South Park As A Gated Community

[Urameshi13]

I love that you think people who are not aligned with a particular ideology will just slap the taste right out of a baby's mouth. It shows your incredible ability to be just as myopic and obtuse as the right wingers you oh so love to criticize.

It just goes so well with your psuedo-liberal ideology. Do you ever tire of being the Michael Savage of the left?

 

[tangoprime]

The more I read stuff from Moviebob, the more apparent it becomes that he believes conservatism in any form is completely evil, whereas Liberalism is the savior of the earth.

Bob, you do understand that both ideologies have flaws, right? How come, whenever a show dares to take a shot at the Democratic party, you're always there to discredit it? And yet, when Family Guy, a show that compares the GOP with Nazism (as other posters have already pointed out), you'll defend it with your dying breath?

Newsflash: Both parties are just as full of political scumbags as the other. Nobody on this planet deserves a free pass from criticism, not you, not South Park, not Family Guy, and not Democrats/Liberals (or Conservatives).

I'm sure you're a very nice guy in person, but I just can't understand this righteous position you've taken.

Has Bob ever said that he believes conservatism in any form is completely evil, whereas Liberalism is the savior of the earth? I've never heard him say that, so either you're psychic or lying.

I've been following politics for over 30 years, I've seen both governing philosophies at work, and if you compare Liberal governance to Conservative governance, Liberal governance has better outcomes. Compare The People's Republic of Massachusetts to any Conservative state in the south for proof.

So wrong i do not even know where to begin you need to do some fact checking, seriously.

And texas would like to have a word also, one of the most right states out there, one of the few states to have a budget surplus, where cali, ohio, pa are left states and all their economies are in the crapper.

Let's compare Mass vs. Texas.

Median Household Income: Mass - $65,339 U.S. - $51,371 Texas - $50,740

Median Family Income: Mass - $82,977 U.S. - $62,527 Texas - $59,765

Per Capita Income: Mass - $34,907 U.S. - $27,319 Texas - $25,359

Poverty rate: Mass - 10.1% Texas 16.2%

Health Care: Mass 3.4% without coverage Texas 23.8% without coverage

Murder rate: Mass 2.2 per 100,000 Texas 4.4 per 100,000

Mass has better sports teams

Unemployment rate: Mass 7.2 Texas 6.4

GDP per capita: Mass ranks 6th Texas ranks 7th

Teen pregnancy rates: Mass 42/1,000 Texas 85/1,000

Mass has the lowest divorce rate in the country.

Mass has some of the best schools in the country. Harvard and MIT

The rest of Conservatives states have worse outcomes than Texas.

Like I said, "Liberal governance has better outcomes. Compare The People's Republic of Massachusetts to any Conservative state in the south for proof."

http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/
That 50k average is equivalent to making 72k in Boston when you adjust for cost of living. Plus, you have to take into consideration the 5.3% income tax, whereas Texas has none. You do get some bonus points on it being a flat tax rate, something a lot of libertarians would like to see happen federally.

You have MIT, we have Baylor and SMU, along with the Texas Medical Center (which as I mentioned before also happens to be the largest medical complex on Earth). We also have a larger and far more diverse population, meaning more disparity just on sheer numbers, accounting for the above statistics.

Look, we're both number 1 somewhere.
http://www.forbes.com/best-states-for-business/list/

I've lived all over the northeast in my life, with my most time spent in Baltimore. The only thing I miss is the occasional white christmas/new year, and the proliferation of ex-new yorker owned sub/pizza shops, but it's a fair trade for much lower cost of living, and less stressful life overall that I found up north. Keeping much more of my paycheck is nice too.

To part amicably however, I'll cede that Massachusetts is lovely in the fall. If you've never been to Texas, however, do yourself a favor and come down to Houston sometime in the winter. Head to Bellaire and have yourself some of the best vietnamese food this side of the Pacific, and some authentic mexican food.

 

[Fox12]

Wow... this may be the single worse thing Movie Bob has ever produce. And that's saying something. He's so stuck up in his political beliefs, it makes me ill. Mat and Trey are wrong, essentially, because they don't agree with Movie Bob. If a piece of fiction agrees with his political beliefs, he heaps mountains of praise on it, regardless of whether or not the actual film was good. Look at Elysium. The film was heavy handed, poorly written, poorly acted nonsense. But because it had a pro healthcare message it got a glowing review. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the politics, the film itself was bad.

I'm sorry bob, sometimes both sides really are horrible. In this case, The Democratic and Republican parties have been running the same candidate for years. Obama is Bush 2.0. Romney, Mccain, and Gengritch are all the same as Obama. That's the point South Park was always trying to make, because no matter who you vote for, you don't really have any actual choice at all. You have the illusion of choice. What difference does your vote make when the candidates are the same person? The episode in question highlights this with a protagonist who realizes the truth, and the saddest thing is everyone else is fanatical that their candidate is the right choice.

