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'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

theguardian.com

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Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#91

Post by Faark »

murph-almighty wrote: post #56
waterhouse wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going off the Wikipedia plot summary of the episode, it looks like it makes fun of (a) Chinese-American people (not the Chinese government); and (b) paranoid fantasies of Westerners about China invading the U.S.; and ultimately "Cartman decides he'd rather be Chinese than "a nation of unethical dick shooters"". My model of the Chinese government at the moment is that they primarily care about opposition/disrespect/cr…

EDIT: After writing this I realized the parent comment was talking about an episode of South Park from S12, not the recent episode that led to the ban in China. I'll leave this up but read into this with that context! You should really actually watch the episode. It's a blatant dig at China's government, censorship policies, and treatment of political prisoners. Its treatment of `China invading the US` were not out o…

The parent was commenting one the episode linked in that image (S12E8), since that was that GP compared the current episode to.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#93

Post by Konnstann »

dekhn wrote: post #82
Konnstann wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give me an example of something a non-white, non-middle class person can't say or do in public? Maybe it's my limited world-view, but I can't think of anything specific.

Sure, if you (10 years ago) smoked a joint on the street, and you were black, you carried a far far higher risk of being imprisoned.

Where's the parallel between doing something illegal (10 years ago) and being able to comment on the political climate without fearing for your life/livelihood?

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#94

Post by Faark »

SmirkingRevenge wrote: post #57
chrisweekly wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without touching on the ethical / moral aspect of stereotyping or disrespecting large groups of people, I'm curious if "racist" is the right adjective here, vs some other term that relates more to nationality vs biological ethnicity?

The way South Park employs xenophobic/racist/sexist tropes is interesting - they are either so silly that its really hard for anyone to take offense, or they spread it around so much - no one group is ever singled out - and no one group is ever spared. That gives us all permission to laugh at them, and laugh at ourselves, when the time comes. Or... the portrayal isn't actually targeting group of the character embodyi…

> and his name is Token

Thank you, it just clicked...

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#95

Post by eeZah7Ux »

RankingMember wrote: post #58
eeZah7Ux wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freedom of speech is specifically meant to protect citizens from oppressive governments. It is not meant to help holocaust deniers create a new oppressive government.

When you start to add conditions/exceptions to free speech, it ceases to be free speech. Unpopular speech, however painful/nauseating, is explicitly protected in the U.S. If all speech was agreeable, there'd be no need for free speech laws.

This is false. There are many laws preventing different types of speech. For example death threats. Or sexual harassment. The list goes on.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#96

Post by eli_gottlieb »

ozzyman700 wrote: post #76
dekhn wrote: post #39

I have to say, this is really the only way to respond to China when it comes to their no-humor censors: just come out and mock them. They don't really have any way to reply. One wonders if there is an entire revolutionary class within China sharing South Park videos for freedom.

The revolutionary class in china is the Party itself, working to liberate the world.

Please tell us that tankie sloganeering was sarcastic.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#97

Post by catacombs »

dekhn wrote: post #39

I have to say, this is really the only way to respond to China when it comes to their no-humor censors: just come out and mock them. They don't really have any way to reply. One wonders if there is an entire revolutionary class within China sharing South Park videos for freedom.

> One wonders if there is an entire revolutionary class within China sharing South Park videos for freedom.

Oh, there certainly is, especially among the richest of the rich. The whole point of censorship is for control.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#98

Post by eeZah7Ux »

leftyted wrote: post #45
eeZah7Ux wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freedom of speech is specifically meant to protect citizens from oppressive governments. It is not meant to help holocaust deniers create a new oppressive government.

There are many arguments for freedom of speech. One of the most famous centers around the idea that no one should have the ability to decide what can't be said because that assumes infallability: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Freedom_of_sp... So, yes, from this perspective, freedom of speech exists to protect Holocaust deniers. The idea that the Holocaust deniers will "create a new oppressive governm…

> The idea that the Holocaust deniers will "create a new oppressive government" seems extremely paranoid to me.

Suuure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unite_the_Right_rally

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#99

Post by hevi_jos »

corodra wrote: post #52
throwaway_bad wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes we forget that getting disappeared in china is not just a meme. Police will show up to arrest you just for posting comments online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCOAbkTs_a4

Well, lets not forget their detention camps for ethnic minorities they don't like: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/23/china-footage-... I mean at this rate, I seriously think in a decade or two, we're going to find a Holocaust level event has been going on in China that's going to make the Nazis look like amateurs. But instead, we're focused on stupid left/right political differences and figuring out wheth…

For your information, Mr Hitler killed over 5 million people.

Mao killed way over 30 million. Absolutely incompetent, he manage to remain in power just using terror.

The other day there was an 70th anniversary of the founding of PRC and this criminal's gigantic picture was at the hotspot.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#100

Post by guelo »

bluntfang wrote: post #50
dekhn wrote: post #39

I have to say, this is really the only way to respond to China when it comes to their no-humor censors: just come out and mock them. They don't really have any way to reply. One wonders if there is an entire revolutionary class within China sharing South Park videos for freedom.

>One wonders if there is an entire revolutionary class within China sharing South Park videos for freedom. I've noticed a trend on this site in particular where we collectively wonder if our western media is a part of Chinese counter-culture. Is this hubris uniquely American?

American pop culture entertainment is by far the most dominant worldwide.
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