Wat?
It's a mini game with a fish looking like blackface and it's suppose to be Kanyes mum. It's a bit shitty, but I never expected them to not do something like this in any way. There are also many of these cases in this game. Play a black guy and you get rude comments most of the time. Or you choose to be neither girl or boy and Rednecks want to immediately fuck you up. Se(a)men is still funny.
And it's obviously South Park where:
- Ginger kids are hated
- Zombie Nazis were on the streets
- where two kids were forced to be gay
- where a small kid got killed in many horrible ways because he is poor
- Jews are insulted all the time
Blackface is horrible, but is it really such a big new thing for South Park?
Whole thing should be added here too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_controversies#Criticism_and_protests
Ill never understand this argument; They made bad jokes before so they should keep making bad jokes without criticism now doesnt make any sense.
Rather, for example: if you opened some random Steam game and found that Jew was a character class, itd probably be kind of offputting at the very least, right? Yet South Park gets a pass because... theyve made antisemitic jokes before?
It seems like we've forgotten, as a society, that comedians are SUPPOSED to push the boundaries of what's acceptable. It's why we like them. Sometimes they're going to accidentally cross the line, because it's not immediately obvious where the line is. It's the job of the comedian to go right up to the line, and show everyone else where it is. The problem I have with political correctness applied in the comedy context is that it doesn't allow comedians to perform this crucially important societal function. If every joke was perfectly safe and offended no one -- well that sounds like the death of comedy to me. South Park has been doing this for nearly 20 years. They used to mainly piss off the right and now they mainly piss off the left. So if you think they went too far with the dumb fish thing, by all means, call them out. But just know it's not Matt and Trey's job to be woke, it's their job to be funny. And that means taking risks.
I have two thoughts here.
1. Its not taking risks or pushing boundaries when youre throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks. There is absolutely nothing admirable about joking about everything, no matter how much you punch down in the process, because in theory someone might laugh at something eventually and I guess any laugh at all makes all the shit you said worth it no matter whos laughing. Making jokes is no excuse for causing harm for the sake of a laugh. Their job isnt necessarily to be woke but it is to actually write well with worthwhile targets in mind.
(And nothing youre describing here is actually why I like comedy or comedians, so youre really ascribing a lot of your personal taste to that as a whole, but whatever.)
2. Theyre not pushing boundaries when they piss off the left. Transphobic, racist, antisemitic, sexist, etc. jokes are really pushing boundaries? What fucking boundaries? Oh sure, someone might tell you off for saying those things, boo hoo, but meanwhile trans women regularly get killed just for being trans- especially if theyre not white. Youve surely seen the way cops in this country treat people of color. The list goes on.
I mean, we literally have Nazis rallying in the streets so excuse me if I do not think theres anything fucking new or progressive or worth the risk here. If youre arguing for the status quo or worse theres literally not a boundary being pushed beyond not wanting to be decent to people who actually deserve it! Its that simple.
I understand your point to a certain degree, but if we stop things like these in South Park, then we would have to stop everything that show is about.
Making jokes about anyone.
I mean don't you think homosexuals, gingers, jews, actors like Morgan Freeman are offended too? South Park would cease to exist and this whole thing about being neutral and open towards anything is what South Park is about.
Its not neutral and open towards anything.
Its hostile and apathetic to everything. Which is not the same thing, nor is it good.