I'm sorry, but Trey and Matt aren't the ones with a political agenda or a skewed vision of reality...

 

[lord.jeff]

*skips the thread that is largely off topic now* I get the distinct feeling that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the only ones anymore that don't take South Park seriously. And that's really sad, but not because of them. Their indiscriminate satire has nothing to do with taking up some sort of social or political ideal and waving it triumphantly, nor have I ever got the impression that they feel they must do it in equal measure to everybody. They're comedians mining for gold where ever they think they can find it.

It's pretty obvious that Matt or Trey don't take South Park they had a whole episode "Funnybot" poking fun at anyone who would take comedy seriously.

 

[Quadocky]

After all, it's only okay to make fun of people when they're conservatives.

Well given the sheer amount of awfulness 'Conservatives' tend to be associated with, its not so much that its 'okay' so much as its really really really REALLY easy since comedy wholly relies upon punching upward. Which is also why Conservative 'comedy' fails utterly because its not really comedy so much as bullying.

 

[Quadocky]

Also, I think people are reading waaaaay too much into this. All Movie Bob is saying is that South Park fails in certain regards because its perspective is limited. As a show its not really afraid to step outside its comfort zone, and can come off as meanspirted in its humor because there is not that much thought put into it given the limitations of the creators and the quick production schedule.

And you know what? It creeps me the fuck out when well paid political commentators references South Park in any shape or form as 'insightful political humor' or some such. Its not, never will, nor should it be considered as such. Yet.. it is, and when it is, its a problem.

 

[Quadocky]

Well given the sheer amount of awfulness 'Conservatives' tend to be associated with, its not so much that its 'okay' so much as its really really really REALLY easy since comedy wholly relies upon punching upward. Which is also why Conservative 'comedy' fails utterly because its not really comedy so much as bullying.

I wouldn't say conservative comedy "fails" so much as there just aren't nearly as many good comedians that are conservative. I mean when you flip through the list of big-time comedians and look at their political leanings, the business is almost entirely liberals.

Comedy Central has multiple "fake news" shows run by left-leaning comedians, for example, but there isn't really a show out there comparable to The Daily Show or The Colbert Report.

So it's not that it "fails", it's mostly that there's just not all that much of it. Which begs the question "why so serious?"

That's actually one of the reasons I appreciate South Park, who seems much more willing to take jabs at both sides.

As I mentioned before, 'Conservative' comedy does exist, its just not what a normal empathetic-healthy individual calls comedy. Steven Crowder for example, (good god, even typing that name makes my skin crawl) his style of comedy amounts to "Hah, homosexuals? Walking around almost naked in a gay pride parade?! I don't wanna see that! Am I right guys? *smug face*" A rational response in any case would amount to: "What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you like, four?" not laughter, never.

In some random conservative 'humor' I've seen on Craigslist they make fun of Nancy Pelosi (or hell, in some cases even invoking that name just drives conservatives up the wall) and the punchline is either that she is (not) a woman, or that she is ugly. Wow, totally hilarious right?

NOW if you want my opinion: what you are calling 'liberal' humor is in actually just plain freakin' humor in the context of culture! Conservatives don't know how to be funny because they are so wrapped up in their own bullshit that they lack humility and irony which makes it impossible for them to even be funny because they don't understand what its like to be someone other than themselves.

Hopefully somewhere in this pile of words in an answer you can have, I am fond of the last bundle before this one because it kinda just gets to the crux of the issue :V

 

[tangoprime]

Unless I see conclusive proof on way or the other I am just as willing to believe that it's republicans forcing the shut down of open parks and then making a big deal of it

The Republicans aren't in control of the Executive Branch of the government at the moment, which is the chief executive of all the departments involved in enforcing the shutdowns. The Executive Branch is also the chief law enforcer, thus all the security doing the enforcement here, the buck stops at the White House. Congress doesn't have any direct executive control of any of these departments or agencies. I'm sorry that you don't know how your government works.

 

[keserak]

The Daily Show just ran a clip of John Boehner admitting, in public, that the Republicans, not the Democrats, caused the shutdown.

They ran the clip because Fox News has been lying, nonstop, claiming that the Democrats caused the shutdown.

The thing to remember here is that rightwingers aren't wrong -- they're lying. That's the entire point. That's the problem. That's why there isn't really a "left-wing" movement since that would merely refer to a bunch of people with enough moral values that prevent them from constantly lying. It isn't a consistent political philosophy. It's just having standards. It's an incoherent group.

