6 ms·

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. P

by cco 7y ago

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. Pretty disgusting really. It really shows that the dream of liberalization of China is dead, some thought that we could do it but irony strikes again and instead of opening up China our corporations and institutions have become infected and we're in the midst of The Reverse Opium War.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
serf 7y ago
> 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.
- pentae 7y ago
  I think you're overlooking the fact that understanding your audience and the issues of our times is a big part of good comedy.
- 99753throw 7y ago
  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.
  - dependenttypes 7y ago
    > No wonder they think Dropbox can be easily replaced with an SFTP service. How is that false?
- jeffdavis 7y ago
  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.
  - dagw 7y ago
    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.
  - Data_Junkie 7y ago
    Because political satire and propaganda are two different things, power and resistance.
- greggman2 7y ago
  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.
  - luckylion 7y ago
    > 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.
  - dagw 7y ago
    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.
    - master-litty 7y ago
      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.
- surge 7y ago
  Oh, you're one of those people that takes Team America literally.
- gao8a 7y ago
  They’re more so “Loyalty to comedy always. Loyalty to country, when it deserves it”
- Data_Junkie 7y ago
  Here is a non-radical opinion --- You are an idiot.
sremani 7y ago
Here is the episode mocking China that got South Park banned in China. https://southpark.cc.com/full-episodes/s23e02-band-in-china https://southpark.cc.com/full-episodes/s23e02-band-in-china
- enriquto 7y ago
  funnily, this episode is also banned in France
  - brmgb 7y ago
    It's not particularly this episode and it's not banned. You can't watch any South Park episode on South Park Studio in France because the streaming rights for the country have been sold to another company.
- joelx 7y ago
  I love South Park and I'm extremely impressed by the morals the show has. I think we all should boycott the NBA and Blizzard.
boomboomsubban 7y ago
>the dream of liberalization of China is dead, some thought that we could do it but irony strikes again and instead of opening up China our corporations and institutions have become infected and we're in the midst of The Reverse Opium War. Right, a US company issuing an apologetic press release to continue profiting off China is just like what China faced after the Opium Wars.
- cco 7y ago
  I think I wasn't clear, the Opium Wars reference was to the US and Canada's current opioid problem wherein the bulk of fentanyl is being imported to the US from China. Given how tightly the Chinese government controls domestic drug production and distribution I'm very skeptical that this export operation is in-spite of Chinese government action, maybe at best they ignore it. That is what I was referencing, I think it is at least probable that the Chinese government tacitly condones the export of opioids to the US and don't lose much sleep over it. This was exactly the same thing that Britain did to China during the Opium Wars except that that also included military force whereas this is the black market approach that the US has traditionally used when they've done it. To cut off a possible avenue of criticism, yes the US has done exactly the same thing in South America time and time again, that was wrong too.
  - sbarre 7y ago
    > Given how tightly the Chinese government controls domestic drug production and distribution I'm very skeptical that this export operation is in-spite of Chinese government action, maybe at best they ignore it. I think you give too much credit to that government apparatus. China has over a billion people, and if you think their government is one big well-oiled machine of surveillance and oppression, that might be a bit naïve.. Illicit drug production has been a worldwide problem forever. It's logistically impossible to keep tabs (no pun intended) on every legit lab 24/7 and even more impossible to find and shut down every illegal operation, in any country, much less one with such a massive population and also with such a production-focused economy.
  - boomboomsubban 7y ago
hkai 7y ago
Imagine if businesses and sports organizations didn't get into politics, no matter which side.

by cco 7y ago

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

serf 7y ago

> 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.

pentae 7y ago
I think you're overlooking the fact that understanding your audience and the issues of our times is a big part of good comedy.
99753throw 7y ago
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.
- dependenttypes 7y ago
  > No wonder they think Dropbox can be easily replaced with an SFTP service. How is that false?
jeffdavis 7y ago
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.
- dagw 7y ago
  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.
- Data_Junkie 7y ago
  Because political satire and propaganda are two different things, power and resistance.
greggman2 7y ago
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.
- luckylion 7y ago
  > 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.
- dagw 7y ago
  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.
  - master-litty 7y ago
    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.
surge 7y ago
Oh, you're one of those people that takes Team America literally.
gao8a 7y ago
They’re more so “Loyalty to comedy always. Loyalty to country, when it deserves it”
Data_Junkie 7y ago
Here is a non-radical opinion --- You are an idiot.

sremani 7y ago

Here is the episode mocking China that got South Park banned in China. https://southpark.cc.com/full-episodes/s23e02-band-in-china https://southpark.cc.com/full-episodes/s23e02-band-in-china

enriquto 7y ago
funnily, this episode is also banned in France
- brmgb 7y ago
  It's not particularly this episode and it's not banned. You can't watch any South Park episode on South Park Studio in France because the streaming rights for the country have been sold to another company.
joelx 7y ago
I love South Park and I'm extremely impressed by the morals the show has. I think we all should boycott the NBA and Blizzard.

boomboomsubban 7y ago

>the dream of liberalization of China is dead, some thought that we could do it but irony strikes again and instead of opening up China our corporations and institutions have become infected and we're in the midst of The Reverse Opium War. Right, a US company issuing an apologetic press release to continue profiting off China is just like what China faced after the Opium Wars.

cco 7y ago
I think I wasn't clear, the Opium Wars reference was to the US and Canada's current opioid problem wherein the bulk of fentanyl is being imported to the US from China. Given how tightly the Chinese government controls domestic drug production and distribution I'm very skeptical that this export operation is in-spite of Chinese government action, maybe at best they ignore it. That is what I was referencing, I think it is at least probable that the Chinese government tacitly condones the export of opioids to the US and don't lose much sleep over it. This was exactly the same thing that Britain did to China during the Opium Wars except that that also included military force whereas this is the black market approach that the US has traditionally used when they've done it. To cut off a possible avenue of criticism, yes the US has done exactly the same thing in South America time and time again, that was wrong too.
- sbarre 7y ago
  > Given how tightly the Chinese government controls domestic drug production and distribution I'm very skeptical that this export operation is in-spite of Chinese government action, maybe at best they ignore it. I think you give too much credit to that government apparatus. China has over a billion people, and if you think their government is one big well-oiled machine of surveillance and oppression, that might be a bit naïve.. Illicit drug production has been a worldwide problem forever. It's logistically impossible to keep tabs (no pun intended) on every legit lab 24/7 and even more impossible to find and shut down every illegal operation, in any country, much less one with such a massive population and also with such a production-focused economy.
- boomboomsubban 7y ago

hkai 7y ago

Imagine if businesses and sports organizations didn't get into politics, no matter which side.