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[Music]
hey wisecrack michael here to talk about
a show that's never been afraid to take
a strong stance on the most zeitgeist
issues whether they're contending that
america's two political parties are
equally lame
welcome to the cable access televised
debate between a giant douche and a turd
sandwich or satirizing disney's
stranglehold on the entertainment
industry
you're here to flex and not thank you
[ __ ]
south park has honed a pretty clear
world view over the past
24 seasons the show's comedy obviously
airs on the side of
pretty not subtle but just in case you
missed the point they've also cultivated
an excellent trope in which kyle
dispenses the moral
of each episode as a result it's rare to
finish the show feeling
unsure of what the parker stone mind
meld was trying to say
which is why the most recent vaccination
special struck me as kind of
strange don't get me wrong it's very
funny with some truly
memorable lines you know what kyle
please don't say it silence is violence
kyle
don't kill mom buddy it also addresses a
broad scope of current events everything
from vaccine priority groups get the
[ __ ] out of here i said you're not
getting
in you're wasting your time oh hello
ma'am right this way
it's a queuing on that is why i've
called together every q anon follower in
our town
let's forget it bob the bad guys won i
feel like someone pooped on my life
to the struggle of public education
during the pandemic our public school
system is dying and you tutors are
trying to take advantage of it
but what exactly was the episode trying
to say why does it both
mercilessly mock q anon forget the
classroom
tune or not is bespoke learning that is
straight from the internet to your child
while also featuring ethical arguments
like this while the community kids are
acting on something they believe in and
so are the little cuties am i right
what is the difference we're still
figuring it out so come sleuth with us
in this wisecrack quick take on south
park the vaccination special
spoilers ahead
and before we get into it i want to give
a shout out to this video sponsor pedal
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wisecrack
now back to the show now it's important
to note that nearly every plot line of
this episode from
condiment-fueled menstrual pranks to
failing throwships to q and on
seems to emphasize one central thesis
misinformation is
everywhere this might seem like a big
no-duh when it comes to the child blood
drinking cabal
but the vibe permeates throughout early
on carmen and kenny plan an
appropriately lame prank to try to
convince their classmates that their
teacher got her period
even when it's revealed to be a setup is
this a prank the teacher's humiliation
remains the same
it's irrelevant whether she actually got
her period what
matters is that it appeared like she did
and that's you know
embarrassing this in an unexpected way
sets the tone for an episode that's all
about the power of misinformation to
wreak havoc
on our lives and in this case a
perfectly nice white skirt
after the prank the misinformation
continues kyle and stan who had nothing
to do with the ketchup fiasco
are implicated in the elementary school
crime because cartman tells everyone
they did the prank as a
bro ship why do people think we all did
the period joke well because i told them
we all did
people know we're bros and we do
everything together and of course
there's the whites and their q anon
obsession
doing major mental gymnastics they
transform garrison's haphazard foul
language into cryptic messages
that they then spread to their fellow
cutie pies once south park's q anon
members under supposed
instruction from garrison become private
tutors that information is then passed
on to children
clearly misinformation abounds in this
tiny colorado town
forget all the zooms and max and social
distancing at school
but here's the question what does this
all have to do with an episode that's
ostensibly about people
desperately bickering for that sweet
sweet immunity juice in their arms
if i might offer a kind of out-there
hypothesis i think it has a lot to do
with the show's creators thinking
through their own
ideology in the middle of a global
pandemic matt stone and trey parker are
not
shy about their libertarian leanings
theirs is a framework that stresses
individual choice and minimal or no
government intervention
often libertarianism centers on the idea
that humans are the best advocates for
their own self-interest
and the market can best sort out these
competing interests
so when the show starts off with jokes
about vaccination lines at walgreens
portraying the place as a nightclub for
the lucky few olds
it seems like this is the direction
they're going you know the government's
red tape makes everything inefficient
while
shady people like cartman inevitably
find a way to get around the rules
but the show's exploration is not that
simple
sure it focuses on the many kinds of
competing interests to play in vaccine
distribution
do we give priority to older people
first since they're at higher risk
or should we prioritize teachers who are
crammed into poorly ventilated rooms
with pestilence bearing children
think my life doesn't matter i'll show
you what matters counselors matter
that's what matters
or maybe you're a self-interested news
reporter making your own case that you
deserve
a chance and hope and some some
happiness in this in this
world and of course maybe you're just a
rando who really wants some shrimp
i could go out to fancy restaurants like
all them old people
and eat shrimp as big as my head now
some of this calculus is easy
i'm gonna say shrimp guy shouldn't be at
the front of the line
on the other hand this kind of math
inevitably leaves people feeling ignored
our feelings and our knees have been put
dead
laughs but if figuring out vaccine
prioritization on a macro level seems
hard
it's nothing compared to how tricky it
