I'll be honest, considering our discussion of subtext, gilded identity, and Hemingway's iceberg, I believe this episode is AT BEST loosely connected to our discussion. But perhaps there is something more to this? It's very easy to criticize how this episode has LITTLE to do with our class and our themes, but let's try to argue the opposite. Here is your assignment:
Consider our hypothesis: The American narrative is that of duality: an outward appearance of success masking a frail, damaged culture beneath it. American culture is itself, gilded. How does this episode of South Park support our hypothesis?
Do not simply answer this question, but read other comments and respond to their comments.
As this is a class discussion, I implore you to be professional and polite. If you comments are in any way inappropriate, crass, or simply mean, I will remove your comment and BAN you from extra credit.
"Let the flag for hypocrisy fly high from every pole, cuz we're a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll"
ReplyDeleteThis line from the near end of the episode really brings together the overall idea that the American Identity itself is duplicitous. Also, Cartman's flashback into 1776 shows just how two-faced and split America's own inception was, as well as the period of time around the present with the argument over the war in Iraq.
In a sense, this episode of South Park does support our hypothesis because it points out the double-faced image that America has. That was what the Gilded Age was: presenting one face but hiding another. The difference here though is that both anti-war and pro-war faces are presented proudly in the episode (though again, it is satire and by extension an exaggeration). So while the culture has maintained its duality, attempts to hide it are no longer made. Instead of a gilded statue, it’s more like a half-gold half-silver statue.
ReplyDeleteI stole your idea of wearing different "faces"
DeleteI agree, this episode of SP does have a small resemblance to the gilded age. From the outsider's perspective America may appear to be the "United States", but from the events occurring in South Park and in Cartman's flashback, one can clearly see that we aren't truly united and may have differing views. In this scenario, the U.S. has internal disputes between pro-war and anti-war views but because of these clashing ideas, the U.S. becomes the great country it is, a country that
ReplyDelete"can go to war and at the same time act like it doesn't want to."
I find that this episode of South Park does support our hypothesis of having a cloak of success over the reality of a damaged country. Stan's father says that the strength of the country is the ability to do one thing and say another. The civilians as a whole, representing America, realize that in order to be a strong nation, they must learn to accept both opposing points of view. However, since both perspectives make the nation, America's actions may have a subtext of opposite meaning.
ReplyDeleteIn this episode the dichotomy of war is evidenced by three main conflicts. The broadest would be America’s dilemma of whether or not to go to war. The split between anti-war and pro-war enthusiasts as a whole was repaired when Cartman asserted that both sides were necessary to maintaining the integrity of the country and its dominance in world affairs. According to Benjamin Franklin, tolerance of two views is synonymous with “appearing to want both”, a stance that lends itself to the apparent “blamelessness” of America in going to war. But America’s desire to be able to assert its strength by masking its own internal conflicts is itself a testament to the flawed and hypocritical nature of its policies. This false display of unity is simply a ploy to suit the country’s own needs.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, the actions of the protestors are another indicator of the country’s imperialistic tendencies. When Stan, Kyle, and Kenny are studying, their parents, along with their opposing protest groups, pressure them into supporting their respective sides. Stan’s father instantly recognizes the boys and their project as potential ammunition against the pro-war rally, despite the fact that they repeatedly say no to the idea. Kenny’s father attempts to win his son over with guilt, calling his friends and their parents “un-American traitors”. He takes Kenny by force and declares that his son “is a patriot and loves his country”, even though he was never given a chance to clarify his views on the subject. The boys’ fathers are blinded by group mentality and try to acquire as many assets as possible despite their unwillingness to participate. Again, this is an artificial union that promotes fear and deceit more than it does solidarity.
