We didn’t see a body but seems like Ned is dead. Wouldn’t be that surprising since it’d be the third time an old character not used much lately was just randomly killed off. (Crabtree, Pip).
^ I'm not certain we've seen the last of Ned. I remember back in the day thinking he was a goner after going into a coma looking at the Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka
I thought the episode’s commentary on everyone being on their phones was funny, but I don’t like the way they were flippant about anxiety disorders. Yes, everyone has anxiety, and yes, some people use psychological trends as an excuse to ignore the needs of others. But not everyone has anxiety so bad they’re terrified to talk to people and constantly doubt their standing on their social groups. The PC babies thing is funny. PC people tend to have trouble separating having a legitimate complaint about something and demonizing and forcing your will on people who don’t immediately change because of it. Just because you’re right doesn’t mean the way you’re acting isn’t wrong.
You know I could watch a spin-off starring PC Principal, Strong Woman and PC babies if they ever wanted to do one. How many more episodes left in the season or was that the season final? Jason
Two more eps in the season. I like how they found a balance between episodic TV and serial stories, Having links and running threads through the season but not being just one big ten parter,
Yeah I'm enjoying that too. It's nice having callbacks, but it's not essential to have watched them all. The song for PC Babies had me in stitches, I used to love Muppet Babies when I was younger. Their a force for good in South Park anyway. I wasn't sure about how they treated Anxiety either being as I suffer from it, but I did love the boxes on the head so people can be left alone with their phones - I might have to get one for the hubby.
The South Park creators don't seem to think mood disorders really exist. They also treated Aspergers like people are just disengaging because they're cynical and see everything as poop. And of course, their treatment of ADD when they were making a point about overprescription of dangerous drugs to kids. I think there's a line to be drawn between having a disorder like that, and people like Cartman cynically using a diagnosis of a disorder as leverage to avoid social responsibility, and they don't draw that line.
True. That might be the only time, since now I’m also remembering the way they treated alcoholism. What is the over under for how long before PC Babies becomes a meme and it gets used every single Facebook thread where any liberal person criticizes anything? One week?
My wife has anxiety disorder (along with a number of other mental illnesses). She has always enjoyed South Park, but this last episode was really hurtful. I'm not sure if we can continue watching this show together.
I'm not even sure they were going after anxiety orders. Only going over how Cartman is using that as a excuse to deal with regular everyday anxiety that people have. Plays into how Cartman always feels he deserves special treatment and attention and will align himself with a real condition or viewpoint to get that from people. Yet everyone also knows he is always full of bullshit so they never really give him what he wants. The message I think they were trying to send is that people are trying to avoid the normal anxieties of the world and especially the world of today by basically by burying their head in the sand via embracing their phones over real life because of what is going on in the world. One thing you find common in all the messages from this season from the school shootings to Climate Change to this is how people are basically in denial of these problems and don't want to face them. Jason
Given their track record, they seem to have an attitude toward behavioral disorders that, while the feelings are real, it's a matter of discipline and willpower to overcome them rather than a matter for therapy and pharmaceuticals. They think that when you make negative feelings or behavioral patterns into a disease, people use it to excuse their behavior and avoid their personal responsibility for their own actions. But I also think that if you've followed South Park this far as they made fun of tender topics for other people, you agree to be thick skinned when they make fun fo your own tender topics. South Park has always said things that some people will get offended by but it's never been degrading or mean spirited, and it's always been understanding in a larger context. It's a case where I think it has value stimulating a conversation even when I don't agree with it.
I agree. It's one of those rare shows that you can see people getting mad at it for being either to liberal or to conservative. For every conservative who enjoys PC Babies i'm not so sure they enjoyed seeing Jesus as a Imaginary Character in Imagination Land. Of course you have examples that go the other way for liberals. What I think people most like though is it feels like a honest take on the issues. It isn't about them talking down to people or using strawmen arguments to build a case on a subject. They feel like honest observers even in those places were you disagree with their take on a issue. Jason