becomes when
things get personal kyle learns this all
too
potently via some traditional jewish
parental guilt
sounds like your teacher's life is more
important than your mom and dad's to put
in carmen's words wow everyone just
really wants a shot so
what's the parker stone solution to the
logistical nightmare of vaccine
distribution
it's complicated the classic
libertarianist laws
fair answer might be let the free market
decide
this solution is endorsed by cartman who
is willing to sell the shots to the
highest bidder
pre-existing conditions be damned you
guys know mr lawson jenny lawson's dad
he's offering us 2 000 bucks for a
vaccination but the show pretty clearly
doesn't endorse the vaccine black market
or this idea at large
for one cartman is less the show's moral
compass and more an
agent of chaos for his own selfish ends
and second the episode's conclusion has
israel saving the day
a country that has successfully
vaccinated over half of all its citizens
but not residents of its occupied
territories thanks in large part to a
publicly funded health care system that
is to say
the exact opposite of get daddy
government out of my healthcare
but beyond semi-ironically celebrating
israel's vaccine rollout there's another
component of this episode
that seems to complicate the normal
refrain of individual choice
everyone's a dumb ass or more
specifically everyone is constantly
being inundated with misinformation
most obviously there's an exchange like
this they're vaccinating people right
now seeding people with their microchips
surely you have a plan we're on the
internet every night waiting for word
the word is gate of life jackass blow
shut your dick hole
mr white's been so primed to see hidden
meaning everywhere he said
out your [ __ ] he's trying to give us
some kind of signal then he manages to
interpret this as a call to arms for q
anon to become teachers which brings us
to another victim of misinformation
parent choice in schools parents are
presented with the appealing option to
pull their kids out of the universally
loathed
mr garrison's class hey guys what's the
problem it's that son of a [ __ ] mr
garrison
he's gonna completely screw up our kids
well that's why we pulled tweek out of
school but the people promising to plug
your kid into the unlimited data stream
that is the internet
they might just be this guy tom hanks
and oprah are just two at the very top
of an elite group of people who control
everything we see and do they feed upon
children in order to maintain their
elite status and that isn't the worst
of it do you know what pedophilia is but
it's not just cuidon supporters the idea
that we simply can't trust
anything anymore is plastered all over
the episode i don't know why i believed
them when they said they had
vaccinations
i don't know why i believe anything
anymore meanwhile carmen spends the
whole time trying to keep up the fiction
that the bro ship is alive and well
despite all the clear signs that it's
not and of course the little cuties
feeling left behind
wonder do you guys really trust anybody
anymore the very real and widespread
proliferation and misinformation that's
depicted in the episode is on its own
troubling but even worse we live in a
world where people
relying on faulty knowledge can go on to
make absolutely horrible decisions
that they truly believe to be ethical
this point is made clear by our news
anchor who says
i'm not trying to be cute i'm saying if
these kids really believe the horrific
things they believe then
they'd be bad people not to go out and
do something about it wouldn't they yes
that's totally true
if you're a corrupt [ __ ] without
morals here south park seems to be
examining how we can make ethical
decisions in a world inundated with bad
intel
what's more it seems to be asking how do
we come together as individuals and
parse out conflict
with people who think tom hanks and
oprah are feasting on children
and that brings us back to where we
started what is south park advocating
for in this episode
well it seems nothing don't get me wrong
it scratches the surface of some really
interesting problems with our society
but what do you do when huge swaths of
the country believe in pure fiction
you uh fly in a jet from israel and get
everyone vaccinated
here we have a deus ex machina or a
storytelling device in which a huge
problem is suddenly fixed by a
sweepingly dramatic unlikely solution as
a result it doesn't tell us much about
our own world
this unusually is followed by garrison
giving the supposed
moral of the story saying that everyone
is way too divided before
concluding that and in times of crisis
when we need each other most
it's sometimes when we grow furthest
apart but through it all mr white here
has taught me a very important lesson
make sure you're on the side of the
people with the most power
so what is the show saying here are
parker and stone advocating that
everyone climb up the social ladder to
be as adjacent to power as possible
maybe or are they simply making a
cynical joke about how individual ethics
ultimately matter
a lot less than power does also maybe
but while this bit is funny
it also seems like the show is throwing
its hands up in the air
it's pretty nihilistic even more so than
usual for south park
we think the real issue here may be that
it's
really really hard to reconcile a
libertarian
world view with the realities of a
global pandemic when one person's
freedom to say
not wear a mask means another person's
ventilator
after all public health is inherently
well public
and doesn't work too well when the
standard operating procedure is
do whatever you want but what do you
guys think do we totally miss the point
here or is south park just as confused
about the vaccine rollout as our state
and local governments
let us know you think in the comments
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[Music]
yeah hi welcome to wisequest michael
here
[Laughter]