South Park Republican

"South Park" Republican is a term that was circulated in weblogs and articles on the Internet circa 2001 and 2002, to describe what authors claimed as a "new wave" of young adults and teenagers who hold political beliefs that are, in general, aligned with those that seem to underpin gags and storylines in the popular television cartoon. The phrase was coined by commentator Andrew Sullivancite journal | last = Anderson | first = Brian C. | title = We're Not Losing the Culture Wars Anymore | url = http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_4_were_not_losing.html | date = Autumn 2003 | accessdate = 2007-11-09] in 2001. Sullivan identified himself as a "South Park" Republican after hearing that the show's creators had "outed" themselves as Republicans at an awards ceremony.

While "South Park" co-creator Matt Stone is a registered Republican,Fact|date=January 2008 co-creator Trey Parker is actually a registered member of the Libertarian Party. [cite web
last = Winter
first = Bill
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title = Trey Parker - Libertarian
work =
publisher = Advocates for Self-Government
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url = http://www.theadvocates.org/celebrities/trey-parker.html
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accessdate = 2008-04-26] As the show's co-creator, Matt Stone, sums it up: "I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals." [cite news | last = Tierney | first = John | title = South Park Refugees: Republicans can't count on the votes of "Team America" | url = http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_4_were_not_losing.html | publisher = "New York Times" | date = 2006-08-29 | accessdate = 2007-11-09]

In August 2006 Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Andrew Sullivan headlined a conference in Amsterdam hosted by the libertarian monthly magazine "Reason". During an on-stage interview with "Reason" editors Nick Gillespie and Jesse Walker, Stone and Parker reaffirmed their discomfort with labels while acknowledging that their political views could be described most accurately as libertarian. John Tierney documented the declaration on the pages of the "New York Times" a few days later in a column called "South Park Refugees".cite news | author = Nick Gillespie | coauthors = Jesse Walker | title = South Park Libertarians: Trey Parker and Matt Stone on liberals, conservatives, censorship, and religion. | url = http://reason.com/news/show/36838.html | publisher = Reason magazine | date = December 2006 | accessdate = 2007-11-09] "South Park Libertarians," an edited version of the interview, appeared in the December 2006 issue of "Reason".

Creators' views

Both Parker and Stone have claimed that the "South Park Republican" tag was a "dumb notion." [cite news | last = Grigoriadis | first = Vanessa | title = Still Sick, Still Wrong | url = http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/south_park_still_sick_still_wrong/page/3 | publisher = "Rolling Stone" | date = 2007-03-08 | accessdate = 2007-11-09] However, when Parker was asked to elaborate on what the term means to him, he claimed that he is getting "sick" of the fact that one must "either like Michael Moore or... wanna fuckin' go overseas and shoot Iraqis." He goes on to stress the lack of a "middle ground," where they consider themselves, and mentions that "if you think Michael Moore's full of shit, then you are a super-Christian right-wing whatever."

"We find just as many things to rip on the left as we do on the right," Parker claimed. "People on the far left and the far right are the same exact person to us." In summary, Parker states, "George Bush doesn't know what's going on. Michael Moore does not know what's going on. And Alec Baldwin definitely does not know what's going on." [cite web | url = http://www.movieweb.com/news/news.php?id=5406 | title = INTERVIEW: Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk Team America: World Police | publisher movieweb.com | date = 2004-10-04 | accessdate = 2007-11-09]

References

ee also

* Culture wars
* Republican Liberty Caucus
* Libertarianism
* Rockefeller Republican
* "South Park Conservatives"