https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuvLUhuo52w
The show South Park, created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, gets a lot of criticism for the material they show on television. As a huge fan of their work, I believe they do a great job of addressing pop culture and social issues. The scene above is from the episode "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson" where the character Randy says the 'N' word on public television. The rest of the episode displays Randy attempting to make up for his mistake, while that is going on Randy's son Stan is trying to explain to his black friend that it is not a big deal. The whole argument between Stan and his friend "Token" (yes the one black kid in the show is named Token) is based around Stan trying to understand why the word is so offensive to him. By the end Stan realizes that, as a white person, he will never understand why Token is so upset by the word.
After the episode aired there was not a lot of media scrutiny. Many groups and organizations praised the episode. Even the organization Abolish the "N" Word, which is linked to the NAACP, called it a great example of how it felt to be called that word. They said, "This show, in its own comedic way, is helping people to educate the power of this word, and how it can feel to have hate language directed at you." Personally I believe it is hard to address the issue from the outside looking in. Since Stone and Parker are white, they don't actually know from first hand experiences what the effect of the word feels like.
With the discussions of race in class last week it really had me thinking about this issue. With such a touchy subject in terms of a racial slur, it is hard to address the issue in a productive, non offensive manor. Although if South Park wasn't offending someone then it wasn't doing its job, they tend to make great points (by using satire) about social issues. Travis Fickett, a writer for IGN, rated the episode a 10/10. He even went on to say, "There's really no other way to explain how this show remains not only brilliantly funny, but more relevant and insightful than anything else on television." Thats a pretty bold statement right there, saying that there is nothing more relevant and insightful on TV than South Park. As a white male, I am privileged to not have a racial slur that is extremely offensive about myself. In a way I can never really understand why the word is so offensive and thats where South Park hit the nail on the head.
With the discussions of race in class last week it really had me thinking about this issue. With such a touchy subject in terms of a racial slur, it is hard to address the issue in a productive, non offensive manor. Although if South Park wasn't offending someone then it wasn't doing its job, they tend to make great points (by using satire) about social issues. Travis Fickett, a writer for IGN, rated the episode a 10/10. He even went on to say, "There's really no other way to explain how this show remains not only brilliantly funny, but more relevant and insightful than anything else on television." Thats a pretty bold statement right there, saying that there is nothing more relevant and insightful on TV than South Park. As a white male, I am privileged to not have a racial slur that is extremely offensive about myself. In a way I can never really understand why the word is so offensive and thats where South Park hit the nail on the head.
In conclusion, I believe that South Park did a great job addresses this racial issue. If you can't understand the satire behind the show and the real points they are making than I just feel sorry for you.
Peace, Love, Lax brahhhhhh
Tim
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