Did South Park Turn Anti-Capitalist?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ส.ค. 2024
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The latest South Park special is all about the streaming wars, both digital and literal. However, it does create a really salient metaphor about the problems surrounding global capitalism, whether it pertains to the surplus of streaming services, or the lack of water our current economy faces. We’ll explain in this spicey QuickTake on South Park’s “The Streaming Wars”: Will We All Be Drinking Pee-Pee Soon?
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Written by Amanda Scherker
Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by William Schwartz
Produced by Olivia Redden and Griffin Davis
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
#SouthPark #StreamingWars #Wisecrack
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What a terrible sponsor
What a horrible sponsor
Bottom of the barrel content, bottom feeding sponsor.
Btw, anyone not anti-human is anti-capialist, thats some basic ass shit.
Like how anyone can just think or check to confirm the following: Elon has 350 Billion $. Global hunger can be fixed for 7 of the 350, global warming paused for 51 of the 350. There are 1600 extra billionares that could also fix the world, for a small % of there total cash, but they don't.
No good person becomes a billionare. Name a problem not caused or fixable with billions.
Yes, I am depressed to the point where I think about suicide most days. Stop reminding me betterhelp
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” -- Edward Abbey
I was teaching exactly that phrase in ethics courses in Missouri 20 years ago, completely unaware of Abbey. Someone, one week when this was the topic, painted these words on the wall of the front garden of a newly opened corporate bank financed 'business' education building (B of America, iirc). My doctoral advisor walked up behind me, as we walked from the parking garage to our building, and asked what held my attention. I responded, "Evidence of good teaching, ...". It was a proud day.
Nuff said
But is it not also the idealogy of all cells? In that the cells reproduce themselves, to grow, and thus, from the fetus, we grow into fully formed adults, then into old age before we pass.
Perhaps in that case, the cells grow for the sake of survival and thrival.
Or they do grow for the sake of growth. But where the case of cancer differs is that, it is not so much that cancer cells grow, but that when we say "the cancer spreads", what is happens is that more healthy cells become cancerous and then die. So in fact it is the reverse of growth; a never ending increase of destruction.
@@abdul2009 No.
Growth for the sake of growth is not at all what the majority of cells do.
Most cells have life cycles and they don't replicate until they're ready to be done. A replacement.
Your position is only concerned with the perspective of healthy cells, their destruction.
The phrase stands from an objective perspective. Skin cells don't just grow wildly for the sake of growing.. that would basically be Psoriasis.
Cancer cells, however, do grow with zero concern for "Is this necessary to the equilibrium of the host organ/organism?"
That is growth purely for the sake of growth.
Another example is Starbucks and, more recently, Dentists in America.
Sounds like every ideology
“It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism”
~Mark Fisher
Capitalism is an immutable which is embodied by trade. The world is far more... perishable.
I prefer Nick Land
@@notyourbruh "just end the world" -Nick Land
Love Mark Fisher's work, gave me a bit of socialist light in a dark tunnel
Or any unimaginative consumerist fool
When you put it this way, it really makes Pi Pi's line at the end feel very chilling. Manbearpig is gonna kill us all, but the billionaires last.
That's why WE need to take care of the billionaires first.
@@Kaylakaze This is why we need to take back the guillotines! Prisons don't work and the rich will always bail themselves out.
@@deep_fried_analysis Did you see my other comment where I literally said we need to break out the guillotines and take back the people's resources for the people?
@@Kaylakaze Not gonna happen, but don't worry, their bunker compounds in New Zealand will be overrun by millions of their starving customers.
@@Kaylakaze TRUTH.
My favorite part was the fact that all the little boats were rainbow, to symbolize how corporations are being all performative about pride while literally ruining the East. Butters was literally sucking off the rainbow 😭😂 I lost it at that part
I really like that Matt and Trey were able to admit that they were wrong about climate change.
Member when that was expected of people?
They’re ignorant assholes who are contrarians for the hell of it
They still are.
They've become the fart-huffing liberals they once criticized.
Must’ve been humbling and eye opening.
