Did anyone see South Park this week?
It is the first seriously antiwar entertainment show I've seen and it was pretty damn funny-
* Little kids hysteric wearing gas masks and being searched before getting on the school bus- one kid without one panicks and hold his breath until he goes unconscious.
* Parents obsessively watching CNN
* Little kids sending $1 dollar to Afghan kids as announced propaganda by the Bush administration
* Scenes of little kids in Afghanistan (counterparts to the South Park kids) getting the dollars amid US bombers blowing up their playground, looking around skeptically at what the hell they could spend the dollar on with all the buildings all destroyed.
* The little Aghani kids sending a goat back to them as a present
* The South Park kids accidently being airlifted to Afghanistan to try to return
* South Park kids being surprised that Afghani kids hate them -- just sent the goat out of pride
* Kids get surrounded by an angry mob and taken to Osama Bin Laden, who immediately does a recorded press conference with them to the applause of his supporters
* Afghani kids decide to rescue them, since "if they don't help innocent kids, they are just as bad as the Americans"
* As American soldiers arrive to attack Bin Laden, the Afghani kids bring out the South Park kids; as they emerge from the caves, US bombers kill Kenny (happens from somebody every show) and the Afghani Kenny.
* Afghani kids then tell South Park kids that it's not just Afghanis who hate America, but a third of the world hate Americans.
* Also a funny side bit where Cartman plays Bugs Bunny to Bin Laden's Elmer Fudd, where he ends up destroying the Taliban leadership with Bugs Bunny tricks
* Near the end of the show, the South Park kids try to talk about how Americans really like Afghanis, and the Afghani kids say they still hate Americans. The next heartwarming message is maybe Americans can learn to hate Afghanis as well, "someday"
* The last scene is a little statement by the kids that "maybe America has problems, but you should root for the team or get out of the stadium" - a bit of a game to either buy off the audience or make fun of the mindless nationalism at work.
All in all, a weird dissonant cord in the media patriotically marching in line with the government.
Nathan Newman nathan at newman.org