Students Exchange Self-Respect for Money on MTV Show

Great piece. I propose South Park and this article be placed in a time capsule NOW!

[...] Lessons from South Park [...]

Glad to know all those years watching South Park weren’t in vain. I’ve been part of a social movement! Thanks for your insights Ms. Tress.

Great article. We need more outside-the-box thinking like this (and South Park!). Sometimes human behavior is so ridiculous, it just needs to be called out. Times are changing faster than ever these days, and we cannot rely on how things used to be. Good for you ending on a note of hope. We need that, too! Thanks.

After living in the U.S. for over 20 years, I still struggle to understand aspects of American pop culture and humor . . . what’s up South Park – the kids just belch, fart, and curse . . .why a massive following over this !!?? You’ve helped me bridge the gap. There’s meaning there . . .mmmmK . .. lots of it, that’s a big part of the why!

Brilliance! It’s funny because it’s true.

This is a delightfully written article with well thought out concepts. I hope all young readers will take Jennifer Tress’ words to heart and really pursue those great ideas. In addition, Ms. Tress is an amazing writer, I would love to see more of her work!

Great article! You really can’t go wrong when you use South Park as an analytical tool.

I learned something today (that Jennifer Tress should be given more assignments). Also, while I’m unable to view an entire episode of any animated program (it’s my curse; I blame The Smurfs), I LOVED the YouTube clip of Kyle taking back the Margaritaville Maker to Sur La Table. Try walking into that place and not ending all your words with “able,” the Frenchation. But I digress. We’re in America and this article is able to make me smile.

Well done!!
South park has been on the cutting edge – but you need to be hanging on and crawling up that edge to know.

Michael, I like it. Part of a social movement indeed…

Love the article!! Makes you go “Hmmmmm”

Thanks everyone for the nice comments! I’m really amazed that after 13 seasons, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are still able to come up with clever ways for us to look at ourselves.

I once saw Trey Parker in Aspen, which is close to South Park. That’s why I like this article even more. Well done, entertaining piece that draws some good conclusions from a seemingly crass cartoon.

If I could know now what the next “Facebook” breakthrough would be, I could be the next to be mocked on a cartoon bent on spewing social commentary through farts and hand jobs. Ah, aspirations.

I’ve never been a big South Park fan but did appreciate it for what it was …though this article makes me look at SP in a different light as well as wanting to be mocked on there. Thanks and props to the author!

A very layered and timely piece.

Great article! I often seem to enjoy reading analysis of pop culture more than consuming it. My tastes are too narrow and limited. Why don’t you write something about Law and Order — maybe I could come up with an intelligent response.

I always knew I liked south park, but now I know why! Great piece!

South Park is the official historical documents of the good ole U S of A.. Respect my Authori-tie..

Way to bring it home, Mrs Tress. It is the time of innovation on all fronts and the box should no longer exist. First, the war and second, the economic crisis has forever changed the face of the global market. Maybe you’ve got some ideas to to save the world and could write about in the future?

Thanks Jen for the great article and insights. I agree with you; the words “traditional career path” scare me and I think that this can only breed creative new approaches to living a more fulfilling, purposeful and self examined life. Love to see more of your work.

relevant + funny = great article. to be honest, ive always thought south park was crass and annoying, but this definitely made me think of the skits differently…good insight by the author!

I’m loving the thoughts YOUR comments are all provoking.

Great article. Someone will write a Ph.D. thesis on South Park someday. Along the lines of this piece, the “Canada On Strike” episode was genius. “The internet has money! Give us some of the internet’s money!”

Once again, JT, you’ve brought humor and intelligence to what the untrained eye (an uneducated brain) may think is simple and banal…keep it up!

Jennifer Tress is brilliant and always has a fresh take; I’ll stay on the lookout for her commentary in the future.

it was actually seth green who created napster. he told that to mark wahlberg when they were robbing edward norton. but this is extremely well written. i was sitting in my room thinking about how everyone attacks south park, but then i realized how there’s always a lesson at the end of every episode. i’m not gonna go on about my theories on why or how that came to be, but i thought of the term “south park lesson”. so i went to see if it is an official term, and someone wrote about the south park lesson. this doesn’t really pertain to the whole idea of the south park lesson, this is more like a bunch of different lessons from different episodes. nonetheless, job well done sir. maybe you could address the whole principle of the south park lesson in your next thing or whatever.