The telegraph.co.uk reports that South Park creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, were given a signed photo of Saddam Hussein by the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division. During his captivity, US marines forced Saddam “to repeatedly watch the move South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut, which shows him as gay, as well as the boyfriend of Satan”. The South Park TV series has also depicted the Iraqi dictator in a similar manner. This story has proved a catalyst for many, who have spoken out in anger, in response to the immoral conduct of the US Army, as well as the South Park creators:
The Military Suck: “[I] [h]ad no respect for Saddam, but any lingering respect I has for the US Military just died. What a grotesque and reprehensible institution, if this is what they do behind closed doors – the fact that they do worse (torture legally defined in the US as ‘anything less than organ failure’) doesn’t mean that something like this isn’t just plain and simply slimy.”
Brian Boitano has the answer: “This story raises many difficult and complex moral questions. What we need to do is take a step back, and calmly ask ourselves, ‘what would Brian Boitano do?’”
People Suck: “How we treat bad people is not about them, it is about us. Saddam deserves to suffer for his crimes. But when we surrender to the bloodthirsty urge for vengeance (which can be satisfying, even – as in this case – fun), it is ourselves we corrupt. Saddam does not matter: he is beyond redemption. It is we who matter. If we treat the foulest human beings with a level of decency (decorum, seriousness), then we make it easy to respect each other. If, on the other hand, we give in to our baser instincts, we lay the groundwork for lashing out selfishly whenever it feels good.
Want to respect Saddam’s victims? Then prosecute and punish him with all the seriousness, formality, and consideration you can muster. The kind of immature self-gratification described here ultimately dismisses those he tortured and killed. Their persecutor was an evil man, not a clown.
(P.S.: Just in case someone misreads me, I loved the movie. There’s a big difference between that and the legitimate serious acts of the American people’s political representatives and government.)”
Adults are Children: “There are an increasing number of cultural messages, and messengers, in US media the subtext of which is “it is OK and even desirable to act like you are ten years old all of the time”, the framing of Howard Stern as a folk hero being the canonical example.
I don’t think anyone faults the fans of South Park, Howard Stern, etc. for finding them amusing. The problem is that immaturity is increasingly finding a place in public life. Apparently these soldiers think it’s OK to act like ten year olds while acting in an official capacity, such that they don’t see anything wrong with bragging about it to the media. It will be interesting to see whether their superiors think so too.
And, while this particular incident hardly qualifies as “torture”, there does seem to be an immaturity continuum on the part of US actors and decision makers in the Iraq war that starts here, runs through Abu Ghraib, and all the way up to the White House, where apparently torture was not only planned and condoned, but micromanaged, with high level participants apparently doing so at least in part to gain personal satisfaction from the act. There’s no credible evidence that any of it was effective, and plenty of evidence that it was counterproductive, but apparently, in times of crisis, the appropriate response is not to act like adults and address the problem effectively, but to act like ten year olds and pull the wings off of flies because we can.
And, while there has certainly been a fair bit of outrage over all of this (underreported) in the US, there are plenty of people who thinks that it is all right and good. It would be interesting to know the correlation between South Park/shock jock/reality show fandom and the condoning of torture among the American public.”
South Park is Propaganda: “Cartoons have been a tool of
propaganda for about as long as they exist. Take all the WW2 comics, from Bugs Bunny fighting and making fun of Japanese soldiers instead of Elmer Fudd or Donald Duck in the infamous Der Fuehrer’s Face (wikipedia.org). Sure, that was as much propaganda as that Southpark Episodes (and the movie). It makes waging war easier when you see, in a comical setting, that your enemy is something despicable, horrible, and generally wrong.”
We all know that America entered into a war with Iraq for the sake of oil. Human rights abuses my ass! If this was a genuine concern there would be American troops in Zimbabwe as we speak. But Africa has already been raped of her minerals and left to die. Zim does not boast masses of oil reserves. All of this is old news. The above responses include some valid points but what interests me is that with this knowledge in hand, apparently many Americans still expect their government and its institutions to run ethically. Come on!
Matt and Trey will revel in the irate responses of the American public and will probably write a show about it. South Park is known for its biting satire and black humour. The American animated series centres on four children – Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick – who live in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado. The show hosts a hoard of recurring characters – Cartman’s ho-bag mom, Kyle’s Jewish parents, the school Chef (who no longer appears on the show), Mr. Hankey the Christmas poo, Towelie, Jesus, Satan, as well as other school students, staff and some randoms along the way. The controversial show satirises a broad range of topics including religion, politics, violence, sex and sexuality, and mental illness, and is often criticised for its vulgar treatment of sensitive and taboo issues. This is, however, the crux of social commentary and satire. The show exposes the harsh realities of children growing up in a fucked-up world. It’s life. South Park has received seven Emmy nominations for Outstanding Animated Programme and has won the award three times to date.
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