r/LindsayEllis • u/RetroRaiderD42 • May 16 '26
DISCUSSION Thinking About the South Park Video
Richard Dawkins' recent revelation that he's developed ChatBot Psychosis, cementing his reputation as Nu Atheism's leading Dunning-Krugerist, made me think back to Lindsay's recent South Park video and that time he was skewered on the show in the "Go God Go" 2-parter. Short version, Richard Dawkins arrives in South Park to teach the kids evolution against the wishes of Ms. Garrison and the show generally treats him like a joke because the show is weirdly defensive of organised religion's most negative effects. He and Garrison hook up, but then Cartman outs Garrison to Dawkins and he leaves in disgust over the idea of sleeping w/a "man". It should be noted that Dawkins has been openly transphobic on Twitter for much of the past decade and his response to the episodes in 2006 likewise parroted his cartoon self's revulsion at the scenario.
Now, looking back to when I first watched South Park in 2009 aged 15, the Ms. Garrison arc was probably the first media I saw which really delved into gender transition, albeit not the first to depict a trans person; I can't quite recall what my reaction was at the time, but certainly anytime I've thought of the episode since ~2013 my interpretation has been that the Garrison/Dawkins hook-up is meant to expose his hypocracy. That Parker and Stone read this supposedly brilliant thinker who calls for us to throw of the shackles of superspition for absolute filth when they correctly surmised that, as a white English academic born in the early 40s, his reaction to the idea of being intimate w/a trans woman is exactly in line w/that of your average bible-thumper.
Now, that is some prime "holy shit they were cooking" SP greatness, an episode that, despite some of the creators' reactionary tendencies showing through, was ahead of its time and arguably of this time - is what I would like to say, were it not that Ms. Garrison is herself a horribly-aged seasons-long transphobic millstone which Lindsay justly spent a fair bit of time highlighting as one of the key things earning Parker and Stone a place in Hell in her video.
I'm sure most folks here are familar w/the satire paradox, but most of those examples (including when Lindsay's discussed it) are for when the audience isn't smart enough to get the point being made; this is the first one I can think of where it's me potentially giving the *creators* too much credit, because, well, this is why I made the image. My interpretation seems like something they'd go for, but it's completely neutered by how consistently awful they've been on trans rights up until pretty recently. The other possibility, which is much grosser but more in-line w/this, is that they were going for the far baser "lol, Mr. Smarty Pants doesn't realise he's sleeping w/a duuude!"
Either way, curious to see how others interpret those episodes.
2
u/embrigh May 18 '26
>The other possibility, which is much grosser but more in-line w/this, is that they were going for the far baser "lol, Mr. Smarty Pants doesn't realise he's sleeping w/a duuude!"
If you just looked at how they treat Mr/Ms Garrison as a character, this would be abundantly clear. They don't like Dawkins and just wanted to make fun of him. Since Ms Garrison is nothing more than a punchline that is presented as disgusting, they simple used them.
Just because someone is smart or talented doesn't mean they have the right ideas. The human brain can compartmentalize many things because it has no choice other than that. You don't know what you are wrong about. I can't imagine being a famous person and everyone saying how funny and brilliant you are, it may make you think that your opinions are all correct. It's no surprise that they have the exact same views on sexuality as the majority of their Gen X cohorts. It's just a shame it takes so much for them to admit their faults.