This is southpark in a nutshell. It's amazing how much fuel it gives to the most terrible people.
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South Park mocks trans athlete with a transphobic episode
- Thread starter metalslimer
- Start date
This is southpark in a nutshell. It's amazing how much fuel it gives to the most terrible people.
What I like about the times when angry internet nerds throw minorities under the bus because they dared criticize their favourite cartoon is that it shows that, for a lot of people, asking them to acknowledge that sometimes the shows the watch do things that are wrong is too much to ask. That's the point where you go "well, fine, if you're going to be like that." Not even asking you actually do anything.
It's like all the "this is how Trump won" people were completely right, in that there were millions of voters who had thus far only been stopped from being horrible bigots by people not saying bad things about their favourite cartoons. If no one was mean to cartoons then you wouldn't have ICE throwing kids into concentration camps or women dying at Nazis rallies or what have you.
It's like all the "this is how Trump won" people were completely right, in that there were millions of voters who had thus far only been stopped from being horrible bigots by people not saying bad things about their favourite cartoons. If no one was mean to cartoons then you wouldn't have ICE throwing kids into concentration camps or women dying at Nazis rallies or what have you.
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It's not hard to simultaneously enjoy this show on a weekly basis while also acknowledging that this episode was pretty damn transphobic, come on guys. It was super blatant. I can see the argument that Matt and Trey were trying to send some sort of other message but it just didn't land that way at all. Basically, if they didn't want to be transphobic here, that was a super weak attempt.
To be perfectly fair to South Park's social media team, they update their profile picture with the focus character of the new episode every week. They could have done Strongwoman instead, but it's not so surprising they went with Heather. I don't think that individual action inherently had any bad intention behind it.
Do go on, please. I'm so fucking tired of these drive by dog whistles. If you want to be transphobic just come out and say how you feel, this is obviously a burner account anyway.
Every time. "I don't know why you trans people are so sensitive. You know people look at this and laugh at you" as if this wasn't one of the most heavily publicized human rights conflicts across English-speaking countries and we didnt all know folks treat basic human dignity as a joke. Come the fuck on people, at least bring your A game if you're gonna troll us, not this toothless transparent crap
This is how I feel. South Park is one of my favorite shows but the episode was shitty & unnecessary.
Idk my gf and I found it funny.
I'll tell ya what though, whether Trump wins or not, this country is still going to have seriously deep rooted problems with coming to agreements on things like this and that is going to have a longer lasting and probably negative effect than most of you might think.
I'll tell ya what though, whether Trump wins or not, this country is still going to have seriously deep rooted problems with coming to agreements on things like this and that is going to have a longer lasting and probably negative effect than most of you might think.
The problem with South Park and "nuance" is that their hubris blows up in their face.
Nobody remembers the point of the douche vs turd episode was that voting is still important, even if you don't like the candidate. All most people remember is the douche vs the turd and a lot of people used it to fuel their apathy.
Even IF they had a point with this episode, (they don't, barely anyone like that exists. Not enough to dedicate an episode to or be a big issue)
The take away from this episode is mostly going to be bigots biases being strengthened and using it as ammunition against trans people.
You shouldn't have to be trans to work out that this is harmful to trans people.
I continue to be disappointed in my fellow cisfolk that shit like this seems so hard to grasp.
Nobody remembers the point of the douche vs turd episode was that voting is still important, even if you don't like the candidate. All most people remember is the douche vs the turd and a lot of people used it to fuel their apathy.
Even IF they had a point with this episode, (they don't, barely anyone like that exists. Not enough to dedicate an episode to or be a big issue)
The take away from this episode is mostly going to be bigots biases being strengthened and using it as ammunition against trans people.
You shouldn't have to be trans to work out that this is harmful to trans people.
I continue to be disappointed in my fellow cisfolk that shit like this seems so hard to grasp.
Yes, people dismissing transphobia because they think it's funny has a pretty negative effect on a lot of people.
User Banned (Permanent): Excusing Transphobia Over a Series of Posts; Account in Junior Phase
Paint the picture however you'd like. I know that is a pretty common theme on this forum. I'm just saying that if people like my GF can find this stuff funny and disagree with the outrage, then nothing is ever going to be resolved on a political end. It's unlikely as a society that we will ever reach a stage that most of us our satisified with at this rate and it will just be endless outrage and fighting regardess of who gets elected.
You don't need to tell trans people about "negative effects", they've been society's punching bags for ages.
Yep.
I think it's been stated before but but that's how they work.
To me, they never try hard to make a point. They leave it to each viewer to do their own mental gymnastics to get the moral they want to read.
So yeah, it's always going to raise some 'no but actually this is what they meant'
But here's the thing, I feel it's kind of like Charlie hebdo, i show you something outrageous just to tell you 'yeah this is how the world and people are', it's up to you to figure out that 'welp it's bad'. But they're never going to reach people that are not predisposed to hear that message and thus are doing more harm than good.
And why should they try? At face value, it's racist, discriminatory, etc. and there are terrible people like it for that. It's also a source of revenue while covering themselves behind 'but those people they didn't understand that we were making fun of them'. It's a safe situation for them.
Basically it's not there to teach anyone to be a better person. It's there to make you feel good and believe you are smarter, more understanding than others with edgy humor. And it works whether your ideas are leaning right or left(ish).
It is but a pat on the back.
And what if the negative effect is that they will continue to be society's punching bags for time to come? I just don't think that punching their way back with outrage is going to fix these issues that society has with transphobia.