We are royally fucked has always kind of been the message of South Park. I believe it can be changed but don't expect to come from the top down.
It can come from the top-down when they are fearful of the bottom's wrath. The Nordic model, which powers the happiest, healthiest, most progressive social democracies on Earth, came into being out of fear that the citizenry would dissolve capitalism and install the communist model that their neighbors over in Russia were practicing. Consequently, once the Soviet Union dissolved and they were left competing with themselves, they began shifted back towards free-market capitalism over time. As always, rights aren't given; they're demanded.
👍🏻
Royally F'd and getting fed the Yelper Special. So, if someone is praising them for their "anti-ultra-cap" stance, their stomach is likely filled with B&C.
Well, yeah.
I'm sure Marx had that similar idea... something about losing chains, workers, uniting...? Hmmm.
Original Hulu was the best. The major studios teaming up together to share a single space. Paid = no ads. Free account = ads. It was easy to find what you wanted in one place. What a shadow of its former self it’s become. Feels like another apt analogy. Original Hulu was cooperative. It made money. It was accessible to people of different economic classes. But in an attempt for more money & selfish fame, the cost has gone up so it’s inaccessible to some, variety has left, and there is little to no cooperation. And the very thing they tried to stop, piracy, is now more common than in Hulu’s early days because it’s so much more complicated to find your stuff to watch. Such a shame.
One cannot afford everything in what meager salary & don't have the financial habits to take advantage for those services given for free by credit card holders.
Privacy was going to be one of my key points reading your comment well b4 I clicked on it.
I've been a fan for decades. It's a blatant slap in the face as far as I'm concerned. Hulu and Netflix are the 2 biggest streaming services.. but Paramount, in a pathetic attempt to stay relevant.. dangled carrots in front of Matt and Trey.. and they chased them out of sheer greed.
And it's sickening..
South Park became just as irrelevant as the streaming service they moved to as for as I'm concerned. I would literally spit in both their faces if given the chance. As tough as things are these days.. right when people need a little escape from life's troubles and stresses.. they felt it was appropriate to try and fleece their fans for an extra buck.. I personally refuse to ever let so much as a single dollar of mine.. to ever go towards anything Matt, Trey, or Paramount is involved with ever again. They can take their greed and go to hell.
The free with ads thing is a loss leader. It's like the pusher giving you the first taste for free.
I loved early Hulu. It was TV's answer to Netflix. Basically "Wanna watch all your favorite shows on your time? Now you can!" Literally every network was happy to collaborate, and fans reaped the benefits of a one-stop shop for tv viewing.
Matt and Trey have always been committed libertarians. They’re just coming to realize now that’s not actually the same thing as being a free market capitalist.
no, it's worse.
They kinda are the same thing. Libertarianism is the rejection of violence, i.e. the rejection of the idea that people have or can possess the authority to violently force people to obey. Market regulations are, in essence, violence. That is, they are enforced entirely through the threat of violence and/or loss of property and freedom.
@@spellman007 Imagine thinking the idea that people are entitled to experience their finite, one-and-done existence in whatever way they see fit is worse than literally anything.
@@alondite215 imagine supporting pedophilia.
@@alondite215 they are libertarian in cultural sense and socialist in economic sense.
As a hydrologist working in Colorado I appreciate that they are dipping their toes into the water issue (pun intended (always intend your puns don't be a coward)). The issue is that what makes the issue so interesting and difficult to describe easily is the inherent complication of water scarcity. Surprisingly everyone needs water none of the individual dozen or so components are complicated on their own but each component interacts positively and negativity with each other component. What I am curious to see is if they continue with this subject like they have in the past with other large subjects. I would like to see how they would tackle the demands of agriculture vs industry vs municipal as well as waste and inefficiencies in our system both in organization as well as legal and for economic reasons. As demand increases and supply decreases due to global man bear pig the possibilities in front of us are either the lobster bucket approach or working together to actually find a solution. So far it looks like the lobster bucket is winning out but one can hold out hope.
I'm liking your comment because I 100% agree with your pun take.