Finally, the thought process of the average American serves as an example of corruption on the most basic and individual level. When Mr. Garrison gives his students a choice of whether they want to go outside to protest the war or stay inside to show their support, the entire class decides to leave in order to save themselves from doing math problems. This is the epitome of the self-serving and insincere front presented by Americans, and by extension, America itself. Alternatively, this could also be descriptive of America’s tactics for gaining support for its foreign policies. By doing what you were doing before, by default you would be supporting the war. Assumptions of the undecided give a distorted image of the supposed majority of the population, America’s way of making it that much harder for dissenters to act because of the degree of effort required to make a change. This struggle on the national, political, and individual level affirms the presence of pretense and selfishness under the guise of morality, decency, and practicality, or in other words, the duality of America.
Wonderful comments so far. Let me direction our attention towards a particular quote that sticks out in my mind.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the episode, Cartman notes in his book report that our nation of opposing ideologies is "like having your cake and eating it too." Is this true? Are we able to appear as both sides of the spectrum to the outside world? Hasn't our reputation been solidified as an imperialist nation or are we welcomed as liberators? In this episode, our founding father seem to vacillate between appearing too hawkish and eager to go to war or too submissive and weak; is it possible to be both? Is it possible to wear two faces at the same time? Is America a diplomatic nation favoring peace AND an imperialist war state?
I think the difficulty of it all is how we wish to be seen as both. We want to be, essentially, a contradiction. We want to be strong and tough while also appearing peaceful and diplomatic. But is this possible? Can we have our cake and eat it too?
In this episode, it ends with the townspeople believing that its possible for the US to go to war but yet continuing to gild its image to "look like it’s full of sane, caring individuals." From my understanding, this is far from true. In the eyes of some Americans, it may seem like the wars we fought were for liberation or spreading democracy while others may feel that we are fighting for other far less noble reasons such as obtaining oil. In a sense there is a form of internal gilding to invoke feelings of patriotism.
DeleteAs for the outside world's point of view, we want to be viewed as a big brother figure, something resembling a figure of authority but it won't happen. From the perspective of the country we are invading, and laying waste to people in, we will definitely not be viewed in a positive light. It doesn't seem possible to be viewed as both sides of the spectrum to the outside world. Our actions of killing speak much louder than our words. We can still continue going to war, but people rarely view warmongers/militaristic countries as peaceful or diplomatic. Perhaps we do have the cake, but eating it too? It just seems impossible. Maybe the cake itself is a lie.
I feel that it's possible for America to appear tough and also appearing diplomatic. As seen from Monroe Doctrine introduced in 1823, it showed both America as a diplomatic country as well as an agressive country. The doctrine stated that further European interference in North or South America would be seen as acts of aggression and it will provoke America to go to war. This threat clearly indicate America as an agressive country. However, the doctrine also cleary stated that America would not interfere with existing European coloines of Euriopean country, which makes America a peace loving country as well.
DeleteThis particular episode of South Park demonstrates to its viewers the idea of Gilded. As Cli said," From the outsider's perspective America may appear to be "United States" ". Clearly the first word of our country's title, United, meaning joined together politically, for a common purpose, or by common feelings; however, in reality, it is seemingly contradictory. Although we may be out there fighting a war, seeming like we can do what ever we want, it is clearly shown within this episode of South Park, that there is quite a division over certain matters within our country. This in turn is quite ironic, denoting our country's title "United States," its military "power," and its industry, a thin surface to the comparable real hunk of ice beneath the water in regards to our country's division and fighting. The hypothesis therefore is proved, that the American narrative is a true duality; an outward appearance of successes masking a frail, damaged culture beneath it. Case in point, the American Culture in itself is gilded.....
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned the irony of the first word of our country, "United" because this South Park episode satirized the extreme conflicts due to opposing beliefs on the war (pro-war and anti-war activists). Although the foundation of our nation is based on freedom, I think Americans really do push the limits sometimes by manipulating their given freedom. I feel as though our labeled American ideals have almost been serving as a facade. We clearly have not been able to maintain peace and unity within our nation, yet we have been getting involved in foreign countries regarding the same issue. The hypocrisy really reveals the duplicity of our country and that American culture has BEEN gilded.
