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'''''South Park''''' is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning animated cartoon series created by [[Trey Parker]] and [[Matt Stone]], who are members of the [[Libertarian]] Party,<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20111028221410/http://www.libertarianism.com/pop_celebrity/trey-parker {{dead link}}</ref> that is shown on American cable network [[Comedy Central]]. It is controversial due to its use of vulgar and obscene language, biting humor, and questionable depictions of religion , politics and other respected institutions. Shows have The show has touched on [[Catholic]]ism, [[Islam]], [[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Mormonism]], [[Islam]], [[Judaism]], [[Scientology]], [[atheism]] and [[agnosticism]]. It has made jokes about [[Jesus]], [[Moses]], [[Muhammad]] and other religious leaders.

The show has ran for 20 21 seasons, with many critics have believe believing that it is in decline, however but not to the extent of other adult cartoons like ''[[Family Guy]]''.<ref>http://firstsignsoftrouble.blogspot.com/2011/04/south-park-decline-in-quality.html</ref><ref>http://www.tbseblog.com/2011/10/14/worst-thing-ever-the-decline-of-south-park/</ref>

Taking place in the fictional small town of South Park, [[Colorado]], the show follows four children who are friends: Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman. Due to the low quality animation that South Park utilizes, the majority of episodes are made in less than a week, allowing for the creators to change their storylines at the last minute to reflect on current events that are not otherwise touched on as quickly in other animated comedy shows such as ''[[The Simpsons]]''. For example, an early episode entitled ''Quintuplets 2000'' was changed to reflect the controversy surrounding Elian Gonzalez at the time. In fact, many Many of the situations depicted are parodies of current events in politics and pop culture.

''South Park'' has been praised for its often blunt [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] viewpoints on many political, moral, and social issues of the day. For example, in "Chinpokomon" (a satire of the [[Pokémon ]] craze), the boys learn that blindly following a trend can be dangerous, and that it's best to just be yourself. In "Super Best Friends," we discover that [[Jesus]], [[Muhammad]], [[Buddha]], [[Moses]], [[Joseph Smith]], and [[Krishna]] are all friends, even though countries have gone to war over them.

There is a form of anti-censorship, libertarian-leaning conservatism known as "South Park Republicans" and "South Park Conservatives." The creators are uneasy about stating their political views (even hesitating to declare themselves libertarians),<ref>Charlie Rose interview, httphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqtLudQtIGs</ref> though they note that of all the different groups they mock, [[Hollywood values|Hollywood Liberals]] display the most indignance.<ref>Interview on The Hour, httphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLyVm4Rr2eo</ref> Matt Stone has stated, "I hate conservatives, but I really (expletive) hate liberals." <ref>http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_rp-hate_conservatives.htm</ref> Neither Trey Parker nor Matt Stone voted in the 2004 presidential election because they regarded both candidates as people they despised. More recently, the show has taken a more liberal tone, including mocking [[Glenn Beck]] and portraying [[Tea Party|"The Pissed Off And Angry Party"]] as sexually-insecure men who lack knowledge about government, however, the recent episode ''1%'' mocked the "Occupy" movement and the media frenzy that surrounded it. Glen Beck, a fan of the show, took South Park's parody of himself in good humour.<ref>httphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btsMZxDBYEg</ref> Parker and Stone have stated that the reason they mock liberals so frequently is their insistence on telling people what to do.

This show is known as an equal opportunity offender of religions and popular for making people laugh at the expense of others. Nearly every episode uses the [[Lord]]'s name in vain. Their depictions of the prophet Mohammed nearly resulted in the show's creators being killed after Muslims extremists issued death threats.<ref>[httphttps://www.wnd.com/?pageId=144313 Islamic warning to 'South Park' still 'remains', WND, April 22, 2010]</ref>

After the episode ''Trapped in the Closet'', an episode which dealt with Scientology, Isaac Hayes (a member of that group) left the show in 2006.<ref>http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2008/08/south_park_scie.html</ref><ref>It should be noted that, around that time, Hayes had suffered a debilitating stroke, and was not in a position to make many decisions for himself.</ref> Following Isaac's departure, the character of Chef was killed off the following season. Chef's death was a parody of the third episode of the [[Star Wars]] saga, which left the possibility of Chef returning to the show. However, following Isaac's death in 2008, the character will obviously not return.

Stan is voiced by co-creator Trey Parker and is more or less a filter for his personality and experiences. Though possessing a foul mouth and other shortcomings that typify his age, Stan is basically a good kid, with above-average [[intelligence ]] and a strong sense of morality. He is the best friend of Kyle Broflovski, a good friend of Kenny McCormick, and about the closest thing to a friend that Eric Cartman can ever expect to have. He comes from a typical middle-class household. His father Randy is a geologist and his mother Sharon is a stay-at-home mom. Typical of the adult characters on South Park, both parents are frequently irrational, but they are also shown to genuinely love their son.

Often just called "Cartman," he is arguably the main character of the show. He is obese, bigoted, narcissistic, and generally sociopathic; he was originally conceived as an eight-year-old version of Archie Bunker from [[All in the Family]]. He is very antagonistic towards many people, especially Kyle, largely because of Kyle's ethnicity. (Cartman is anti-Semitic and admires [[Adolf Hitler]].) Fights between the two, usually stemming from mocking each character's respective obesity and ethnicity, have become a centerpiece of the show. Ironically, however, each has saved the other's life twice. All three of the other boys are open about their dislike for Cartman, but they still usually refer to him as their friend. Cartman has been shown to be extremely intelligent and manipulative, and he has a dark charisma that makes him a natural leader of the boys in times of adventure. Cartman's sociopathy has been traced to his upbringing by a single mother, Lianne. Lianne encourages Eric's obesity, and treats him like a friend instead of a son, thus not disciplining him. Lianne, a "crack whore" in the show, was also the name of Trey's former fiancee fiancée who Trey saw cheating with another man.

==References=Randy Marsh===Stan's father was initially a secondary character. In more recent seasons, he's become even more of a main character than the four boys. Trey Parker has said that as he had children of his own, he identified more with Randy than the four boys. In recent seasons, Randy starts his own Marijuana farm, called Tegridy Farms.

 * [httphttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121955/ IMDB Website]

[[Category:LibertarianismComedy Television Shows]]

[[Category:Debatable Whether ConservativeLibertarianism]][[Category:Satire]][[Category:Banned in China]]