As a resident of Phoenix Arizona, I too pay attention lol
What is the "lobster bucket" approach?
@@mmmuuuuuuuuiiiiiiiiirrrrr crabs in a bucket cannot escape because they pull each other down.
@@kurks001 OH! I recognize it as crabs. Lol. Thank you!
The kids making the same content for multiple services seems to parallel the South Park creators signing a $500 million deal to put old and new South Park seasons on HBO Max, and then they signed a $900 million deal to make new South Park movies for Paramount+, which seems to blast how dumb the management of these studios are in selling off their assets and then regretting the results, then making their own streaming services to make the money themselves.
This really isn't the first time South Park has critiqued capitalism and the flaws in them, the Walmart episode that shows how it made small time business close up and the literal control it had on people and of course their Amazon episodes talking about how their employees are the lifeline of any business and not treating them correctly affects everyone not only inside the business but also those outside (which is something we've no doubt seen since the pandemic)
They did a Starbucks episode too putting tweaks parents coffee shop out of business. They just don't really seem to know the content they are critiquing.
@@74rocktiger74 I'll chuck that up to being a really early episode of South Park and they've stated their minds/attitudes do change with time. Again the Margaritaville episode where it basically ends with the whole US Treasury system making absolutely no sense
@@587DeathKing I don't think you can attribute the US Treasury to being anti capitalist I mean true capitalism would not rely on government. And if I'm not mistaken Kyle was the Christ like figure in the story for encouraging people to spend more money.
@@74rocktiger74 there is no "true capitalism" with no government. The government is enforcing capitalism to stay alive. With no government, you wouldn't have capitalism.
@@vojislavl6665 government would enforce any system to stay alive. Capitalism of Austrian school can exist without government, but nobody would let it exist though.
There's something terrifying about the idea that water something needed for basic life. Will be capitalized on for profit.
You just have to be ahead of others if you want to secure the basic needs for survival. And it won't change :D
It already is.
@@chrisakaschulbus4903 this is why I love corporatism
@@felixtla93 I love irony.
****WILL****
Matt and Trey are grown ups now. Libertarianism works if you believe we live in a true meritocracy. They know we don’t.
The Right has gone so mask-off crazy that they're driving everyone else Left in response. I've seen it happen to a lot of people who were moderate centrist types pre-Trump but have had the Right's failings rubbed in their faces so much that they're starting to wake up.
@@vashsunglasses You're not completely wrong. I was a republican for 17 years. Trump showed up and I fled! I don't think I'll ever register democrat, but I definitely ran from the crazies. On the opposite side, my sister who used to be a registered democrat moved to a red state, drank the red Kool-aid and now claims to be republican . So I have both examples in my own family. Makes for fun thanksgivings.
@@ocmetals4675 just the fact that you registered for anything for 17 years shows you are easily brainwashed and gullible if I had to be anything I couldn't be a Republican or Democrat because I'm for the truth and the truth may happen to be either one of those so it's stupid I way facts and make it a decision and for it to be unbiased how could I be part of a party? It's ridiculous the whole party system is f***** up but I guess humanity can't be trusted with giving one of us too much power so it's the best we got and the greedy m************ keep hurting more money until their whole scam breaks down then they run off to their private islands that they've stocked up for the next five hundred years
@@ocmetals4675 Everyone have their own experiences that shape their priorities and opinions, that's why they are so different. For example, marriage, your personal experience with it dictates if you love it or hate it.
Libertarians want to solve problems by doing nothing. They preach about liberty, but they're so vague about it. Libertarians have a history of defending slavery in the name of "free market". They defend Nestle's use of child slave labor because opposing Nestle would mean supporting government involvement.
On a micro level for me, my answer to this system is being a pirate.
They give us all these options to consume because they want our money so I take from them and give them nothing back.
And thanks to things like Patreon, I can give to people I wish to see grow or I believe earned that check. Don't let people tell you that you can't enjoy things unless you pay for it first.
