Do you guys consider South Park anti-semitic?

[WhiskeyKnight]

Because half the stuff on that show is way worse than anything PewDiePie ever did.

 

[Count Dookkake]

Content is not intent is not execution.

 

[Not]

PewDiePie laughed at a person with a sign that read Death to All Jews. That was the whole "joke."

For all its bullshit, South Park tries harder.

 

[CecilRousso]

No, they're joking about everyone and everything, and pushes all of that over the top. .

 

[CrocMother]

No

 

[collige]

You're supposed to laugh at Eric, not with him. He's a terrible person.

 

[Daria Morgendorffer]

I mean the anti-Semitism is used to make cartman an ass, so no, I don't think the show itself is anti-Semitic, it's just the character and the show acknowledges that.

 

[zaccheus]

Yes. the butt of all their jokes are jews. just because one of your characters is a jew doesn't mean its okay. its like saying i have a black friend, so its okay to say nigger.

 

[Basketball]

nope

 

[NoblesseOblige]

No. I don't particularly think fondly of South Park these days but they're clearly taking the poop out of Nazis. Comparing it to PDP is hilariously poor. The writers of SP are actual professionals who know to a degree the elements of comedy. They're not some youtube sensation who would fail clown school. There is more nuance in South Park.

 

[Magus1234]

Reading some about this guy PDP, never knew who he was before all this really. One thing I will say, all the comment sections on anything related to him read like a Trump Klan meeting. I'm gonna go ahead and stay away from him.

 

[Snowybreak]

South Park is satire. The difference between what PDP did and what South Park does is entirely on the context and treatment of the joke.

 

[BatDan]

As someone that's Jewish... hell no.

 

[Gleethor]

South Park's target audience vs Pewdiepie's target audience

 

[QuantumBro]

OP, can you name an episode that has an anti-semitic message to it?

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

South Park uses a character that makes antisemitic jokes, to portray how much of an asshole that character is. Cartman being a terrible person is the joke.

To miss the point of that is akin to saying "well Tropic Thunder had blackface, so it must be okay for anyone trying to get a laugh." RDJ's character being so self-absorbed that he commits an awful social faux pas just to nail a role, and everyone hates him for it, is the joke.

I've not watched any of PDP's work or followed much of the drama, so how does it compare?

Yes. the butt of all their jokes are jews. just because one of your characters is a jew doesn't mean its okay. its like saying i have a black friend, so its okay to say nigger.

When QT wrote a slave owner who regularly used the N-word, the point was not to normalize the n-word or make fun of blacks, but to show "this is what a racist POS who owns people and forces them into death matches would talk like." I think even Spike Lee missed the point of that, so you're not alone.

 

[Laevateinn]

Yes. the butt of all their jokes are jews. just because one of your characters is a jew doesn't mean its okay. its like saying i have a black friend, so its okay to say nigger.

One of the creators is Jewish

Spoiler

atheist

.

 

[unhealthy_skeptic]

pretty weak justifications for hypocrisy in this thread so far.

 

[Sir TapTap]

Nothing anti-semitic would insult nazis and racists as thoroughly as South Park does.

The difference between PDP and South Park, not that it should need to be stated, is that when South Park does a Nazi joke, the Nazis are the butt of the joke. In the PDP jokes, the jews were.

 

[Cranster]

OP doesn't seem to understand satire.

 

[Mr Cola]

I dont want to live in the world half of you think you want and im sure if you got it you wouldnt either.

 

[Azoor]

Eric Cartman is an anti-semite and you're supposed to laugh at him.

 

[anonymous_abc]

Yes. the butt of all their jokes are jews. just because one of your characters is a jew doesn't mean its okay. its like saying i have a black friend, so its okay to say nigger.

notsureifserious.gif

 

[Sephzilla]

You aren't supposed to be laughing with the characters making the anti-semetic remarks

 

[Spork4000]

I knew a Jewish kid who never said he was Jewish because he's get relentlessly bullied with South park "jokes." It might not be anti-Semitic, but it has contributed to anti-Semitic bullying.

 

[Audioboxer]

Some people will, some people won't.

The major difference here is South Park isn't under the banner of Disney. If you want to peddle humour like this you best be independent, or under an owner who expects it and doesn't care about it. That's all there is to it really, and then audiences will either consume or not consume, leading to your bottom line of $.

Humour isn't universally liked, nor appreciated. Context is indeed important, but even context itself doesn't blanket make every joke appreciated or liked. South Park has had plenty of criticism and outrage over the years.

 

[Pinko Marx]

Cartman is essentially the villain of the series. So this would be akin to calling the Captain America movies anti-Semitic because of its use of Nazis and Nazi imagery.

 

[Fracas]

I consider it anti-funny.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

South Park is (often times) brilliantly executed satire.

PewDiePie is just loud noise without a modicum of tact.