DeleteWell, I agree with everyone's comments so far of how they were able to supply evidence of how this episode is related to the question of whether the "gilded age" in America never actually ended.
ReplyDelete@Mr. Eric Ferencz
America seems to be based on the conspiracy that our government is full of hypocrisy. While the American dream depicts an opportunity to succeed in life through determination and motivation, the middle and lower classes are still overshadowed by the upper classes. In response to the quote "like having cake and eating it too", I agree that American politics are based on the theology to fight in what you believe for yet maintaining a respectable reputation. A prime example is the Vietnam War. While America initiated this war to protect the American citizens, the U.S. government's ulterior motives were to prevent communism from spreading throughout the world.
In America, the duality of being both successful and damaged exists, as is shown in the episode. The rights to speak and protest freely are some of our nation's fundamental ideas, but not everyone shares the same opinion and as a result, it's easy for conflicts to arise. When the anti-war townspeople were protesting, there were people breaking into stores, and both times that the two sides tried to settle their differences peacefully, violence broke out. America sees itself as a diplomatic liberator and goes to war to protect the interests of other nations, but in reality the nation is split on the issue and in some ways in a war against itself.
ReplyDeleteThe US does end up having cake and eating it, too in the way that since the nation is so large, so many opinions are presented. This makes it hard for the rest of the world to label it as either entirely imperialist and bloodthirsty or entirely diplomatic and afraid of war. The US is not seen as too aggressive or too submissive. South Park demonstrates this well when Stan's dad says that America's ability to say one thing and do another is its strength. However, this proves that America is actually a gilded nation and the view of America as the perfect balance of liberty, peace and war is only an illusion.
In considering Mr. Ferencz's question, I think we should determine whose perspective we are looking at the question from. Leaving the general question of the morality of waging war aside, different people will have different opinions of America based on their personal interests. For example, is it the opinion of those whose positions (socially/financially) were improved with American intervention (like women in Afghanistan), or those whose lives were changed for the worse (like Sunnis in Iraq)? Therefore, the answer is that we can be viewed as both liberators and as imperialist aggressors, just not to the same groups.
ReplyDeleteA line from the episode that stood out to me was a satyrical quote from one of the founding fathers: “Think of it, an entire nation founded on saying one thing and doing another.” I think this is essentially true, and it relates to the duplicity of our nation because a lot of the time we give excuses and explanations for doing things and hide our true motives, which are usually less palatable. For example, when we invaded Iraq, President Bush used false intelligence data to justify our military intervention, while our real motive was likely very different.
In a way, this South Park episode does show the duality of America. The disputes of the people in the town over the issue of whether or not America should go to war with Iraq show how divided America really is even though it has an outward appearance of being a unified country. The quote "An entire nation founded on one thing and doing another" said by one of the founding fathers really show the hypocrisy of America in that America's outward appearance is not what it really is. Suggested by Benjamin Franklin, if half of America goes to war while the other half complain, it would make America "forever blameless". These two words really indicate America as a gilded country. It's saying that the tyranny and immorality of America are covered by their "neutrality" because there are protestors against them. I also find it interesting how the town was divided by two extreme sides just like the Gilded Age was divided by two extreme sides. During the Gilded Age, the wealth distribution was very unbalanced. The rich were extremely rich while the poor were extremely poor. The rich worn silks while the poor worn rags. Similar to the townspeople, both sides needed each other. During the Gilded Age, the poor depended on the rich to make America appear strong and wealthy (Objects are gilded for their outward appearances); while the rich depended on the poor to make America function (A base object is needed in order for it to be gilded). The combination of the rich and poor created America (A base object with a gilded appearance).