The problem with this though is that it's not an effective praxis over the long term. Revolutionary systemic change won't happen because of petty banditry and small-scale middle-fingers-of-the-deed
@@selfsaboteursounds5273 It's definitely not a means to a revolution, but it is a means to enjoy things in life if you are a revolutionary.
something something, One Piece joke
Are you some kinds of an cap, or something weird, Humans work best together, we need to all chip and for healthcare, look at how awful the outcomes are in America the most right wing economic country in the west.
@@sjewitt22 that doesn't make him an AnCap at all, you must be at a loss for an argument against somebody who probably agrees with you on this 'working together' dream!
If anything, chipping into to the streamer services is a major part of the problem. Giving more money to the companies that already have a stranglehold on media (Amazon much?)..
Ultimately paving the roads for such oligopolies in gold whilst leaving literally nothing to the surveyors and pavers that go underpaid
Also, being M/L and dissing movie piracy as 'petty banditry' that wastes 'revolutionary energy' is just more grandstanding than realistic.
Revolutions had to resort to what would be considered theft by pre-revoltionary governments simply due to the fact that nobody is going to let a growing movement arm themselves, unless they are reactionary fundamentalist pigs
"...and most crucially: 'Are we all floating our own crappy little popsicle stick boats when we engage with global capitalism?' ...But first, a word from our sponsor..."
I have 2 favourite observations from the special (and im not that smart so bare with me) I loved how obviously underpaid and exploited the boys were for their services without even realising because they were so desperate for money (cartmans surgery 😭) and just pure greedy for any amount of money to begin with. And I also love how the boats were made out on construction paper kinda like the show itself I thought it was cute.
that is a great observation about the construction paper. well done
@@Whats.Next.Videos ouch read me 😭 I just meant to say they're short sighted because 15 grand sounds like a lot of money that they'll get immediately but they're actually making less per boat compared to $20/40 per boat
· They weren't underpaid for their services; they got $15 (from Steve Black) and $20 (from Randy) per boat, which they created with popsicle sticks. Cussler's offer sums down to $1.50 per boat, and that's still a good deal for what the product was. A spoken point made in the the episode is that streaming services have an unsustainable business model by overpaying creators.
- it's a contradiction to say the boys are "desperate for money" and also "pure greedy". I'd urge you to mull over and compare their definitions (of 'desperation' and 'greed '), rather than I spell it out here.
· That second point of yours is cute to think about lol.
There is a good quote by Jean Jacques Rousseau that fits this episode.
"The first person who, having enclosed a plot of land, took it into his head to say this is mine and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society. What crimes, wars, murders, what miseries and horrors would the human race have been spared, had someone pulled up the stakes or filled in the ditch and cried out to his fellow men: 'Do not listen to this imposter. You are lost if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong to all and the earth to no one!'"
In their wishes to commodify the world, the capitalists want to build a fence around everything.
Yeah, get the fuck off my yard.
@Rational Fanatic By “private property” leftists don’t mean your personal property. They mean property that is used to acquire capital. In other words, the factories, land they’re built on, and machinery within. Furthermore, they’re referring to the right of private individuals to own shares of a company. This is what leftists mean by “the means of production” or “private property.”
@Rational Fanatic If you're doing the work from your lived in home then it just happens to be that you're using your personal property as a place of self-employment. You aren't housing the work location of a bunch of workers. Most business owners with non-family workers don't operate their business from their home The knife would be classified as "the means of production" and in that situation the worker owns it. Capitalism ISN'T owning your own business to labor in it, its owning your own business to get others to labor in it while you own stuff. The worker would be entitled to the means of production as they're the ones who do the labor.
@Rational Fanatic No, "Capitalism is an economic system characterized by private ownership of the means of production, especially in the industrial sector, with labor paid only wages."
You don't buy a business to labor in it, you can, but that's not the goal. The point of being a capitalist is to not actually labor in your business, but to hire others labor for you. Even if you do work in the business you own, your income isn't made through wages paid by the company, you are the company. Your income is determined by the profits made by the company. I'm willing to concede that your example DOES happen under capitalism, but to characterize it as such isn't true. 6 media companies own most the media you consume; 4 companies own most the meat you consume.