 

[georly]

The point of the south park jokes are to show you that antisemitism is bad. They have a point, a purpose, a punchline.

Pewdiepie had nothing other than 'what's the worst thing i can think of for shock value'

his message wasn't condemning anti-semitism, it was shock value and meaningless. He's a hack.

 

[Glix]

I'm jewish and South Park has never offended me nor have I ever thought the creators were anti semetic in any way.

They send up Jews the same way they send up everyone/everything else.

Hell, the funniest bit in the history of the show, to me, was the bit about the Jew Gold, and the hidden, real, Jew Gold. It kills me every time. (okay okay, maybe "naggers" is funnier)

 

[Perfect Blue]

Christ, OP lol

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Yes. the butt of all their jokes are jews. just because one of your characters is a jew doesn't mean its okay. its like saying i have a black friend, so its okay to say nigger.

It's pretty clear you don't watch South Park

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

pretty weak justifications for hypocrisy in this thread so far.

I asked in my original post, can someone explain how PDP's use of Nazi imagery is similar to South Park's?

Simply having a Swastika isn't the same thing.

 

[Goro Majima]

They do some pretty horrible and messed up stuff in Always Sunny also but it's a show starring 5 Eric Cartmans in a way because they're all assholes (although they don't embrace Nazism to the extent that Cartman does)

 

[NoblesseOblige]

I knew a Jewish kid who never said he was Jewish because he's get relentlessly bullied with South park "jokes." It might not be anti-Semitic, but it has contributed to anti-Semitic bullying.

This is unfortunately true. I also remember students quoting SP to attack overweight classmates. This is why SP isn't meant for children - they are stupid about context.

 

[rjc571]

Pewdiepie, from what I've seen, is really shitty at comedy. His delivery is awkward and has no sense of comedic timing. That is why his attempt at satire utterly failed and confused everybody into thinking he was an antisemite. South Park has really good timing and delivery so it is clear that why they do is satire.

 

[Adam_Vania]

regardless of intent or context, they've certainly done their part to normalize it

 

[Tiberius]

Oh a new topic about pdp with an argument repeated ad nauseam in the other threads ...

 

[CloudWolf]

No, it's satire, that's the point.

 

[Sojgat]

Either trolling or beyond help, not sure which.

 

[RecRoulette]

I mean if you wanted to try and argue that they desensitized people to that behavior I could see that point of view, but saying it's anti-semitic? Come on.

 

[entremet]

OP doesn't seem to understand satire.

Seeing comedy threads here and many also do not apparently.

 

[Sir TapTap]

I knew a Jewish kid who never said he was Jewish because he's get relentlessly bullied with South park "jokes." It might not be anti-Semitic, but it has contributed to anti-Semitic bullying.

There's certainly an element of this, but it doesn't particlarly reflect back on the creator. Pepe the frog's creator isn't a nazi even if the symbol has been more or less 100% co-opted by neo nazis, and south park isn't nearly that co-opted.

It's really hard to use South Park to prop up any position but the ones they're very clear about. There's some subtlety, but there's also a lot of extremely over the top and blatant stuff. Like, you can't really every try to claim the show that made "took 'er jerbs!" into a meme is a pro-trump/alt right/whatever nazi shit show.

 

[Perfect Blue]

Trying to one-up the Fury Road is Bourne Legacy thread in awfulness huh?

 

[LiquidSword]

Nothing anti-semitic would insult nazis and racists as thoroughly as South Park does.

The difference between PDP and South Park, not that it should need to be stated, is that when South Park does a Nazi joke, the Nazis are the butt of the joke. In the PDP jokes, the jews were.

Yep it's pretty simple. I'm sure alot of his defenders know this but are being disingenuous.

 

[Cranster]

Yes. the butt of all their jokes are jews. just because one of your characters is a jew doesn't mean its okay. its like saying i have a black friend, so its okay to say nigger.

Really?!

 

[unhealthy_skeptic]

I asked in my original post, can someone explain how PDP'a use of Nazi imagery is similar to South Park's?

Simply having a Swastika isn't the same thing.

Have you not seen the videos in question? The clips are literally taken out of context in a clip about taking things out of context.

 

[Not]

You aren't supposed to be laughing with the characters making the anti-semetic remarks

I kind of see the OP's point though. Most of SP's audience probably can't grasp the layers. They have the minds of children.

It's like the people who watched The Colbert Report and took everything literally.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

regardless of intent or context, they've certainly done their part to normalize it

The most I personally condemn SP for normalizing is the 'both sides are bad' and 'the truth is in the middle' rhetoric. It's why I don't have a favorable opinion of them though admittedly I haven't actually watched for over a year.

Have you not seen the videos in question? The clips are literally taken out of context in a clip about taking things out of context.

And PDP's lastest response was to align himself with literal racist, sexist bigots. Soooo... yeah. I didn't really have any opinion about the whole PDP thing until he did that. He's in the dumpster now.