South Park Racism

We discussed in class the theory of the "moving walkway" of racism that unless we constantly put our effort into ending racism, it'll keep going on. Maybe this is a bit of a stretch, but throughout the discussion, something entered my mind. It's a guilty pleasure of mine, but I absolutely love the TV show South Park. It's notorious for being way over the top, ridiculous, and horrible in many ways. Pretty much every episode take stabs at Jews, women, homosexuals, racial minorities, and basically everyone. But it got me thinking; while South Park makes jokes about different races, they also take stabs at white people as well. I hear a lot of people say "no one is 'safe' from South Park". Everyone gets attacked in some way, and most of it just has to do with what current events are going on at the time.

So I wonder, is South Park maybe a step in the right direction against racism? If you ask me, I think South Park is actually making a mockery of racism by making the most absurd situations one can think of. One of the African American characters on the show's name is "Token Black" for crying out loud. It's like they are trying to be so racist against everyone that it almost cancels itself out and becomes nonracist. Everyone is stabbed at equally in that show. It's not the most ideal way to end to racism, but is it effective?

Naturally, the show has gotten a lot of controversy over the years, but I for one see past the jokes and see that South Park is actually a very clever and intelligent program if you really truly pay attention. I do realize that many of the jokes do possibly get taken too far, and some people may find the show offensive, and that's fine. But I for one actually see a little bit of anti-racism with all of the racism in the show, if that makes any sense at all. To use a specific example, I did some research. In one of the very controversial episodes I remembering watching, they use the N-word 43 times uncensored, and the episode basically focuses on the word and it's reaction. While it sounds terrible, the episode actually received some praise. In the last two paragraphs under the section titled "Delicate Balance" in this article: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2008/01/29/no_offense_but_/?page=2, the author is praising how the episode captured how Americans viewed race.

I also found an online transcript from a CNN news show where they discussed the episode in great length (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/08/pzn.01.html). They comment on the ironic role reversal, that the character whom accidentally used the N-word on national TV is now the subject of hate for simply using the word, and even gets denied from buying something at a store because of it. It's both ironic, clever, and a little hilarious if you ask me.

I'm not saying anyone has to agree with me about South Park, but in my opinion, I think that it may actually be very important to end the racial divides in our society, albeit maybe not the most ideal way. I challenge everyone else to maybe consider this. It sounds really ridiculous, I know, but I think it's interesting. Could a show that is so racist toward everyone be anti-racist, in that it, in a way, treats everyone equally by attacking them all and favoring no one?

--Cameron