For example, if I work at Taco bell and the profits during a particular quarter are good I don't see an increase in pay. The people who own the company do. As a socialist, I have no problem with a person operating a hair-salon from their home, as they do the work. What I do have a problem with, however, are people like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or any of the people from a minority of owning class elites making massive profits while the workers they employ piss in milk jugs.
www.investopedia.com/terms/c/capitalism.asp#:~:text=Investopedia%20%2F%20Zoe%20Hansen-,What%20Is%20Capitalism%3F,of%20the%20owners%20of%20capital.
@Rational Fanatic "There are currently more than 31 million small business operating in America right now. Collectively, they make up about 99% of U.S. business. Of these small businesses, more than 25 million are owned and operated by a single person."
Yet they only account for 47% of the private sector's employees.
I am 43. Parker and Stone are a bit older than me, but I would have no trouble believing that their understanding of things has developed over time. I know mine have. When I was a young teen, I was quite conservative, then dabbled with Libertarianism in high school and Objectivism in college. But, I always continued learning, and now I'm far more liberal. Lots of the ideas of market capitalism and such look really good on paper, and they appeal to intuitive understandings of things. Like supply-side economics believing that benefits will 'trickle down'... Which I think justified giving it a try in the past. But... we did. We tried it. And it definitively, conclusively, absolutely, and without question DID NOT WORK. That means more than that we should undo those policies. It means we need to recognize that the ideas that made them look sensible and produced utterly false predictions were WRONG. We need to learn from that, and abandon those ideas, not continue to double down on them.
America isn’t capitalist. It’s cronyism. If it was truly capitalist we wouldn’t have all these bullshit bailouts for stupid companies to continue to fuck us over without any repercussions
Your feeling that the ideas are intuitive is intentional. That's how we are told the world works our whole lives. It turns out to be a myth that maintains existing power relationships, like the divine right of kings hundreds of years before.
Lol what do you intend to replace it with 😂
@@nate_the_great7423 I'd prefer we didnt have myths disguised as common wisdom, or a natural order.
As a supply chain professional I can tell you the conversation right now is 'how can we turn sustainability into an opportunity for long-term growth'. :D The green business is a thing and your recycling efforts are useless if your country/local government doesn't pursue environmental regulations and monitors businesses.
Seriously nothing wrong with sustainable growth but yes just trying the old ways with the new problems wont work - if you only have a hammer…
@@samanjj THERE IS NO SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
@@runningbetweenspaces reuse reduce recycle - yes there is. Capitalism expects beyond reasonable growth for relevance.
@@samanjj oh BROTHER this guy's a LIBERAL!!!
@@runningbetweenspaces Or he just has common sense that apparently conservatives (and even liberals) lack. Not everyone who disagrees with you is liberal, and liberals aren't socialists/communists. There's a lot more nuance to political ideology than your narrow mind perceives. ;)
It was anti-consumerist at least since before the South Park movie even had released. So how much "transition" into anti-capitalism could we overall witness in the first place?
Oh yeah. The Underpants Gnomes episode was a thinly veiled critique of Capitalism. After all -not even the Gnomes knew how stealing underpants becomes Profit.
none. this is a child's analysis.
Anti-consumerism is not necessarily anti-capitalist. You can be a hardcore right winger and still be anti-consumerist, example: The Unabomber. The dude was so dense to blame all the plagues of capitalism on the "leftist running the world" and more oxymoronic shit he wrote about.
If you go past the TH-cam videos made about him from dudes who either have an agende or simply lack reading comprehension, and you actually read his manifesto, you'll find the Unabomber at best as a fucked up terrorist who was somewhat interesting .
@ That had nothing to do with capitalism.
So you were born in 81 or earlier?
South Park has always been the court jester pointing out everyone's faults and hypocrisies, wether from the left or the right.
Everyone listens no one takes seriously
@@MiguelHernandez-vp9tl good, they shouldn't, the disclaimer at the beginning of every episode is correct. it's a dumb show.
There is no right and left - i view it through the powerful and the rich, and the powerless and the poor, and the world makes much more sense. The bullies have won sadly.