ReplyDeleteAdding on to what Christina Zeng said, one of our inalienable rights, out first amendment is of free speech. America is associated with the idea of freedom to say, to belief, and to protest something we feel strongly for, or against. However, just how much of our "freedom" are we still entitled to today? For example, the Occupy Wall Street protesters are not allowed to protest in Zuccotti Park anymore, the censoring of certain websites such as Megavideo, and the Patriot Act after 9/11.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the idea of the "American dream" is somewhat gilded as well. According to this article and the statistics, today in America, it is so much harder to rise the ladder of social mobility and succeed compared to that of other countries.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/harder-for-americans-to-rise-from-lower-rungs.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Great article, really on point.
DeleteWhile on the outside America seems to be this superior, well developed country, it actually suffers from many internal problems. America is often involved in wars with other countries and with America being such a huge nation, there is no way that all of its citizens are going to agree with the government's decision to get involved in wars. This episode portrays a more comical way to display the disagreement between the 2 opposing sides. Indeed, there are many bloody fights involved--after all we are dealing with an angry mob. During the Gilded Age, while the rich ostentatiously displayed their wealth the poor was suffering with low wages and many were jobless. This obvious contrast can be seen in the episode where there was a poster that called our former president a Nazi and another poster asking for peace. Also, I think it is possible to maintain our image of both a diplomatic nation favoring peace and an imperialist war state. The government simply has to keep the media under control and balance the opposing sides.
ReplyDeleteA couple questions:
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Twitter person so if someone writes @MrFerencz, does that mean that such comments are directed towards me?
Also, consider how mostly everything we're saying when discussing the "gilded"ness of America is about perception. Just as Natalie suggests, it is an issue of perspective.
Wonderful, wonderful debate people. Keep it up.
"@PersonA" means "at PersonA", so the statement after "@PersonA" is directed at PersonA.
DeleteI'm pretty sure this is right. Sorry if it's not!
@BingXu: I really like the connection you made with this episode and the Monroe Doctrine! It becomes apparent that "having your cake and eating it too" is not impossible and has been our tactic--wanting to have a foot on both sides of the fence--since the early 19th century.
ReplyDeleteIn this episode, the Congressmen realize that the democracy that subsequently stemmed from the initial desire for independence is dividing the nation into two contrasting sides. However, are these two sides truly working for the good of the nation or for personal interests? Ben Franklin, seeking to eliminate the latter (and perhaps as well as the continuation of argument), suggests not to found a nation based on war or to found a country that is afraid to fight, but rather do it in a fashion that is a combination of both so America is "forever blameless." This form of sugarcoating aggressiveness with peace to attain neutrality is often revived and put to use because the US would not risk its position as a global superpower to seem unrighteous or biased toward one side. Thus, it’s easier for us to simply support both of the opposing sides and to wait for neutrality to mask our motives. Through the use of presenting two faces, it seems as if we are able to preserve and have half of the cake and to eat the other half.
This episode of South Park does support our hypothesis that America has an outward appearance of success while having a frail, damaged culture beneath it. The main conflict in the episode was between pro-war and anti-war activists. From my perspective, I thought the pro-war activists represented America’s exterior since they were the ones to use the American flag as their wall setting on stage and they were the ones referred to as “true Americans” MANY times throughout the episode. If they do represent America’s outward appearance, they show that America is very ambitious and willing to fight a war to reach some sort of successful, profitable result. The anti-war activists represent the inner culture of America. They show that there are parts of the American culture that are damaged and weak. They were the ones who were burning the American flag and insulting their own president. This shows that America isn’t that strong after all in a social sense.
ReplyDeleteDuring the video, the pro-war people mentioned 9/11 as a reason to go to war. In reality, 9/11 can be used on both sides. For the pro-war people, it showed that we have to protect ourselves by going to war, or else we will constantly be attacked, while for the anti-war people, it can be used to show how other countries feel when we attack. The video showed that America is a contradictory country and while to the rest of the world we seem powerful, we try to hide the fragile bonds we have with each other. The video showed that with the lines drawn as boundaries, and how both sides wanted the best of two worlds. If I repeated someone else's comment, I apologize as I didn't really read all of them.
