- Cartman's Incredible Gift (originally aired December 8, 2004) : Cartman pretends to develop psychic powers and to help catch a serial killer.
- Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset (originally aired December 1, 2004) : The girls of South Park model themselves after Paris Hilton, who wants to buy Butters as her new pet.
- Quest for Ratings (originally aired November 17, 2004) : The kids start their own news show but end up following a familar path when they get beat by a show about pets.
- Pre-School (originally aired November 10, 2004) : Trent Boyett comes after Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman and Butters for not taking responsibility for an incident from pre-school.
- Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes (originally aired November 3, 2004) : Stan and Kyle try to destroy the new local Wall-Mart while Cartman tries to defend it.
Wal-Mart (one L) is the world's largest retailer, reporting $244.5 billion in sales in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2003. Wal-Mart has more than 3,200 facilities in the United States and more than 1,100 units in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, China, Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom. According to Wal-Mart, more than 100 million customers per week visit its stores worldwide.
- Douche and Turd (originally aired October 27, 2004) : Stan refuses to vote for a new school mascot. P. Diddy, who recently founded a non-profit organization Citizen Change (on-line here) which has tried to encourage youth vote via its "Vote or Die" campaign, tries to get Stan to make a choice. Stan refuses, is banished from South Park, lives in a PETA compound, and then returns.
According to Census data (on-line here), 18.7 million people registered to vote did not actually vote in the 2000 election. About half of these people said that they were too busy, were out of town, or could not vote because of their own or a family member's illness. About a fifth were, like Stan, not interested or did not like the candidates or campaign issues.
- Goobacks: Immigrants from the future come to the present looking for work, taking over low-wage jobs and sparking an unusual protest.
- The Jeffersons: Mr. Jefferson, a man obviously based on Michael Jackson, moves to South Park with his son Blanket. The police try framing Mr. Jefferson because, as has been argued in some defense cases, he is rich and black.
- AWESOM-O: Cartman pretends to be a robot, AWESOM-O, in order to lear Butters' secrets, but continues the ruse when Butters reveals that he knows one of Cartman's secrets as well.
- You Got F'd in the A: Stan is challenged to a dance competition by kids visiting from Orange County. Stan recruits three other kids and a duck, but Butters, the state tap-dance champion two years earlier, refuses to join because of a tragedy he accidentally caused.
- The Passion of the Jew: Kyle is shaken after seeing The Passion of the Christ and wants the Jewish people to apologize for their role in Jesus's death. Cartman is elated by Kyle's change of heart and starts mimicing Hitler in his embrace of Mel Gibson and The Passion. Stan and Kenny hate the movie and try getting their money back from Mel Gibson.
- Up the Down Steroid: Jimmy and Timmy are participating in the Special Olympics, but Jimmy starts taking steroids to enhance his performance (1). Cartman pretends he has mental disabilities in order to win prize money.
- Good Times with Weapons: The boys play ninja but Kenny then cuts Butters' left eye with a shuriken. The boys try to get Butters treatment without getting into trouble, but their parents end up more concerned about Cartman's streaking than about what happened to Butters.
Footnotes for "Goobacks" (last updated April 29, 2004) (back to top)
This episode obviously analogizes from complaints that immigrants are taking jobs in the United States. Some analagous topics include:
- Efforts to make English the official national language have not been successful at the federal level, but many states have adopted some form of law or state-constitutional amendment along such lines. A few states have gone the other way and specifically protected the use of languages other than English. For more, go here.
- The United States has long given money to help developing countries, and in 2001 spent roughtly $11 billion on foreign aid specifically contributing to the development of smaller countries (commonly known as official development assistance, or ODA), less than 1 percent of its annual total budget and about 1/30th of the United States' annual defense spending. Polls show that the American public greatly overestimates how much is currently spent on such development assistance and would support larger amounts than is actually spent. For example, a poll conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) in 2000 found that the mean estimate for how much of the federal budget was spent on foreign aid was 20 percent and the mean estimate for what people thought more appropriate was 10 percent. For more, go here.
- There were about 5 million people who had illegally immigrated to the United States, according to a 1998 estimate by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, with about 275,000 new such persons a year. Mexicans made up the majority of this population (54%), followed by people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Canada, Haiti, and the Philippines. About 40 percent of the total undocumented population resided in California, with others concentrated in Texas, New York, Florida, New Jersey and Arizona. For more, go here.
Footnotes for "The Jeffersons" (last updated April 22, 2004) (back to top)
Mr. Jefferson, a man obviously based on Michael Jackson, moves to South Park with his son Blanket. The police try framing Mr. Jefferson because, as has been argued in some defense cases, he is rich and black.
- Michael Jackson was reportedly indicted on April 21 by a Santa Barbara County grand jury investigating child molestation allegations. In December 2003, county prosecutors charged Jackson with seven counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent (felony complaint on-line as a PDF here). Jackson pleaded not guilty in January.
- Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant was charged in July 2003 with one count of sexual assault with physical force or violence. Bryant had acknowledged having sex on June 30, 2003 with his accuser but has said it was consensual.
Footnotes for "The Passion of the Jew" (last updated March 31, 2004) (back to top)
- The Passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson's new movie, The Passion of the Christ, tells the story of Jesus Christ's final day and the circumstances surrounding his death. Some have raised concerns that the movie could raise anti-Semitic feelings by how it depicts Jews' involvement in the death of Jesus, just as passion plays depicting such events preceded anti-Semitic violence in the past.
