Comment by serf | Hacker News Reader

Comment by serf | Hacker News Reader

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> It's very interesting that "non-respectable" Trey Parker and Matt Stone responded in the morally correct way and the NBA decides to kiss the feet of despots.

Creators of one of the most effective US-centric propaganda engines in recent times have an opinion that sides with the main-line US narrative that's parallel with every other op-ed article being blasted across other well-known US-centric propaganda engines.

Color me surprised.

To be clear : I have no dog in this fight personally; but South Park has been pretty obviously 'narratively - conveinent' for years. If you want to know what their opinion is going to be about a topic before the related episode just open up a page of the NY Times and radicalize the most popular op-ed opinion to the Nth.

'Team America'ify any article : bam , a new South Park episode.

Anyone paying attention during any of the Bush era wars can see this plain as day.

"Let's portray Bush as a total moron so that we can play off of public disdain for him, but let's depict his actions as successful and 'terrorists' as 'the bad guys' and the US as 'good guys' , don't want to rock the boat too bad." .

Talk about having your cake and eating it too, they get credit for being some sort of anti-PC badasses while toting the US main status-quo opinions.

You must be watching a different show than me. I've seen mostly critism of many American polcies. Of White middle America in particular. And of the hypocracy of so many positions.

I don't see any pro US propoganda. I guess I must be brainwashed. How is the episode about Amazon pro US? How is the episode about Disney corporate hypocracy pro US? How is the episode about hiring Mexican laborers pro US? Even the movie was all about how stupid the USA around censorship and how people get offended at bad words instead of bad actions. They did nothing but make fun of Bush in every episode their Bush-like character was in. They also made fun of Bush supporters showning how stupid they were in following him.

> I've seen mostly critism of many American polcies. Of White middle America in particular.

Isn't that very much aligned with the US media though? I don't know how much criticism of South Park holds true, I haven't watched it in years, but this doesn't strike me as a counter example. Also, they can be critical of some things inside the US and be aligned with US foreign policy at the same time, those aren't mutual exclusive.

I'll preface this by saying that I haven't watched the show in years.

Watching from outside the US it does feel pretty solidly pro US. The core message seems to be that sure, we have some dumb politicians and occasionally our huge companies do some dumb and evil shit, but that is the aberration. The Real America is made up of fundamentally Good People striving to do the Right Thing and that will always prevail over any temporary glitches in the system. All the criticisms they levy are the same criticisms being made at the time by all Good Americans.

The show is obviously made by two people who love their country despite/because of all its flaws and that clearly shines through.

I've paused to really think about this -- I think you may be taking the show very literally when it's not meant to be taken that seriously.

It does often have that surface-level message: Good people will always prevail, evil is a necessary part of the status quo, etc. But that's always part of the joke.

I don't think anyone leaves South Park episodes thinking "wow that is so true" and having introspective thoughts about our country. It's more like "what the fuck did I just watch" and "that's about right," dismissive of the average American lifestyle or unhappy with the problems we often face.

I'll keep that in mind though. Interesting perspective.

But that's always part of the joke.

Sure on one hand that's the joke, but I feel they never really subvert or question that joke (again with the caveat I really haven't seen much from the last ~10 seasons or so). As long as our heroes stay true to their Real American Values nothing bad can ever happen to them. Now I could be wrong, but the way that that message permeates everything the creators make feels genuine.

South Park would be a very strange kind of propaganda, if that's what it was. It marginalizes itself by being disgusting, whereas most propaganda tries to put itself in front of polite company (schools, etc.). It also has several levels of mockery, including mockery of itself, and propaganda doesn't risk mocking itself.

It marginalizes itself by being disgusting

Quite the opposite. By being "disgusting" it makes itself required viewing by every school child in the country to to prove how subversive they are.

Because political satire and propaganda are two different things, power and resistance.

I think you're overlooking the fact that understanding your audience and the issues of our times is a big part of good comedy.

Oh, you're one of those people that takes Team America literally.

They’re more so “Loyalty to comedy always. Loyalty to country, when it deserves it”

Here is a non-radical opinion --- You are an idiot.

Exactly. This is their audience, so of course they would say that.

It surprising how so many people on HN don't get that. No wonder they think Dropbox can be easily replaced with an SFTP service.

> No wonder they think Dropbox can be easily replaced with an SFTP service.

How is that false?

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