South Park Conservatives: Snapshot of the Culture Wars

TechCentralStation.com ^ | 04-15-05 | Edward B. Driscoll, Jr.

[escapefromboston]

I think South Park jumped the shark. The last really funny episode was when the South Parkers went skiing.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"Political correctness drives them nuts..."

Amen.

[68 grunt]

South Park rocks bump!

[Luigi Vasellini]

Did you happen to see the Paris Hilton one. The end was great, I never laughed so hard in my life!!!

[68 grunt]

... think South Park jumped the shark ...

Nah, there's been some instant classics.

"Jumped the shark"? Like Limbaugh and Delay?

[randog]

A good summation of the media wars.

I find it interesting that the right makes inroads into the MSM through cartoons. South Park isn't the only cartoon to take on the left--you've got The Simpsons and King of the Hill to name a couple.

When the definitive book on the history of America's culture war is written there'll be a whole chapter or two devoted to the use of art by the right to get their message out.

[Dick Vomer]

[SMARTY]

"Anderson concedes that reforming academia is going to be a long slog."

Recognizing that a change is needed is half the battle. The ugly secret is out now and maybe parents will look longer and harder when selecting the place they will send their children to college. It's the good old Yankee way, boycott the offender! Capitalism works!

[Ragtop]

I haven't watched South Park in years, but I must say, the South Park was the most offensive, foul, insane movie I have ever seen. I never laughed harder in my life. Plus, South Park usually has pretty conservative themes.
Maybe it's some sort of trap for the left, they tune in for the gross out comedy, only to be gently swayed by the undercurrent of conservative themes...

[pabianice]

In 1963, my alma matter -- UMass/Amherst -- retired undefeated on TV's "College Bowl" (one of just ten schools to do so). Today, the social sciences, humanities, and school of education at UMass/Amherst are laughing stocks of screaming lesbian hatemongers, PC storm strooper, and open admissions for anyone of "color." Bachelor's degrees are simply handed-out to students who finish four years of "individual concentration" in Victims Studies and Gender Oppression Studies. The Anthropology Dept. is headed by "Feminist Anthropologists," whateverthehell that is. Campus violence is constant, with rapes and assaults committed by "poor minority victims of a racist society," apparently admitted upon the basis of being violent and stupid. The real students in chemistry, computer science, and forestry management (yes, there are still some good schools there, struggling against the tide), keep their heads down and try to graduate without being lynched by angry mobs. It's pitiful.

[chris1]

METALHEAD CONSERVATIVE RIGHT HERE!

[beezdotcom]

Point of order: the phrase "jumped the shark" has ITSELF jumped the shark...

[billbears]

"In my book", Anderson recently told me, "the term refers to a kind of irreverent post-liberal or anti-liberal attitude or sensibility, one very in tune with popular culture. But it's not a coherent, fully developed political philosophy.

I beg to differ. I believe it is almost, if not completely, a fully developed philosophy. South Park leans libertarian (small l) and is more conservative in ways than Republican.

As for jumping the shark, you have to be kidding. The one about the Schiavo case was enlightening and hilarious at the same time. This week's was pretty decent as well

[Ragtop]

Rock On!

[Milhous]

"One key reason the Right is, if not winning", Anderson says, "at least no longer losing the culture wars isn't the new media; it's the intellectual exhaustion of the Left, something that has become especially apparent in a post-9/11 era".

The author initially disputes my own premise of New Media's monotonically increasing cultural clout, then apparently spends the remainder of the his editorial defended my position?

As proof, he cites a Pew Research poll last year, which found "that just 21 percent of its respondents viewed the New York Times as a trustworthy news source -- a figure below that of Fox News, it's worth noting," Anderson says.

Soros' Olde Media production of get DeLay just flopped, which further increases New Media's clout at the expense of Olde Media.

"The elite media", Anderson says, "have the power to send out squadrons of reporters to investigate, say, Tom Delay but not Kofi Annan and UN corruption, and that can still shape the public's perception of what's newsworthy, still can provide a narrative to the flux of events and issues." The ability to choose what to investigate and what to report remains a powerful form of information control for big media.

Conservatives call that setting an agenda. Easongate proved New Media's clout in setting an agenda.

With some measure of parity achieved in the media, what's the next front in the culture war? Academia of course, which is where Anderson chooses to end "South Park Conservatives" (before an index and a volley of footnotes, including -- full disclosure time -- me, for this TCS article).

The judiciary comes next, then Academia. After Academia comes movies created independently of Hollyweird. Conservative capitalists will actualize a Leftist dream of controlling the all 6 cultural influences: family, church, media, judiciary, academia, & entertainment.

[Trimegistus]

"Point of order: the phrase "jumped the shark" has ITSELF jumped the shark..."

Not only that, but the phrase "'Jumped the shark' has itself jumped the shark" is at least on the ramp if not airborne over the tank.

[beezdotcom]

Not only that, but the phrase "'Jumped the shark' has itself jumped the shark" is at least on the ramp if not airborne over the tank.

Indeed. It pained me even to say it - but when in Rome...

[Castro]

...and my favorite, Family Guy.

[Phantom Lord]

South Park hasn't even entered the water yet, let alone jumped the shark.