So argue as much as you like with someone claiming that the Republicans didn't cause the shutdown, or that we could have never known that Iraq didn't have WMDs, or that most scientists don't believe in climate change, and on and on, but understand this:

Most of the time, you're not arguing with someone who's wrong. You're usually arguing with someone who's arguing in bad faith.

Whether or not that's a productive thing to do is a different issue entirely.

 

[Quadocky]

-snip-

I would say the same could be said of any political humor, to be honest, not just "conservative humor".

In general, political humor tends to require that you actually somewhat agree with the political message being projected behind the joke, otherwise it's not really all that funny.

Unless, of course, you're the sort of comedian who just points to the stupid shit that the government does and then covers your face with your hands. That sort of humor is the kind of political humor that just about anyone can appreciate.

That is just it though, 'political humor' isn't suppose to make you laugh so much as 'cheer'. Its a weird sort of self-gratuitous affirmation of "I am right you are wrong NEENER NEENER NEENER!!"

Jon Stewart for example is a comedian because he is funny given he follows traditional humorous set ups of defying expectations. (of course when he is being serious the audience of course cheers appropriately)

But the main problem I am Having right now is with the word liberal and conservative. As either fail to describe the crux of the issues I am trying to get at. For example, the Amazing Atheist could be called 'liberal' but to me he suffers from the same problem as people like Rush Limbaugh so I don't considering him Liberal. Bill Maher is similar, the only difference is that he actually learns and changes which is at least somewhat more admirable. Mr. Limbaugh on the other hand will beat a horse dead, run it over with a truck, place a flag on it, then complain endlessly about it being dead, then start beating it again.

 

[Markunator]

All right children! Let's do this!

First of all, I like Bob. I work in a movie theater and take most of my recommendations from his reviews. His Big Picture shows are mostly great. But this was a bad article. Professionalism and side taking are like toothpaste and orange juice in my opinion. They don't mix.

One side is never completely right. One side is never completely wrong. The message SP sends (in my own opinion) is to take the points of each "side" and pick and choose like you're at a buffet. For example:

IN MY OPINION:

The "Conservatives" Have Right:

The Government is actually bloated, ineffectual, and destroying america's financial credibility.

Welfare should be regulated. I, John Q. Taxpayer, should not have to pay to support Shaniqua D. Babymomma having three more children and a bag of weed. However, I DO want to support Jane S. Outtaluck who just lost their job. I don't owe anyone, but Welfare has a purpose.

The Constitution is actually sacred. You may have my gun from my cold dead fingers.

The Police are for solving crimes and punishing lawbreakers. THEY ARE NOT CRIME PREVENTERS. We live in a free society. I am free to break the law, but not to escape the punishments. There is a difference that many liberals do not understand.

Illegal immigrants do not have (legal rights, they still have human rights) rights. They do not "Deserve" citizenship, medical care or protection. They chose the incorrect way to enter a country.

The "Liberals" Have Right

Keep your religion to yourself. I do not need your religious creation MYTH stated as fact in my/my children's science classes.

Your religion can have laws over your own life, however this is a Democracy, not a Theocracy, and because "God says no to gay marriage and abortion" does not mean that it should be law.

People should not be judged on race, gender, sexuality, religion... etc. However, this also applies to (oh god say it isn't so!) white heterosexual males.


Again, these are entirely my opinion, but there is a point to this. South Park does have a viewpoint that Bob accurately described as "everyone is equally wrong" but his approach in the article is wrong. Liberals are not the crying babe, they are the parent who believes that the baby is entitled to cry loudly in a public space. The BOTH deserved to be slapped. (the parent not the kid) Additionally, to reiterate what some others have said, rein in the hypocrisy. Bob has excellent points on most occasions, but when you let your political ideology bleed through into your writings, you discredit yourself somewhat.



TL;DR
The baby wasn't the liberal, the parent who wasn't doing anything was. So the slappings were equally justified.
No "side" has it all right, but if you take the points of each side that have merit, you can actually "stay in the middle" and make progress. And on the hypocritical note, Once you have ripped Family Guy a new as$hole for comparing the republicans to nazis, then you have my permission to mock South Park.

You don't need guns to be safe (just look at my country, Sweden), EVERYONE has the right to healthcare, the Republicans ARE practically Nazis, and the US Constitution was written more than two goddamn centuries ago by a bunch of rich, white, straight SLAVE OWNERS.

There you go!

 

[walruss]

Yes, correct. Everyone who disagrees with mainstream liberal philosophy as espoused by Hollywood are just disagreeing to be hipsters. There are no valid concerns with that philosophy. (It's actually a lack of a philosophy, but that's a topic for a different place/time).