Anonymous: I'm honestly asking out of curiosity and not judgement: How can you love a show that's known for it's dark/offensive humor, but then analyze it and want to see less of that?

You are correct in saying that the show is known for pushing the envelope, but I’m curious why analyzing it seems so strange to you? Comedy/satire is so often much more than just comedy. It has the potential to be political, philosophical, provocative etc. just as any other creative form of expression. And those choices don’t occur in a vacuum. Regardless of what you may think the show’s intent is, it exists in the context of our culture, and our culture today is still relatively glutted with unequal power and privilege dynamics. So inevitably, what happens on the show, esp. with a show as popular as South Park, will have an effect on various groups of people depending on the topic is chooses to tackle.



This blog, as I understand it, does not advocate for censorship of the show, but it strives to recognize the different ways in which different forms of oppression may be perpetuated (intentionally or not) by the show. Those who want a space to voice those concerns, experiences without being inundated with anons telling them to ‘get over it it’s just satire’ are welcome to come here and we’ll do our best to listen to and amplify those voices. The ‘wanting to see less of that’ you speak of is more so our desire to see the sensitive topics handled with some semblance of understanding. For example- Raising the Bar would have been a lot more meaningful if Matt and Trey had demonstrated some knowledge of what actually goes into obtaining a motorized scooter.



What I feel like people in this fandom have trouble understanding is that people are going to experience this show differently than others. Someone who is part of a marginalized community will experience this show differently than someone who is not. Subsequently, those opinions aren’t as popular and people may need a space to talk/vent about it. It doesn’t mean we don’t like the show (hell, I’ve watched this show for years) or that we don’t think it hasn’t succeeded. We probably wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t. It’s more a matter of wanting to hold the show accountable and listening to and empathizing with perspectives that are less visible.

-Mod Tweek



I agree! I also think that the show is less about dark and offensive humor and more about wanting to appeal to everyone of all different types of sense of humor, including bigots, thus the more questionable episodes (in my opinion.)

The concept of humor is a grey area in itself already but making light of issues that oppressed people face so very obviously does not appeal to those people who are oppressed, which lessens the credibility of that sort of humor. Conversely if it pokes fun of people who are in positions of power and privilege, their offense has much less loss in the long run, considering that, well, they’re in a position of privilege, they have a lot less to lose in that area that hurt feelings rather than making fun of a serious issue is not an objective big deal.

I personally like the show because of its attempts at social political humor, though oftentimes it does not fail to disappoint, which at this rate isn’t much of a surprise either. I don’t think we necessarily want to censor the show, like Mod Tweek said, but just that we want a public and open space to discuss what we feel like works for the show, and what doesn’t. We’re not comedy professionals, and we all come from different backgrounds. It’s more important that we as an audience are not censored, instead, from our complains and our own criticisms of the show.

Matt and Trey write things, and then make fun of people if they get offended at it, and they (like a lot of people who like to flame this blog) seem to think that they are the paragons of comedy and social justice in this case. We, on the other hand, want to hear the voices of those who do enjoy the show but at the same time do find offense in certain episodes and want to feel validated in their feelings. We are obviously all fans of the show in one way or another, but rather than assuming that fans have to like every episode this show produces, we want to encourage the audience and fans to allow themselves to think critically of what they might enjoy about South Park, and what they don’t.

- Mod Clyde