As an idiot, I know idiots… and everyone’s an idiot.
Even the court jester has his own motives. At the end of the day as well though, it's a comedy show written by a particular group of people with their own opinions and experiences. You really shouldn't take it seriously, or any other media meant for entertainment.
Matt and Trey are so rich now, they probably wonder what the point of making new SP now.
The world keeps providing new material.
Maybe they brought PP back as a good side joke that it also stand for paramount plus as well and showing him on top is kinda of a wink wink nudge nudge
I thought that too
The free market isn't free with monopolies, oligopolies, and scammers wreaking havoc. Essentially creating a modern day nobility.
The rich and big corporations rig the market against everyone else through political campaign contributions. Nobody's even close to fixing it.
We can never have a free market for as long as capitalism is allowed to exist
@@Whats.Next.Videos Because not having a welfare system turns the disenfranchised into angels that'll do chores for you free.
@@Whats.Next.Videos You don't think the prison system has anything to do with it?? lmfao
@@Whats.Next.Videos - If you think _the welfare system_ is "creating poverty" you're a very, very special kind of dumb.
How have we forgotten how horrible better help is
I think a far more effective solution to awareness about climate change isn't to say "the world is doomed, we're all going to die"-humanity is extremely resourceful and adaptable, and we'll end up being okay as a whole.
No, the way to approach it is to point out how the world is increasingly miserable and how people are suffering more and more. How the hurricanes, drought, wildfires, blizzards... things that impact people in their daily lives... are getting worse and worse. And that it very well could be _their_ home that will be destroyed in a natural disaster, etc.
Tell them that politicians and corrupt CEOs don't care, because _those_ people can afford multiple homes, can afford to be comfortable, can afford to fly to Cancun when their state gets snowed in, can afford to pay gas prices, can afford food.
And that if we don't force the corrupt elite to fix this, then they will continue to profit off of our misery.
This was an excellent opportunity to tie in Rango to South Park lmao. Cuz the villain’s word’s in Rango were something like “you control the water and you control everything”
There's enough freshwater to supply humanity even at the worst of climate change, people will suffer not because of a lack of rescources but because of distribution and demand
@@lukeh2556 …forever?
@@dinglesworld as long as PiPi is in charge, yes. Cause he will have children trying to rule the world he fucked up
@@dinglesworld fresh water is renewable, and it's likely human population growth will peak
@@dinglesworld all the water that has been here since the first time water showed up in the world is still here.
Maybe they're just giving us what we want to hear. The mainstream school of thought has been drifting left because of capitalism's threat on most of our lives. In more ways than climate change. The entertainment industry is not progressive but instead marketing to an increasingly progressive crowd.
It's called consious capitalism, its happened in the past too. Just like m&ms changing the look of the candy to be less "sexist" while having hundreds of child slave labor camps in third world countries making that candy lol
Excellent video, packed full of great follow-ups and incredible quotes. Thanks for this.
To make a water filter
Layer top to bottom:
Rocks
Gravel
Sand
Charcoal
Natural fiber cloth can be added beneath finer layers
i drink water straight from the source, straight rawdogging the decline of water supply
Matt and Trey are the same as they’ve always been. They make what they think is funny aka quality content and don’t care about backlash or corporate input at all. They’re just making fun of how they’re getting paid stupid money now because these playforms need something actually good and not all this filler crap no one likes. While also commenting on the water problem. Geniuses at work.
I love these types of videos they make me so excited for my journey into the abyss.
(So I am neither a Libertarian or a Socialist just for context), I don't think it's anti free market to be against "crony capitalism" or to be against the individual people at the top of our economic system who use their power in a abusive manner. Your solutions to those problems will depend on your political viewpoint but most people can agree those are problems.
Saying that “capitalism isn’t bad only crony capitalism is” is kind of like saying that “communism isn’t bad only Stalinism is”
@@nuclearcatbaby1131 That implies cronyism results from a free market. And criticizing 'communism' is impossible unless one defines what exactly do they mean by that. State capitalism, like with USSR? Well, cronyism will happen. A lot.
