I think they should be honoring Matt and Trey instead. At least they tell part of the truth. They have not spared themselves either in their satires of just about everything. As evidence of their rather saintly modesty and realistic self-assessment they said the something like the following: When we started South Park we thought that Stan and Kyle represented the two of us. Now we realize that Cartman really is us. Honesty to selves is crucial in life, at least some honesty. If the Roman Church had some honesty at least it would realize that the alien monsters that South Park represents them as in the assembled Vatican could be a moment of healing if they would really get that to much of the world that is, lamentably and perhaps unfairly, what they have become. This is not from Anti-Catholicism as Mr. Donahue, also a South Park character, has said. It is from the human reality that when faced with a horrible truth, most healthy people would choose laughter if possible. If the Roman Church could see that this laughter is significant and not veiled hate they could take a step into healthy organization. If not -- and by the way this seems to be the path they are taking -- they will truly become something like the monsters depicted in the South Park episode. And the human race does not abide monsters for very long. All societies instinctively get rid of them

Wow Peter--that is harsh--coming from a believer--monster eh? Robert Littel would agree with alacrity and strangely so would Clay to whom Protestanism is the only Jesus endorsed religion. Anyway you are saying that the Vatican has lost its ability to laugh at its own monstrosity but recognizing one's own fallibilities is important as a first step to laughing at parodies of the same. The Catholic Church has not recognized its own fallibilities until recently and has only begun to do so reluctantly. The Catholic Church is bending over backward to be hip and on and off it deifies pop culture icons to prove this. I don't think you should take the pathetic attempts of the Vatican to be trendy seriously. Let them honor whomsoever they want to. The only way to obtrude on the modern consciousness is to perform some stunts like honoring those the Vatican is least expected to honor--"Ah!" the world will gasp, "The old boys of the Vatican actually listen to the Beatles or actually watch South park?' And when the answer is yes, the young uns of the Catholic faith will go rushing into the pearly gates of Catholicism in droves to be part of this divine hipness--so hope the old boys--and they may even be succeeding considering that the gullible far exceed those who give any thought at all to the fraudulence called religion.
Ravensfan Anon .

Ravensfan Anon,

As far as I am concerned, that is the best thing that you have written on this site. It was fucking brilliant!

Peter

I find the very thought of the hierarchy watching South Park æsthetically displeasing. One does not expect mature men to be watching cartoons. It is as out of place as having the obstetrician arrive at the delivery room in a baseball cap and shorts.

There is nothing objectively wrong about either, but the public ought to be spared.

Dana,

One can't argue aesthetics, and one can always say De Gustibus. But I love South Park, as you could certainly tell. Yet, on a serious note, if one compares the manner in which the Gospel story was conveyed to most believers, who were of course illiterate, for most of the history of Christianity's existence, then one finds a definite correlation to the cartoon aesthetic. This is especially so if you compare the Christian West to Islamic cultures where literacy was stressed. The later aesthetic revulsion to all things "Gothic", which meant then the same as primitive, has the same tsk-tsk vibe as the one which negates cartoons. When all things "Gothic" were stigmatized aesthetically that certainly was a blinkered view. There was so much that was beautiful in the Gothic aesthetic. But as to the modern cartoon aesthetic, well, I won't go to bat for it very strongly. Though I do note that it worked pretty well for Pop Art as a style. It all may be indicative of a gradual diminishment of insight. But at least there is some fun and beauty in it.
South Park's animation makes a point of not being beautiful, and Cartman's worldview can hardly be called a philosophy. But, as I said, I bet there are a lot of people who identify. As I also said, some honesty in life has to be a good thing. I think you have to admit that the results of "no honesty" in any practical way has had bad effects, especially for the Catholic Church.

Cartoons are fun. Gothic is great. And there's no greater fun than gothic cartoons.

Y is for Yorick whose head was bashed in

Peter, I'm actually an occasional fan of South Park. It makes me laugh. It doesn't make me laugh, though, as much as a few of the posters (and im-posters) here though.

In the long run it will be a footnote. That's a shame because it had potential to be something larger, like Mad Magazine or Mr. Natural. Or even Pogo, had it dared reach that high!