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[moffattron9000]

http://www.avclub.com/article/south-park-raised-generation-trolls-258253

A great article into how South Park helped create the modern troll culture that we suffer today, and how its decision to not cover the troll-in-chief is such a cop-out. In particular, there is this part that really gets into the ramifications in part of South Park's rebellion.

There’s also the same co-opting of anti-liberal stances as the highest possible form of rebellion: Parker and Stone used to brag that they were “punk rock” for telling their Hollywood friends how much they loved George W. Bush; Parker even told Rolling Stone in 2007, “The only way to be more hardcore than everyone else is to tell the people who think they’re the most hardcore that they’re pussies, to go up to a tattooed, pierced vegan and say, ‘Whatever, you tattooed faggot, you’re a pierced faggot and whatever’”—a quote that may as well have been taken from 4chan’s /pol/ board this morning. “Conservatism is the new punk rock,” echoed a bunch of human cringes a decade later. Whatever, you faggot, a dozen Pepes tweeted a few seconds ago.

But well beyond the “alt-right,” South Park’s influence echoes through every modern manifestation of the kind of hostile apathy—nurtured along by Xbox Live shit-talk and comment-board flame wars and Twitter—that’s mutated in our cultural petri dish to create a rhetorical world where whoever cares, loses. Today, everyone with any kind of grievance probably just has sand in their vagina; expressing it with anything beyond a reaction GIF means you’re “whining”; cry more, your tears are delicious. We live in Generation U Mad Bro, and from its very infancy, South Park has armed it with enough prefab eye-rolling retorts (“ManBearPig!” “I’m a dolphin!” “Gay Fish!” “…’Member?”) to sneeringly shut down discussions on everything from climate change and identity politics to Kanye West and movie reboots. Why not? Everything sucks equally, anyway. Voting is just choosing between some Douche and a Turd Sandwich. Bullying is just a part of life. Suck it up and take it, until it’s your turn to do the bullying. Relax, guy.

 

[BocoDragon]

Yeah I've heard some people say that so-called "South Park Republicans" (an early 2000s identity) were the proto-alt right.

 

[HotHamBoy]

I get where this article is coming from but I grew up loving South Park (I was 12 when it premiered in 97) and I'm the furthest thing from the people they are talking about in this article.

Of course, I also think the show has been pretty lame since, like, season 10.

 

[Slayven]

The most annoying thing is it fostered apathy and antagonism to people that actually give a damn about something.

The episode that i tapped out was the one were Stan just said "Everything is shit, why care?"

 

[SpaceWolf]

I guarantee Stone and Parker are going to wind up reading this. I'd be massively curious to learn what their reactions will be.

 

[Jonnax]

I get where this article is coming from but I grew up loving South Park (I was 12 when it premiered in 97) and I'm the furthest thing from the people they are talking about in this article.

Stupid people turn shows like South Park into their identity.

 

[Machina]

If this is even remotely true, it just makes it all the more hilarious. Parker and Stone are essentially Liberals. They just prefer to be pure satirists for the sake of their craft.

 

[excelsiorlef]

I get where this article is coming from but I grew up loving South Park (I was 12 when it premiered in 97) and I'm the furthest thing from the people they are talking about in this article.

And?

 

[akira28]

South Park being directed at children, never should have happened.

It was adult satire, but "oh animated and the characters are children, it must be a kid's show...."

 

[Charles Brandon]

That article is nonsense.

 

[HotHamBoy]

And?

Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

I get where this article is coming from but I grew up loving South Park (I was 12 when it premiered in 97) and I'm the furthest thing from the people they are talking about in this article.

Of course, I also think the show has been pretty lame since, like, season 10.

Same here, but im european.
Maybe an american thing? Same as anime fanbases being completely different in america than europe in a ideological sense.
Still i dont think south park would be the only fault, but just one of a mot of factors it could tilt crazy people in, like a lot of other stuff.