@@sinity8068 A free market without restrictions is just begging for cronies to take over it.
Solutions don't depend on view, view depends on material condition.
And you might be both a libertarian and a socialist if you knew what either of those words meant. Crony capitalism is fundamental to capitalism.
You can't blame capitalism for the fact humans need water. Even if we lived under some utopian socialist system natural resources would dwindle.
Not necessarily. Such a "utopian socialist system" would render fresh water allocation under the direct democratic rule of the inhabitants. So, they would "reduce, reuse, recycle" the water as best as they could because it is in the best interest of said community.
You may not be able to blame capitalism for the fact that humans need water, but you can absolutely blame capitalism for allowing the wealthiest among us to waste vital public resources so frivolously. You can also absolutely blame capitalism for allowing the wealthiest among us to "own" these vital resources.
@Henzo8i8 its called being open-minded, not everything is black or white
Exactly, FACTS.
Thank you.
I am very interested in some of the topics you mentioned. Could you link the sources you used for this video? Particularly that at 7:44. This would be a good practice for all future videos too.
Using water becoming a expensive commodity a plot of a dystopia movie
Interesting as always! Are you ever going to bring back Respect My Authoritah? I miss all the South Park content
That podcast kinda died along with South Park. I mean, Matt and Trey are still making the shows, but since 2020 _The Streaming Wars_ is only their 8th episode. With so little content, and all of it coming on a sort of random schedule, it would be hard to maintain a podcast about it.
It's good seeing manbearpig because matt and trey were actually smart enough to admit they were dumb to say he never existed
What a video! Great work Wisecrack!
All I'm hearing is "capitalism demands space expansion"
Not really, but exploring space would be dope. As long as there are two guys who each have something that the other guy wants capitalism can exist.
How about tolkeins dad offering $20/boat, then karen offering presumably $40/boat (if the boys were honest and didnt do the smart thing and overcharge randy) and then the amazon guy offers them $1.50/boat and theyre like "YAAAAS"
Funny thing is stan and Tolkien actually made more off of karen and Tolkien's dad per boat than the rich dude. 20-40 vs 1.5
WiseCracking - alright Pook, Wd have a real philosipher now!
And, I haven’t been able to stop watching.
"Bombing the aqueduct and other forms of protest"?!?
So these folks thinks violence is a "form of protest"? 🙄
Netflix sowed the seeds of its own demise when it first began producing original content under its own name. By becoming both platform and production house, it eliminated the possibility of applying the landmark _Paramount_ anti-trust decision (which forbade movie studios from owning theaters) to the online streaming world. Once it did that, it was inevitable that all the studios would rush to snap up as much online real estate for their product as possible - and since they've got a century's worth of back catalog and experience churning out massive amounts of content, which _used to be_ Netflix's bread and butter (back when it was _the_ streaming platform, and _only_ that), Netflix left itself high and dry.
I do expect that this current situation will ultimately result in the application of the _Paramount_ decision to online streaming, along with net neutrality and other reforms in how the infrastructure of the internet is arranged, for the same reasons as the original decision - the way it's being done now is bad for business.
I wish I could be as optimistic about the water-streaming situation. I'm afraid in that regard, we're headed toward a _Total Recall_ scenario, except instead of Mars and air, it's Earth and water.
all the other studios were already making their streaming services, that is precisely why they started with the originals, when they lost their most watched shows to alternative platforms
to make it worse those platforms have worse infrastructure than Netflix, which allowed then to be cheaper, Netflix fronted the cost that would make people jump from tv to streaming, other streaming services made an easier jump from good streaming to less good streaming
Anyone with a brain should be anti-unregulated capitalism tbh lol
Does anyone have any links where I can read more about the culture of contraction in 18th century Japan that the video was talking about?
the irony of discussing this particular southpark episode with an advert embedded in the content XD
Criticizing capitalism and recognizing its flaws does not necessarily mean being anti-capitalism.
Bump. "Anti-capitalist" implies "extreme socialist."
