The Society in South Park

South Park may use potty humor, but South Park takes intuitive looks into the ridiculous societal issues in the United States and the many issues that arrive with the way that our government is run.  South Park is a perfect example of how open society works.  And as David Valleau Curtis and Gerald Erion point out the South Park potty mouth may be one selling point for the show, but there still is a lot of potency underneath the bad language and childish jokes that gives the show another level for viewers to see when watching

The characters of South Park episode after episode end up on opposite sides of exaggerated popular issues in the united states.  These situations exaggerated and poke fun at controversial issues by making both sides look absurd.  By bringing the issues out in open for the public to scrutinize, South Park actually allows for the public to assess issues for themselves by viewing them in different settings in order to form their own opinions.  



Erion and Curtis argument that South Park is benefit to "open society" and doesn't silence extremist is hard to argue against.  After their explanation of what Karl Popper defined as open and closed society, it is easy in any one episode to see how South Park allows open society with "rational reflection" upon the topics brought up in the episodes.

Take for instance the episode where the boy scouts don't allow the current troop leader stay in place because he is a homosexual.  Although it seems like a ridiculous situation that may not have a greater relevance, but if you think about it, that episode brings up the issue of how many organizations and groups have felt that homosexuals don't belong in their groups.  This is an issue that pops up all the time, one great example would be that many churches that spoke out against gay marriage when California pushed to legalize the right in past years.

South Park however also looks at such social events such as the largely popular World of Warcraft and how it shapes our society.  Once again taking a comical point of view making all the main characters gain notable amounts of weight and break out to fit the most stereotypical overweight gamer, they actually look at society and question it.  And look at other issues that may or may not be related to the over played video-game.



South Parks commentary it plays on the social fads and governmental issues is one way that people are given a chance to examine their social environment.  Open society is what allows America and many other countries people to continue to analyze the government and society they live in, rather than allowing their society to be shaped completely by others.