians like Jerry Seinfeld are blaming liberal political correctness for ruining comedy from the campuses on out. This isn't even close.

[–] TaRaNRoD (1579) 5 years ago

You really can't just accept that people don't agree with your political views (which are, btw, totally closed-mind), do you? The worst part... is that this poster was actually quite specific about the fact that he didn't even consider himself a liberal. He said that he has mixed opinions on the matter. Still, you bitch about it no matter what. And then you dare to say that conservatives are better and are easier to speak with? Fuck off, dumbass.

[–] krl97a (5619) 5 years ago

You ignored the specific examples in my post exposing what BS his off point claims were and your post is even more devoid of substance. No, halfwit. I'm extremely open minded and have no problem with leftists having tv shows. I'd just like the other side to have at least some voice too. We've already got something like 124 leftist propaganda shows thinly disguised as "comedy". I'm not sure we need another one, or that the 125th will be the one that finally takes Trump and the Republicans down. Conservatives have been systematically purged from the tv and increasingly the social media landscape by totalitarian-minded people who demonstrably care more about pushing their political agenda than their own company's bottom line. The SP guys recently claimed to still be Republicans but clearly they've been cowed by their leftist network into putting out a watered down, bland, liberal leaning product that bears little resemblance to SP in its prime.

In case you haven't noticed at least half the country broadly "agree(s) with my political views". Silencing half the country isn't tenable long term if this is going to be a stable, united nation.

[–] Nada (1) 5 years ago

[deleted]