ReplyDeleteAdding on the Natalie Kozlova's quote from the video, the line is true for many aspects of American life, if not all. Along with the boundaries drawn, it really shows how hypocritical we are at times. The protestors were against each other, yet managed to agree on things at times, but soon become enemies as quickly as they became friends
ReplyDeleteI feel that this episode shows that things aren't always as they appear, and especially this concept of the American identity could mean many things. The episode depicts how by allowing free speech, the American government will be able to do something or act a certain way but still be free of any blame by having opposition at the same time. In essence, promoting hypocrisy. In the end, regardless of where we see our American identities, we aren't the ones calling the shots, no matter where our loyalties lie. The episode supports the hypothesis that our culture is gilded in the sense that while we show a culture of freedom and liberties, there are still many conflicts, confusions, and contradictions lying underneath. Regardless of what we believe or say, it really won't change what's happening or what's going on around us, that is, unless we make a difference for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI think that this episode represents our hypothesis of duality well because the Pro-war activists serves as a symbol of our strong outward appearance as a powerful country willing and eager to fight while the anti-war activists presents the "frail damaged culture" that lies within.
ReplyDeleteI believe this episode is very strong on the whole "duality" thing. From the outside, America seems to be the target of much hatred as we Americans are seen to be hedonistic, war-loving rednecks. However, as we all know, America is a country made up of an assortment of beliefs and opinions. The notion that Trey Parker and Matt Stone exhibit within this episode of us being "an entire nation founded on saying one thing and doing another" can be seen repeatedly within our history, for example, the Vietnam War (Hippies vs. Pro-War), the Revolutionary War (Loyalists vs. Patriots), and in this case, the Iraq War.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in regards to Mr. Ferencz's question about "having our cake and eating it too," I believe that our stance as "powerful, yet diplomatic" would be better justified if our country stayed out of other countries' business. At this point, we are just making enemies through out pursuit to benefit ourselves. In other words, we should be like Canada, so that in the end, we can be everyone's buddy, guy!
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs9/f/2006/343/a/7/Terrance_and_Phillip_by_stardroidjean.jpg
Like everyone else, I agree that this episode showcases the duality of the United States of America. There are always people supporting either side allowing America to do whatever it wants. Also, I think this episode is a great example of how fragile the United States are. In the episode, the adults supported their sides stubbornly and pushed their opinions on the children. Our country is fragile because since the formation of our country through the Founding Fathers, America has separated itself into groups. From the division of the Loyalists and the Patriots in our colonial days to the various religious groups we have now, sectionalism is a big part of our country. The problem with this separation is people tend to join a group that puts on a gilded front and then blindly follow the opinions of that country. Eventually,the group with the best advertising will win regardless of how sound their idea really is.
ReplyDeleteThis is basically how things will go down.
http://i.imgur.com/u0MKc.jpg
That's one of my favorite episode of Futurama. Good stuff.
DeleteThe video shows that our country often makes decisions that are unpopular with many of the people in it. However, it falsely supports the idea that other countries will forgive us for waging a war even though many of the people in our country are opposed to the decision. Despite the fact that the U.S is two-faced and often divided over issues, when we make a decision, other countries view it as coming from us as a whole. If we go to war against another country, they will feel no sympathy towards us and will contnue to fight us even if a majority of the people back home are protesting against it. If we wage war often, we will still be viewed as a power hungry nation by others. In fact, although the official decision of declaring war rests in the hands of Congress, the decision to send troops overseas lies solely with the president.
ReplyDeleteThis episode of South Park shows that America's culture has always been one of deception. Back when our founding fathers decided that we would be a country that could start a war and at the same time say that we did not want to decided that America would always be gilded. Even until now, we see that this culture has been preserved and can be seen in current events.