 

[Lime]

The show cultivated the mechanism that Film Critic Hulk talked about in the radicalization of young white men where they exist in a loop of pissing people off and then turn more and more right-winged the more they act like bigots and get a response from minorities

Here's the article http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2017/02/23/p.c.-culture-vs.-the-big-joke/amp

 

[excelsiorlef]

Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

What an empty statement

 

[akira28]

no child should ever see Eric Cartman as any kind of rolemodel.

 

[Chinner]

I don't feel it's fair to say that South Park is the cause and effect of this issue. However, I do feel they may have contributed to the problem.

 

[Slayven]

The show cultivated the mechanism that Film Critic Hulk talked about in the radicalization of young white men where they exist in a loop of pissing people off and then turn more and more right-winged the more they act like bigots and get a response from minorities

Been thinking more and more about that, like the Alt Right isn't really a polical movement. They exist just to piss people off.

 

[akira28]

I don't feel it's fair to say that South Park is the cause and effect of this issue. However, I do feel they may have contributed to the problem.

no one could possibly think they're the single and sole cause. Its all about contributing factors.

Let's be real, though. South Park didn't ”invent" the ”alt-right," even accidentally. The ”alt-right" is the product of lots of things—disenfranchisement; internet echo chambers; aggrieved Gamergaters; boredom; the same ugly, latent racism that's coursed beneath civilization's veneer for millennia; etc.

 

[Slaythe]

If South Park made you a piece of shit, maybe you kinda were gonna be a piece of shit anyway.

It has millions of fans across the world and it's not like every kid that grew up with it turned into some racist right wing butthole.

 

[googleplex]

I've seen the "South Park Defense" here in Gaf a few times to pass off blatant racism and misogyny as just jokes.

 

[HotHamBoy]

What an empty statement

You know what I'm saying. Assholes are always going to exist and find the thing that they identify with. I'm not going to blame South Park for people being shitheads with shitty views.

no child should ever see Eric Cartman as any kind of rolemodel.

Is he supposed to be?

There is a lot of cynical commentary in SP yet I think a lot of the irony goes over people's heads.

 

[Chinner]

no one could possibly think they're the single and sole cause. Its all about contributing factors.

We're agreeing, but yeah reading back that post it's basically useless. Lol.

 

[Slayven]

Another thing is the decline in the value of comedy. Comedy is a powerful and important medium, but so many people are happy with just "It's prank bruh" that it and satire has lost so much of their meaning.

 

[D i Z]

no one could possibly think they're the single and sole cause. Its all about contributing factors.

.

 

[Real Hero]

Season 20 was about this to some degree

 

[Triteon]

The progressive left set themselves up for this exact senario when they became as humourless and restrictive as the religious right.

When the progressives won the cuture war, and we did win, we started using the exact same methods of as the conservatives. Shame and shout downs and ostracization.

Some people find the policing its self to be the issue especially snarky assholes.

 

[excelsiorlef]

You know what I'm saying. Assholes are always going to exist and find the thing that they identify with. I'm not going to blame South Park for people being shitheads with shitty views.

Actually what you said was I watched it and I'm fine so it must not be a problem

 

[akira28]

The progressive left set themselves up for this exact senario when they became as humourless and restrictive as the religious right.

When the progressives won the cuture war, and we did win, we started using the exact same methods of as the conservatives. Shame and shout downs and ostracization.

Some people find the policing its self to be the issue.

no.

so many nos. I'm going to bed before I spend all night yelling at the internet cloud.

"we"

 

[dreamcastmaster]

So we South Park is the reason we have shitty people? There were trolls and shitty people before South Park as well, what were thier actions blamed on? Comics, rap, videogames?

 

[HotHamBoy]

Another thing is the decline of comedy. Comedy is a powerful and important medium, but so many people are happy with just "It's prank bruh" that it and satire has lost so much of their meaning.

Please chart this decline for me. I'm pretty sure mainstream comedy has always generally been garbage.

I know that there's a lot of funny podcasts right now. We have had some really great sitcoms recently.

 

[ginger ninja]

I do think not going after trump is a cop out but at the same time I can see where they are coming from. I love South Park but also have no trouble accepting that it enables some stupid people because of their no holds barred approach. I think the bottom line is that they get away with because their's satire is very smart and sharp(most of the time).


