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South Park (Exchange Favorite)
listen:
 It may be simply drawn, but that's the only thing that's simple about the Comedy Central cartoon, South Park. Set in a Colorado mountain town its characters, Cartman, Stan, Kyle, Kenny take on everything that they find hypocritical, whether its government, religion, current events or ethnic and social groups. Some critics find this Peobody-award winning show cutting edge and hilarious, others find it offensive and the epitome of trash TV. As it's once again in the news, we explore the cultural phenomenon of South Park and our love/hate relationship with the show. Laura's guests are Mark Timney, Assistant Professor of Journalism at Keene State College and Robert Thompson, Director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, Professor of Television and Popular Culture at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and author or editor of several books on television. *This show originally aired on 5/4/06*
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Although this was a repetition of an earlier show, I'd like to suggest some lessons and virtues of "South Park":
* Caricature often reveals more than polite portraits.
* Satire is valuable – it paints with a broad brush, illuminates with a harsh light, dissects absurdities, lubricates insights with irony.
* We're made to look in the mirror and see things we'd rather not recognize but do. Why should we do this? Socrates had an answer: "The unexamined life is not worth living." After all, I'm just as likely to be foolish or base as you are.
* Why wallow in the unsavory, rather than stress the wholesome? Because a diet of pure sugar is unhealthy.
* Being offended now and then is a good thing: why am I offended? What is really offensive? What isn't?
* Taking offense is a waste of energy and spleen. Get over it.
There's more, but I've got to get back to work.
Just one other thing: the Dickens quoted was from "A Christmas Carol", not "Oliver", as alleged by Ms. Knoy – fine as she is, she does stumble now and then, as when in a previous show she referred to "Queen Elizabeth the Eleventh" (II). No biggie; you can't win 'em all.