I think the video shows a very interesting theory on How PC Culture is driven by Consumerism and how South Park demonstrated it in it's newest season…… Thoughts?
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Wisecrack did a video on how South Park ties PC Culture to Capitalism
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May 03, 2016 at 04:50PM EDT.
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May 03, 2016 at 04:15PM EDT
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I don't necessarily agree with all of the deconstructions in this video (most notably that Season 19 addresses itself) but I agree on the whole consumerism – PC culture link.
I mean, just look at it – you can buy tons of shit for pretty much every cause but does that actually fix the problem? To really do something you have to get your hands dirty, and your hands have to get REALLY fucking dirty.
As a lot of people already know, blindness is my passion, and I work with blind friends to do activism in my spare time as well as write software. And it's not easy to actually try to make a difference. I still haven't made much of a difference yet and I've been getting my hands dirty for 3 years. And the fucking shit these people have to deal with is unbelievable.
What PC culture does is wrap this whole thing up in a nice set of rules that sound good and easy on the outside. Don't say this about blind people or you're ableist. Got it. But when all is said and done, nothing's been actually put forward. And even though nothing is technically being consumed in this example, PC culture is still heavily relies on status and self worth (in the form of how politically correct you are) which obfuscates the role of actual activist efforts. And really, for what other reason does someone consume other than to elevate their own self worth?
I've been saying this shit for years but it falls on deaf ears. Actually trying to make a difference is not easy and it's not something we should act like is some sort of symbol of how open minded you are. My belief firmly is that trying to change the world is a task that's best suited for the experts in the field – just like how you wouldn't want just anyone giving your surgeon instructions on how to remove a tumor, problems in society are not efficiently fixed by just handing the problem to anybody and saying "you have to care about this".
And this is why South Park is brilliant :>
If this is the argument South Park was trying to make, it defeats itself. I don't even need to make the argument, because the show has made it for me. but I'll do it anyway lel
The issue is that South Park itself is consumerist. As a highly profitable TV show, it exists to make Comedy Central money off of advertising and merchandise. The show's creators and writers might be working to create a genuinely enjoyable TV show, but they're only doing so at the behest of the network, and that network is the one profiting off the anti-PC crowd. Comedy Central is doing the same thing Whole Foods is doing, just with a different group of fanatics. Being politically incorrect gets views, and views get Comedy Central money.
What the show brings up isn't wrong per se, but it's an oversimplification. The un-PC culture is ultimately just as consumerist as PC culture in that they're both exploited by corporations who want more money, and South Park itself is as much a part of the problem as anything PC.