this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2024
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While I'm not the biggest fan of the South Park creators' political views, I'm more inclined to say that people using South Park to double down on their bigotry is more of a reflection of themselves than the show.
South Park has undoubtedly made some very fucked-up and politically charged episodes in its 20-something year run. For better or worse, it's their bread and butter to intentionally piss people off by parodying various groups, current events, and American society as a whole. I don't really get the impression that the show is malicious, though. More so that they're immaturely edgy and willing to push the boundaries of what is considered acceptable discourse.
I'm not going to claim that the episodes mentioned here were without negative consequences to already-marginalized groups (or even any good), but my opinion is that if someone is going to cherry-pick an episode out of a show known for coming up with absurd and over-the-top shit, they were going to look for something to reaffirm their bigoted perspective regardless of whether it came from South Park or some other exaggerated media like Alex Jones. The problem isn't so much that there exists fiction that bigots can point at to demonstrate their views, as much as its that they held those views in the first place.