What's going to change if they don't fight transphobia? Just being quiet and accepting abuse will change nothing. The show has a history of being transphobic, it deserves to be called out on it.
Hmm, what would your suggestion be to fix these issues? Keep getting beat up and maybe the bullies will eventually get bored of you?
Yeah, a quick look at his post history shows he's not to be taken seriously.
He literally only enters social/political threads to tell people they need to calm down or make "this is why Trump won"-esque comments.
It was a bad and disappointing episode. I kept hoping/waiting for them to turn it around. There probably wouldn't have been a way anyway.
Being the punching bag also comes with absurd suicide, depression rates and being murdered.
So continue telling people that trans-folks that they should just put up with it.
You're right! MLK should've just stayed home and not been outraged at all the racism and bigotry he saw in his life!
To be honest, there doesn't appear to be an proper answer. If it were that easy, don't you think there would be some progress by now? and I never implied even once that not doing anything was the answer either. I just don't think this is it.
MLK wasn't on message boards arguing his stance with strangers on the the internet about satirical shows.
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Until you come up with something better then the people whose mental, emotional and physical health get negatively impacted by this kind of bigoted representation being put out into the world are allowed to be outraged at their dehumanization.
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Ah. Yes. Pop culture doesn't have any effect on society at large at all. Diverse representation in media doesn't mean anything. It's just pointless arguing online.
Here's an idea, stop being so dismissive of legit grievances trans people have just because you don't like that they are making you self-reflect that the thing you enjoy laughing at is problematic.
If anyone's out of their element on a topic they don't understand that involves marginalized people, just sit, listen, and learn and spare everyone the victim posts after you've been repeatedly and rightfully called out.
this and the "ha, this episode is funny" drive-bys are exhausting.
lot of progress has been made by now, it's just that people like you try very hard to push it back.
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I'm watching it right now. The trans athlete is literally a caricature of Macho Man Randy Savage. It's pretty embarrassing, and the episode attempts to "balance" its critique with a sub-plot about cis-women being better at D&D than cis-men which doesn't really make sense as a counter-balance. Oh, and currently the visual gag is "lol the 'trans woman' has testicles."
It's bad.
This. The thing that's made progress slow is the amount of people who choose to say they respect the rights, lives and comfort of marginalized people but fight tooth and nail to never actually listen to what those same marginalized people say. It's funny how often people bring up "outrage culture" without the context of why the oppressed group in question rightfully are and should be outraged. Trans people die on a regular basis due often to either internalizing the dehumanization they face in legislation, healthcare, and media leading to fatal depression or from the cis people who've internalized the same messages and abuse/slaughter the trans people they see as subhuman. In a climate like that though somehow transmen and transwomen and their allies are told to temper their emotions in regards to a million dollar global franchise putting out gross, harmful bullshit because their anger is "unfounded/unjustified" or "will reverse/stop progress". Gimme a break.
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As I've said before, this seems like a topic that you can't do today in good faith. Anyone that attempts it, will just stoke fires, especially if you do it as blunt and idiotic as Trey and Matt usually do things.
I asked my friend yesterday about what he thought about transgender people participating in sports for their gender, and his reaction was "Who the fuck cares, it's sports, it's all stupid, let them participate for their gender and stfu".
I asked my friend yesterday about what he thought about transgender people participating in sports for their gender, and his reaction was "Who the fuck cares, it's sports, it's all stupid, let them participate for their gender and stfu".
what the fuck is this shitt? don't you realize being "punching bags" means people are literally killing themselves?! Don't you fucking have like a little bit of empathy?
Literally what am I reading, like really think about what you're saying, telling folks to lie down and take it so the bullies get bored?
Trans people are being killed and beaten on a daily basis and you come in here with this hot take. Fuck. Off.
Gonna ask something I have always been curious about with posts like this.
Do you know any trans people? Friends, neighbors, coworkers?
I bet you scream and get red in the face when a game dev makes a decision you don't agree with.
South Park was never my bag, even in high school when it seemed like everyone was obsessed with it. I'm honestly kind of surprised it's still going, it seems pretty dated and surpassed by other tv comedies.
trans people being such punching bags is literally why suicide attempt rates among them are so high so fuck off with this take.
please don't fight back
man these threads, always the same
at least the herd is getting thinned
You're right about one thing in this thread.
You don't know.
They're too busy punching so many people oftentimes they just couldn't see that they're punching someone who shouldn't be punched.
Yep. It's really fucking special (but not uncommon) to hear takes where the oppression of transpeople that begets suicide and "trans panic"-style murder is re-contextualized as their (and their allies) own fault for calling out transphobia. Very much the "if black people stopped talking about racism, racism would go away" type BS.
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This is how I felt. It was a total botch. I chuckled at the sheer stupidity of Macho Man Randy Savage but I was waiting for the twist, for the real point that would lend some semblance of purpose to the episode. They tried, with the talk of nuance at the end, but they didn't present a nuanced case study/scenario so it all rang very hollow.
They should have just not done it.
South Park is super hit and miss.
In this case they missed by a hundred million miles. Seriously, what were they thinking. No wait, they weren't thinking at all.
In this case they missed by a hundred million miles. Seriously, what were they thinking. No wait, they weren't thinking at all.
Yeah peeps, we must listen to these CIS hey people to best understand how we can get past Transphobia.
User Banned (1 week): Excusing transphobia
I still love the show and I am in no way transphobic.
It's always tongue in cheek with South park and everyone has had the piss taking out of them at some stage.
It's always tongue in cheek with South park and everyone has had the piss taking out of them at some stage.