So I guess it makes sense why I am a South Park fan, I am neither here nor there for the most part.

 

[thepotatoman]

The most annoying thing is it fostered apathy and antagonism to people that actually give a damn about something.

The episode that i tapped out was the one were Stan just said "Everything is shit, why care?"

The article seems to argue that exact belief is what causes trolling. That trolling is nihilists making fun of people that commit the sin of caring.

 

[excelsiorlef]

The progressive left set themselves up for this exact senario when they became as humourless and restrictive as the religious right.

When the progressives won the cuture war, and we did win, we started using the exact same methods of as the conservatives. Shame and shout downs and ostracization.

Some people find the policing its self to be the issue.

What year did we win the war and then become the oppressors?

 

[Not]

Smart white kids making shit for dumb white kids. That's all it's ever been.

 

[wrowa]

I didn't like the last couple of seasons and I can totally understand people who feel like the show is pandering to the alt-right these days. I also think the decision not to cover Trump is uttery ridiculous and reeks of an attempt not to piss off that part of their audience. If you are creating satire in America, you have to cover what might be the world's most influential clown, period. "Reality is more fucked up than whatever we can think off" is indeed a lazy copt-out.

Hooowever, reducing South Park to "troll culture" is just as ridiculous. That might be true if you are ignoring everything but Cartman, but the show was always more than that. It was good satire for the longest time, especially when most big adult cartoons rather tried to be silly for the sake of being silly instead of trying to say something.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Actually what you said was I watched it and I'm fine so it must not be a problem

Welp, guess we better lock up the violent video games.

 

[Jonnax]

The progressive left set themselves up for this exact senario when they became as humourless and restrictive as the religious right.

When the progressives won the cuture war, and we did win, we started using the exact same methods of as the conservatives. Shame and shout downs and ostracization.

Some people find the policing its self to be the issue especially snarky assholes.

So you're saying all the racists and sexists actually aren't but simply people pushing back against PC culture?

 

[Slayven]

Please chart this decline for me. I'm pretty sure mainstream comedy has always generally been garbage.

I know that there's a lot of funny podcasts right now.

There is a difference between banal and toxic

 

[kyser73]

Let's reduce complex social events into a simplistic piece of finger-pointing, the article.

 

[Thug Waffle]

What an empty statement

what an empty retort

 

[HotHamBoy]

There is a diffence between banal

I don't even know what this is supposed to mean.

They've made shitty movies like that for decades.

 

[excelsiorlef]

Welp, guess we better lock up the violent video games.

That's a much broader category than a specific show with a specific message.

Also never called for bans or arrests.

 

[Triteon]

The article seems to argue that exact belief is what causes trolling. That trolling is people making fun of people that commit the sin of caring.

Id say thats exactly it. You hit it exactly.

 

[KHlover]

Better watch out then, Rick and Morty about to raise the next generation.

 

[Not]

I love this article.

Better watch out then, Rick and Morty about to raise the next generation.

Hope so. Dan Harmon is an inch or two in the right direction. At least, that's what I get from listening to Harmontown.

 

[thepotatoman]

So we South Park is the reason we have shitty people? There were trolls and shitty people before South Park as well, what were thier actions blamed on? Comics, rap, videogames?

Drugs, Alcohol, and Rock and Roll.

 

[Lime]

Smart white kids making shit for dumb white kids. That's all it's ever been.

Parker and Stone aren't smart. They don't believe in global warming and they completely fail to understand somewhat complex political topics.

 

[Real Hero]

Smart white kids making shit for dumb white kids. That's all it's ever been.

That's all entertainment basically

 

[googleplex]

The progressive left set themselves up for this exact senario when they became as humourless and restrictive as the religious right.

When the progressives won the cuture war, and we did win, we started using the exact same methods of as the conservatives. Shame and shout downs and ostracization.

Some people find the policing its self to be the issue especially snarky assholes.

Pure unmitigated bullshit

 

[HotHamBoy]

That's a much broader category than a specific show with a specific message.

Also never called for bans or arrests.

Okay, but what do you do about it?