While Gibson's movie reportedly aims to be true to the Bible, the Gospels themselves are inconsistent on many of the details surrounding Jesus's death and why the Jewish high priest Caiaphas arranged Jesus's death at the hands of the Romans who then ruled Jerusalem. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke generally say that the Jewish religious establishment was threatened by Jesus after he cast the sellers out of the Temple, while the Gospel of John points to Jesus's resurrection of Lazarus as the threatening event. The Gospel of John also explains that Caiaphas may have tried arranging Jesus's death to serve a greater good. According to John, Caiaphas believed that Jesus would lead an uprising that would have led to the Romans stripping not only the power of the Jewish establishment but also the Jewish nation itself, and that it was better for Jesus to die for the nation's overall good.
The Catholic Church has at times stated that the Jewish people as a whole should not be held to blame for the death of Jesus, even if some individuals did urge his death and even if the Gospel of Matthew has the Jewish people being cursed with Jesus's blood ("Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children," Matthew 27:25). As part of the Vatican II reforms, Pope Paul VI in 1965 decried anti-Semitism with the following passage (full text on-line here:
| True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Chris; still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scripture … Furthermore, in the her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone. (emphasis added). |
- Apologies for Past Acts. The United States has never officially apologized for slavery, though it did of course outlaw slavery after fighting a civil war at least in part over the issue and it did create several programs in the 1860s specifically to help the newly freed blacks. The United States has apologized for the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and for overthrowing Hawaii's native government in the 1880s and 1890s. For more on apologies and various reparations efforts, go here.
Footnotes for "Up the Down Steroid" (last updated May 12, 2004) (back to top)
The Special Olympics does have a policy on drug use: athletes promise to follow a code of conduct that includes not taking "drugs for the purpose of improving [their] performance" and can be punished for violating this code. Participation in Special Olympics is open to who have intellectual disabilities and are at least 8 years old.
Beyond that, several organizations involved with the Olympics and professional sports such as baseball have taken more actions in recent years against athletes using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
President George W. Bush even called for tougher anti-drug measures in his State of the Union 2004 address. "The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message -- that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character," Bush said. "So tonight I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches, and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough, and to get rid of steroids now."
According to testimony on March 10, 2004 before the Senate, policies for some major sports are as follows:
- Olympics. U.S. athletes in the Olympics, the Pan Am Games, and the Paralympics are randomly tested by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, a non-profit organization created in October 2000. The USADA conducted 2,377 no-advance-notice tests on U.S. athletes in 2002. Athletes who test positive for steroids are suspended for two years and are banned for life on a second offense.
- Major League Baseball. After anonymous tests in 2002 showed that more than 5 percent of tested players were positive for steroids, MLB will begin conducting random tests of all players for steroids. Players who test positive will receive treatment the first time and will be suspended or fined for subsequent offenses.
- National Football League. The NFL began testing players for steroids in 1987, started suspending violators in 1989, and instituted a year-round random testing program in 1990. It reportedly conducts more than 9,000 tests a year. Players who test positive are suspended the first time for four games without pay, for six games on a second offense, and for a minimum of one year on subsequent offenses.
Sources: Testimony from the March 10, 2004 hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation's hearing on Steroid Use in Professional and Amateur Sports is on-line here. President George W. Bush's comments on steroid use in his State of the Union 2004 address are on-line here. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is on-line here. Major League Baseball is on-line here. The National Football League is on-line here. The Special Olympics is on-line here and the code of conduct is on-line here.
Footnotes for "Good Times with Weapons" (last updated March 17, 2004) (back to top)
- Obscenity on TV. The February 1 incident in which Justin Timberlake partially exposed Janet Jackson's breast during the Super Bowl half-time show has brought to the fore a debate over broadcast standards and controls. Since that incident, networks appear to be airing live performances on delay so that they can edit out arguably indecent material and exerting more control over shows as they are being produced. The House of Representatives passed a bill increasing fines on broadcasters of indecent material from $27,500 a violation to $500,000 to $3 million per violation; the Senate is still considering a similar bill. For more on obscenity on television, go here.
- The Passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson's new movie, The Passion of the Christ, tells the story of Jesus Christ's final day and the circumstances surrounding his death. Some have raised concerns that the movie could raise anti-Semitic feelings by how it depicts Jews' involvement in the death of Jesus, just as passion plays depicting such events preceded anti-Semitic violence in the past.
While Gibson's movie reportedly aims to be true to the Bible, the Gospels themselves are inconsistent on many of the details surrounding Jesus's death and why the Jewish high priest Caiaphas arranged Jesus's death at the hands of the Romans who then ruled Jerusalem. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke generally say that the Jewish religious establishment was threatened by Jesus after he cast the sellers out of the Temple, while the Gospel of John points to Jesus's resurrection of Lazarus as the threatening event. The Gospel of John also explains that Caiaphas may have tried arranging Jesus's death to serve a greater good. According to John, Caiaphas believed that Jesus would lead an uprising that would have led to the Romans stripping not only the power of the Jewish establishment but also the Jewish nation itself, and that it was better for Jesus to die for the nation's overall good.
The Catholic Church has at times stated that the Jewish people as a whole should not be held to blame for the death of Jesus, even if some individuals did urge his death and even if the Gospel of Matthew has the Jewish people being cursed with Jesus's blood ("Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children," Matthew 27:25). As part of the Vatican II reforms, Pope Paul VI in 1965 decried anti-Semitism with the following passage (full text on-line here:
| True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Chris; still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scripture … Furthermore, in the her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone. (emphasis added). |
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West Wing: Santos discusses a lawsuit about intelligent design
West Wing: Electoral map as of the 10/9 episode; Santos needs to catch up big-time
SNL: The Miers nomination
South Park: Inspired by Katrina
Boston Legal: End to assault-weapons ban
Daily Show: A 2004 study found that 21 percent of young people regularly get their campaign news from comedy shows like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Saturday Night Live. So, some footnotes.
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