South Park gets Aspergers wrong

Post Reply New Topic

My thoughts on the episode.

South Park writers like to piss a lot of people off. Their stereotypical views reflect lack of education. I wouldn't count on a TV show (especially South Park) for a definition of AS or a.k.a. "Ass Burgers" lmao

I frequently produce burgers from my rear end!

I'm surprised that anyone's offended by this! it's SOUTH PARK! It's supposed to be a joke!

I actually saw it differently than you guys.
What I see:The Secret Society of Cynics are all neurotypicals incorrectly diagnosed who try their hardest to keep autistic disguises. And Cartman takes the word "Asperger's" too literally. The episode was making fun of incorrect diagnosis.

The satire I think comes from the persepective others have over what Aspergers is, not from any misunderstanding over what the syndrome is; whether it be the misunderstanding that we are mentally ret*d or up our own arses in our own beliefs and think that we believe we all have intellectual superiority over everyone else without AS. Instead of openly mocking just for the sake of a cruel joke (like Family Guy), they use satire to very witty (if at times crude) effect... not to mention their seamless double punching of topics and insults.

I watched that episode a while ago, and I actually thought it was pretty funny. I wouldn't show it to someone to say "this is what Aspergers looks like", but I don't think they were actually going out of their way to stereotype aspies or offend them. If anything, I think it was moreso calling out people who misdiagnose themselves to get attention.

The main thing to remember about South Park is that though the writers tend to blow things out of proportion, and make fun, and whatnot, there's actually a lot of valid social commentary in there, you just have to look deeper into it. It's not like Family Guy where they try to be offensive or preachy for the sake of being offensive or preachy.

I actually thought that episode was pretty funny I don't see why anybody would be offended by that as it is south park and south park makes fun of EVERYONE I don't think there is a single episode without some sexism/racism/ageism/class-ism but that's what south park is and despite it being crude its pretty damn funny

After seeing this thread, out of curiosity, I watched the episode.

Like some of the above posters said, it's nothing you should take too seriously/get offended by.

Can't say I thought the humor was good, though. :/

used to watch southpark all the time when had access to comedy central but cant recall seeing this episode,but why do so many aspies only care when aspergers becomes a target?
theyve targeted everything from intelectual disability,to immigrants, to ginger hair, to public swimming pools,to aliens, to scientologists, to black people,to muhammed etc, they deliberately try to be shocking to everything because they can be.

matt and trey are awesome,aparantely they were off their faces on acid at one oscar awards and they never got asked back.

re. mention of family guy and disability.
family guy is a lot more tasteful on disability than southpark will ever be,they did a good episode featuring down syndrome;the voice actor playing the character with downs actualy has downs herself.

then theres officer joe swanson who portrays a paralegic, it shows him as a person desperate to be independant and not pitied or helped,plus his wheelchair doesnt have handles;many of us who use wheelchairs hate when people assume just because theres handles on it we can be pushed without our choice to meet the pushers 'feel good' quota and many wheelchairs come without handles as a result or can have the handles removed.

I find the character of "Sheldon" on Big Bang Theory to be a much more distasteful view of Asperger's than the South Park episode. At least with South Park you know right out of the gate it's going to be an over-the-top mischaracterization. With the "Sheldon" character a lot of laypeople assume everyone with Asperger's is a savant of sorts, difficult to deal with, and has the emotional maturity of a five year old. Now if you don't act like "Sheldon" then most NT's think you're just making sh*t up. The biggest knock on the South Park episode isn't that they chose Asperger's as a theme it's that it was written poorly compared to some of their higher quality episodes.

Scr*w you guys, I'm going home.....

South Park tries to be as topical as possible, it is written week to week so it can be current.
It's satire, they have made fun of almost everything under the sun including the show itself.

It is far from perfect and Trey Parker could very well regret that episode.

Dunno if I have Asperger's or Ass Burgers or both but it nailed my view of the world. I experience internally the happy world but externally people seem just oblivious.

I don't like South Park. I used to dabble in it, but it was, and still, too offensive and vulgar. I'm glad I don't watch it anymore.

I actually thought the episode was targeting the harmful myths surrounding Asperger syndrome.

In typical hyperbolic South Park fashion.

I think they got it wrong on purpose because they were making fun of the overdiagnoses and kids getting misdiagnosed with it without even understanding what the condition is. Stan was obviously depressed, not autistic. And that Ass Burgers joke was old so it wasn't funny what Cartman was doing. I also thought they were making fun of the ignorance about it.

Agreed, and agreed. South Park is a heavily satirical show, and the show's creators aren't afraid to offend people. A lot of people don't enjoy this type of humor, but I do, and I honestly think that it's superior to shows like Family Guy that rely heavily on randomness and pop culture references. South Park does have its moments of grossout humor and downright absurdity, but underneath it all there's a lot of great social commentary.