#idk i don't wanna sound like i am denying the impact popular media can have on people

[biracy]

Okay I know everyone and their mother has seen that post about how South Park like single-handedly revived antisemitism in the late 90s/2000s or whatever, but I really honestly think that's a weird and bad assessment of both the cultural context that South Park originated in and the cultural impact that it ended up having. I'm definitely not saying that South Park and shows like it didn't end up normalizing "ironic" bigotry for a certain subset of people, mostly teenagers, but I am saying that to act like one single cartoon was wholly responsible for a revival of bigotry is giving Far too much power to one show, especially if you take into consideration that culture was kinda just Like That sometimes at the time (and honestly still is). It all feels very "video games cause violence" to me. A blanket assumption that everyone reenacts everything they see on TV all the time without anything else potentially influencing their actions and also that media predates the cultural context it exists in and not almost always the other way around

#idk i was talking abt this on discord last night n it stuck with me #also found out that apparently people don't realize that south park is at least intended to be satire. like. obviously it is? #like i'm certainly not Defending South Park but it's very clearly intended to be satirical #open mick night #idk i don't wanna sound like i am denying the impact popular media can have on people #but also saying one tv show singlehandedly reinvented racism in the 2000s is like. well it's a take