Obviously anyone who has seen South Park would
agree that the amount of satire is just outrageous, which, in my opinion makes
the show such a great thing. South Park clearly has no limits of what they will
make fun of, but why be so consistent with the Jew jokes? I do not believe that
the writers of South Park are truly against Jews, but of all the things that
are made fun of in the show, Jews are the most common target. All of the
episodes of South Park contain remarks about Jews being cheap or the ones who
killed Jesus, or some other common stereotype that has stuck around for
thousands of years. Yet one episode in particular called to me when discussing Theophilus. In the story we all read, we recall that a Christian man is
convinced by a Jew, who the make a strong point to tell is good with money, to
sell his soul to the devil. Though Cartman in South Park, does not sell his
soul, he is aware of his friend Kyle's attentiveness to money. (because he is a
Jew). In the episode, "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow" the
boys are put in a situation where they are near death, (yet again), and when
trying to escape a near death situation Cartman pulls a gun on Kyle and demands
that he hand over his "Jew Gold". Kyle attempts to tell Cartman that
he is full of it and that Jews do not actually carry a bag of gold around their
neck. Yet Cartman is persistent and demands that he hand over the gold. Kyle
finally admits to having to gold, and throws Cartman the bag. Cartman then
again demands for the real gold knowing that all Jews carry a "decoy bag
of gold" to protect their real bag of gold. This is completely ridiculous,
and I believe that the writers are drawing on how crazy some of the stereotypes
that have been made about Jews. Although they are using satire, they are
allowing the stereotypes to remain alive, with no malintent I hope. I also
think that it is important to say that earlier in the episode, when Cartman and
Stan broke the Beaverton damn, and caused the issue that took place in the
whole episode, Stan insists that they tell. To this Cartman responds, if you
tell Kyle he will just "Jew you out" Again, I don't believe that
South Park is truly being racist or anti-semitic, because the poke at every
race, gender, sexual preference, etc., but I do believe they are in a way
keeping certain stereotypes about Jews alive, while making humor of the
situation/stereotypes.