ReplyDeleteOur outward appearance of success rooting from our nations establishment has also always veiled our frail and damaged culture. Because our country was based on the idea and ideal of democracy ("majority rule"), the heartbeat of the U.S. was born. At first, when we start a war - the majority agrees that we should start the war. Soon enough, once these citizens become aware of the horrors of war, they protest it, and the majority elects a new anti-war President. And all of a sudden, you have a country who has the power of an imperialist country who manages to say that invading was not the intention or was a mistake.
I believe the U.S. is a world power specifically because we "have our cake and eat it too." Our reputation is probably solidified as an imperialist nation, but the countries that we go to in the name of liberation have not much choice but to accept our help. In Cuba when they were being oppressed by Spain, during the annexation of Hawaii, in nearly any war we've been in, we always "helped" countries who were already in a desperate situation. We fought off the oppressing force, and became the new one. We always deny intentions of imposing power, yet break these rejections once no one can do anything about it.
In this episode, we discover that we were actually made to be able to wear two faces at the same time. A President can say that we need to sincerely help a country in need, and yet a new President may say that it was a bad idea a few years later.
I feel that since I'm coming in so late, nothing I have to say can be very original, but I'll try my best :(
ReplyDeleteThe South Park episode shows the duality in opinion, where two different groups have two different opinions, thus causing them to clash (to put it lightly). This is just a small-scale representation of what the country really is. In reality, it's more than just two different opinions. There are thousands (if not millions) of unique opinions across the country. What makes this country great is that no opinion can be considered incorrect. We're all correct in our own way.
Duality also occurs on a larger level than just nationally. To the world we appear to be a brutal, war-loving nation. In the last one hundred years, we've fought in over five wars, along with our support of terrorism and death in foreign countries (http://www.globalissues.org/article/332/western-support-for-terrorism). But does that mean that's who we are on the inside as well? Of course not! On the inside, we take strong standings against corruption, theft, homicide, etc. Even Earth Day, a day dedicated to the peace and care of our planet, was created in America. While this country has shown its ugly side, it's also shown a brighter, more loving side as well, a duality that one would thing to be impossible. This is even seen in the video in the Continental Congress scene. In addition to the idea that different ideas could be supported, the two main ideas that they were discussing were the ideas that we could be brutal and violent and choose to go to war, while simultaneously saying that we hate war and want to stay peaceful.
Ok..so the really insightful and long comment I wrote yesterday never posted for some reason :(. Ill post a much shorter and condensed version.
ReplyDeleteI am in agreement with the South Park Episode. I think it does a great job of portraying what contemporary America's all about. It also does a great job of portraying the ideas of our founding fathers. Although they are portrayed in a negative light, the episode shows us where their ideals have led us. Moreover, it also supports our hypothesis. The frail, damaged culture does exist in the U.S. The government is the furtive, self centered U.S body, while the "free" public act as its alibi and mask.
Take the Civil War for example. Prior to the Civil war, America presented itself as a united and powerful nation to the world. However, in Lincoln's famous Emancipation Proclamation, the world would know the truth. It found out, how America wasn't one and didn't think as one nation, but thought as individual states. All looking for personal benefit, rather than thinking as one and working for the great good. This is eerily similar to:
"When Mr. Garrison gives his students a choice of whether they want to go outside to protest the war or stay inside to show their support, the entire class decides to leave in order to save themselves from doing math problems. This is the epitome of the self-serving and insincere front presented by Americans, and by extension, America itself. Alternatively, this could also be descriptive of America’s tactics for gaining support for its foreign policies." -Christine Luong
In other words, the students thought about themselves and did not take anything else into consideration, much like the States.
Christine phrased it perfectly, I could not have connected the two in a better way.
P.S: GO GIANTS!!
