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[Truean]

It totally had a point and took a side. The first rule of South Park is structure. Kyle is good, Stan is the middle/everyman, and Cartman is evil. Everything Eric Cartman has ever done has been evil. Kenny is just there to die as comic relief most of the time or at least that's his origin. Their stance is clearly against Eric Cartman, the 1%:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In the episode, Eric Cartman is the 1% and factually speaking he really is what messed up the system by killing the average on the Presidential fitness test, because he was just that unhealthy. Now everyone has to give up 1/2 their recess to make up for his being the problem due to the unfair system. Cartman's knows this and his response is to do anything and everything possible to deflect blame from himself. This takes the form of his usual racist, paranoid ramblings about how it's "really Obama's fault, but you can't blame black people for anything for some reason." Come on, they even show Eric at a (literal) tea party.... The creators also make sure to show how the police are overreacting like all heck.... However, the creators see the movement as ineffective, because it splinters, kind of like how the 99% is splintering. How many websites are there about the 47%, the 53% or whatever number they're throwing out there? Thus, they are against the 1% but don't see an effective way to fight it because no one will present a unified front to Cartman, the 1%.... The episode ends when Eric Cartman, the 1%, needs to grow up and stop hanging on to his toys at everyone else's expense. He is certain to make a royal pain of himself while doing so.

[Lagslayer]

/deadhorse

I understand that Cartman is the primary protagonist of the series. I guess I'm talking about the general decline in the quality of the series recently, for whatever reason.

/deadhorse

[ChairmanPoo]

http://buffalobeast.com/?p=9090 related

[Truean]

http://buffalobeast.com/?p=9090 related

_____________________________________________________
(Line O quoting)

"First off, the show has no discussion of actual class warfare, but rather it begins with the Presidential Fitness test, which Cartman does horribly on, dragging the entire school’s score down to the lowest in the country. Since, he’s worse than everyone else he becomes the “one percent”, and everyone else who is mad because they have to do extra work become the '99 percent'"
___________________________________________________
(Line O' Parody comparison)

First off the show has a nice subtle distinction of class warfare and begins with the presidential fitness test, which Cartman does horribly on, dragging down the entire school's score down to the lowest in the country.  This government physical fitness test, failed by Cartman parodies the financial fitness accounting tests, failed by banks and the 1%. The banks and 1% drag the entire country's economy down to the lowest in recent history (just as Cartman drags down the school). The government has a policy of not singling out any one person for being physically/financially unfit if they are cartman/the 1%, instead making everyone else suffer.... This begins by pitting the highest 1% against everyone else. The episode's "Class warfare" is brilliant and works on many levels. First it's the 4th graders v. the 5th graders, or two classes engaging in warfare.... Get it? Second, Those two groups are a part of the 99% who have fractured into different classes with one being "above" the other." Kind of like how there are now sites for the "53%..." The entire episode paints Cartman, the 1% as crazy and obsessed with toys, which he is, but it also points out how the 99% are not unified.

Cartman, just like the banks and 1% spend the entire episode blaming everyone else for their mistakes....
___________________________________________________________
(Line O' commentary)

Respectfully I think the author of that blog has missed the point. There's a lot of symbolism and analogies in this episode relevant to parodies.

[ChairmanPoo]

There is an alternate interpretation in that article. Ctrl F "sneaky"

[Truean]

There is an alternate interpretation in that article. Ctrl F "sneaky"

O yeah, I saw the "libertarianism" argument as well, and there's some of that. All the same, it works to hold the 1% accountable even in the article's alt interpretation,
"Also, did you notice the sneaky bit of libertarianism in there? The whole point is that Cartman should be judged for his individual performance, and the masses shouldn’t suffer for one shitty person bringing them down. Maybe that’s more understandable than Rick Santelli and the Tea Party not wanting to pay for the “losers” mortgages, but it’s a snide bit of anti-collectivism that would give Ayn Rand a satisfied smirk."

I disagree with this though. You could say that, but I think it's more about holding the 1% accountable, which is something OWS is about, no? This is especially true since, though Cartman is only one person, he is representative of the entire class of people known as the 1% in the show.

[Lagslayer]

This is especially true since, though Cartman is only one person, he is representative of the entire class of people known as the 1% in the show.

I'm not sure if this is reading too much into it or not. They should have clarified it better though, if they are trying to send a clear message. If they just wanted to throw their thoughts out there without a conclusion, then I guess they did an ok job, but it still wasn't funny IMO.

[Truean]

This is especially true since, though Cartman is only one person, he is representative of the entire class of people known as the 1% in the show.

I'm not sure if this is reading too much into it or not. They should have clarified it better though, if they are trying to send a clear message. If they just wanted to throw their thoughts out there without a conclusion, then I guess they did an ok job, but it still wasn't funny IMO.

You're entitled to your opinion. Ultimately there are only two people who really know what they meant: Matt and Trey. They, the creators, aren't saying.

[Descan]

Also, I don't think that the people who are doing the whole 53% were ever part of OWS. They're against the whole movement, last I checked, not a splinter group. And just taking a similar name.

[Leafsnail]

Also, did you notice the sneaky bit of libertarianism in there?

Libertarianism??  In South Park?!  Never.

[mainiac]

Tom the dancing bug wins the best commentary on the movement award:
http://cdn.svcs.c2.uclick.com/c2/92135850e724012e2fb300163e41dd5b

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Oakland PD sent another veteran to the ICU. Oh, wait, they actually let him rot in a cell with life-threatening injuries for 18 hours first.

[Nadaka]

That is not good. I don't know what else to say right now. Very not good.

[KaelGotDwarves]

It's almost as if Oakland's Police Department are trying to cause a riot.

[Vector]

Oakland PD sent another veteran to the ICU. Oh, wait, they actually let him rot in a cell with life-threatening injuries for 18 hours first.

Well.  Uh, congratulations, guys...