South Park Does Dr. Seuss

I may be a little late on this one, but I need to raise awareness of some of the great stuff in the newest episode of South Park, “A Scause for Applause,” particularly its excellent satire aimed squarely at our culture of getting behind causes–as long as our displays for approval (be they in the form of t-shirts, bracelets or bumper stickers) take front and center to actually working for the cause itself. It is a clean, sugar-coated way of going about activism today. And what better way to drive this point home than to use a Dr. Seuss-esque swindler to peddle it all in striking color and rhyme. Take a gander after the jump, and give OL traffic a bump.

To be fair, I think it’s pretty obvious at this point that I wear my love of South Park on my sleeve.  It seems every time I am writing about something on TV it has to do with the show, but in this case I think a write-up is warranted because the material is so wickedly biting. This sequence (and the episode, as a whole) works so well because it reveals a pervasive shallowness to only wearing and decorating in the name of a cause. Adorned with sparkling and brightly-colored scauses, the person ends up standing out more than the cause. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since some good can come from such causes and raising awareness of them, it just shouldn’t be presented as purely altruistically driven, especially if no further work is done beyond wearing the gear. When raising awareness of something (and making others aware that you are the one making them aware) takes precedent over doing something about it, it simply misses the point. But thanks to a dash of Dr. Seuss in South Park, it’s obvious to see what’s missing.

Anyway, I just had to be the one to tell you about the new South Park. I am just trying to do my part.