South Park: A Spark of Social Tolerance…? Forrest Donoho The New York Times article “South Park Episode Altered After Muslim Group’s Warning” says it all about the true nature of the adult cartoon. South Park’s writers Matt Stone and Trey Parker intended to air the 200 th episode with a visual depiction of the prophet Muhammad, but Comedy Central chose not to air the original version because it disregarded a certain degree of tact necessary to the situation. The studio blacked out the image, ‘beeped’ over much of the dialogue, and blocked it from the Internet. However, you might consider this odd when seeing the material of any other episode, as almost all of them exhibit profanity, obscene sex scenes, and gratuitous violence. And given its askew approach to comedy, does the show act as just a source of entertainment and consumer consumption, or does its critique of society stretch beyond the bounds of the culture industry “machine” and create important conversation about the hypocrisy of prejudice in everyday social interaction? In its unique way, South Park is more than just a cartoon comedy show that stretches the limits of free speech and acceptability. As modern philosopher Slavoj Žižek points out, “appearances are all we have, so we should treat them with great care” (3). The show vigilantly attacks the lines marked by prejudice by deriding how American culture treats appearances, whether it be religion, politics, entertainment, or some local Denver restaurant (Casa Bonita). To read between the lines of South Park is to discover the absurdity in which our culture thrives. The show reveals a stark denial of social immobility through the common threads of prejudice that combine to form American culture. Matt Stone and Trey Parker are intentionally pursuing the disruption of this prejudice with every episode, but often that pursuit is hidden underneath layers of satire and sophomoric humor. The Emmy Award winning show is gearing up to begin its 15 th season depicting the adventures of the famous fourth grade boys from the little town in Colorado. It can be assumed that many of the upcoming themes will illustrate the news worthy events from the last year, since Stone and Parker typically emphasize contemporary examples of prejudice. In this respect, what separates South Park from many other late night comedy cartoons is its undeniable ability to make the most untactful elements of modern culture its very focus of comedic relief. Moreover, the intent is to satirize these cultural elements in the most obscene manner possible. From curing AIDS by the intravenous injection of money to having our imaginations attacked by Islamic Terrorists (the one place they could not reach!), there is no frontier of discretion between what is tactful and what is not. By looking at South Park’s underlying intention, one could postulate that it is an attempt to break the limits imposed by the culture industry through the reckless