Obviously
anyone who has seen South Park would agree that the amount of satire is just
outrageous, which, in my opinion makes the show such a great thing. South Park
clearly has no limits of what they will make fun of, but why be so consistent
with the Jew jokes? I do not believe that the writers of South Park are truly
against Jews, but of all the things that are made fun of in the show, Jews are
the most common target. All of the episodes of South Park contain remarks about
Jews being cheap or the ones who killed Jesus, or some other common stereotype
that has stuck around for thousands of years. Yet one episode in particular
called to me when discussing Theophilus. In the story we all read, we recall that a
Christian man is convinced by a Jew, who the make a strong point to tell is
good with money, to sell his soul to the devil. Though Cartman in South Park,
does not sell his soul, he is aware of his friend Kyle's attentiveness to
money. (because he is a Jew). In the episode, "Two Days Before the Day
After Tomorrow" the boys are put in a situation where they are near death,
(yet again), and when trying to escape a near death situation Cartman pulls a
gun on Kyle and demands that he hand over his "Jew Gold". Kyle
attempts to tell Cartman that he is full of it and that Jews do not actually
carry a bag of gold around their neck. Yet Cartman is persistent and demands
that he hand over the gold. Kyle finally admits to having to gold, and throws
Cartman the bag. Cartman then again demands for the real gold knowing that all
Jews carry a "decoy bag of gold" to protect their real bag of gold.
This is completely ridiculous, and I believe that the writers are drawing on
how crazy some of the stereotypes that have been made about Jews. Although they
are using satire, they are allowing the stereotypes to remain alive, with no
malintent I hope. I also think that it is important to say that earlier in the
episode, when Cartman and Stan broke the Beaverton damn, and caused the issue
that took place in the whole episode, Stan insists that they tell. To this
Cartman responds, if you tell Kyle he will just "Jew you out" Again,
I don't believe that South Park is truly being racist or antiemetic, because
the poke at every race, gender, sexual preference, etc., but I do believe they
are in a way keeping certain stereotypes about Jews alive, while making humor
of the situation/stereotypes.