This South Park episode clearly shows the duality of American culture. Even though the United States strives to mask the innumerable conflicts between its people, the problems will always exist until action is taken. While the United States feigns consensus between its citizens, there will always be internal conflict. I believe that this is because the United States was built based on a democracy. The Founding Fathers have shown that dissenting opinions are acceptable as long as people have the same cause, the bettering of their country. This episode was based on the conflicting views of the American public on the War in Iraq. Opposing sides will always exist for an opinion. As Cartman stated, the importance is that both views have the same goal for the improvement of the United States.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff so far. I've been reading your comments all day while watching the Giants game (quite the nail-biter).
ReplyDeleteLet's not beat a dead horse here. We've certainly established a duality in American culture, now let's take this a step further. What other realms of American culture seem to fit into this molded? Certainly politics and government policy appear to say one thing and do another, but where else in American culture do we find this phenomena?
Watching the super bowl commercials today reminded me a lot about the duality of business companies. Companies twist words and ideas to benefit themselves. Take GoDaddy.com for example. The company "invents a desire." When GoDaddy aired its first Super Bowl commercial, not many people knew about it. However, after the commercial everyone wanted to know hat the website was about. The public image of GoDaddy was "erotic" and the use of beautiful young girls was like make up for an otherwise banal site.
DeleteBusiness, especially that related to insurance appears to say one thing, but do another.
I completely agree with Vinit,businesses will do anything to make a profit. Fast food restaurants are a prime example of this. They always make claims about how their food is "healthy" or "natural". For example McDonalds says that, "The only meat used in McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets is chicken breast meat. "
DeleteThis video shows otherwise,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T67DvoH2H3E
It shows how the nuggets are made of a chicken paste. This paste is made of grinding up a chicken utilizing its eyes and other parts that are not usually eaten. It's somewhat similar to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. It's frightening to see that in the end, profit is the only thing that matters to businesses.
Speaking of duplicity, I just watched the movie Green Zone staring Matt Damon, which was based on the Iraq War. In this movie, we see that a big part of the American culture, the media, sometimes fabricates stories because that’s what we want to hear not because that’s actually true. In this movie, a character named Lawrie Dayne who is actually New York Times reporter Judith Miller who made up many stories about the Iraq. She got the story of the WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) all wrong. “For example, on September 8, 2002, Miller reported on the front page of the Times that intercepted aluminum tubes indicated that Saddam was developing a nuclear bomb.”
DeleteHere is more about Miller
http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/9226/
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2362/
Another example would be McDonald’s. At first I didn’t really think of this but as I was walking on my way home, those signs they have are really misleading. For example, look at the dollar menu. Anyone new to the system would be like “Wow, only a dollar and I get a McChicken.” Or something like that. But when you actually buy it and get the receipt you’ll see that it is not just one dollar. In total it is more than $1.50. The sandwich itself is around $1.30 and plus tax, it is way more than $1.50.
Not just that, but also when you see those posters hanging on the windows of any fast food restaurant like McDonald’s, you’ll see huge, luscious buns with layers of lettuce, tomatoes, meat, cheese, etc. But when you actually buy the burger it turns out to be only a fraction of the thing you just saw. Clearly many things we see are actually not as good as they seem. They look good from the outside like in those posters and the commercials, but when you go in and but the burgers, you actually see the truth. This is really similar to what America is.
I think this episode (apart from the two-faced-ness mentioned by others) is demonstrative of what has become our culture of class warfare -- something the Gilded Age was a representation of, as well.
ReplyDeleteThe smaller percentage of people (the wealthy) prospered and became America's facade of happiness. They became the image that American showed to the world: one which all others were meant to envy.
The South Park episode demonstrates the same idea in that two classes (Republicans vs. Democrats, pacifists vs. warmongers, conservatives vs. liberals) fought against each other. The ones fighting for war give off the image of a strong, uncompromising country which the rest of the world sees as truth, while the pacifists are covered up; they are allowed enough freedom to show the appeal of the first amendment, but not to truly prevent a war.