The economy is just one big Jenga tower. Rich people keep taking from the bottom to build up the top. It's all gonna collapse eventually...
the streaming metaphor was too good
You had me at quick & dirty.
If they ever seem to have taken any stance on anything, I'm fairly certain they will go back on it at some point.
This is the one thing I absolutely despise about capitalism, it pretends that the second law of thermodynamics doesn't exist.
The laws of physics apply to all economic systems. Capitalism just works the best.
best we got right now until you come up with something better just work and make a good life for yourself.
always a good video when you guys talk about south park good times
Great episode guys 😁👍
"Capitalism moves into every area of work and community, harnessing all of social life to its pursuit of profit. It converts nature, labor, science, art, music, and medicine into commodities and commodities into capital. It transforms land into real estate, folk culture into mass culture, and citizens into debt-ridden workers and consumers." Michael Parenti, Blackshirts and Reds
Wrong. That's what communism do but you don't own anything, not even your life... Lefties never gonna understand until they life in a socialist country. Countries where people can't scape.
@@ominae1 There is a difference between private property and means of production. Yes, people own houses in socialist countries. Matter of fact, homelessness wasn't a problem in the USSR
@@matheusvillela9150 ….But the USSR was bad, right? I mean, with all of the worker exploitation and human rights violations it may as well have been capitalist.
"luxury beliefs are ideas and opinions that confer status on the rich at very little cost, while taking a toll on the lower class.” You can say that shit because you will never have to pay for it. Hope the status is worth it.
@@myself2noone What are luxury beliefs supposed to mean? You mean like filantropy or something? Because the vast majority of rich people are conservative, liberal at most.
The interesting thing about Parker and Stone is that, while they've explicitly identified as libertarians in the past, their ideology is ultimately based on maximizing freedom and happiness for as many people as possible. Conversely, they don't seem obsessed with sector-market purity, undermining collectivism, fetishizing self-interest, etc. which are most associated with anarcho- and free-market capitalism. While I still believe the boys are socially libertarian, their ideal economic model might ironically be better aligned with social democracy than laissez-faire capitalism.
I would die to undermine collectivism.
@@DwAboutItManFr Then do it. The fact is that you are part of a collective, whether you admit it or not. You are not a lone individual that has fulfilled all your needs yourself.
@@DwAboutItManFr interesting, it's as if you are putting what you believe to be social ideals for society over your own life. How very collective of you.
@@DwAboutItManFr This country literally exists out of collectivism. The thirteen colonies were the ultimate team of rivals, and the Constitution was ratified because the colonies couldn't survive on their own after the war.
Have no idea what that means but it sounds.good. A+👍
I wonder if this pursuit of infinite growth might be why some of the richest people on earth are investing in space travel.
What better place to expand than the infinite void of space?
Is this about a new special? Can't find anything online
I know this is random.
Can you guys do a take on American Dad? I'll give you the bones.
American Dad focuses on the conflictions between the right-wing caricature, Stan Smith, and his changing environment.
Issues ranging from religion, illegal immigration, guns, autonomy, dependence on social programs and even the minimum wage.
The progressivist, left-leaning creator, Seth MacFarlane, has given Stan the stock tropes of cognitive inertia, a hyper-internal locus of control, a lack of empathy, and a fallacious black and white dichotomy present in Republican-lampooning media.
However, Stan frequently finds his mind having changed after genuinely interacting with someone affected by any these core issues.
Plus, Stan's liberal daughter acting as a foil to him but also being vulnerable to the same pitfalls shows some form of impartiality.
The best example would be Paco's undocumented family, who Stan saw as nothing more than a cheap labor force to manufacture his stuffed Celebeartions.
Stan was going to hand them to the ICE until he heaed them impromptu sing about America at a concert.
Experiencing the sublime of being moved from their appreciation for simply being in America, he helps them out. His opinion of them more dimensional and substantial.
This might suggest that the progressive writing team thinks there is something human and redeemable in their strawman of a Republican.
Now for the research.
PsyPost had an article suggesting that the more you're fed the rags-to-riches cliche, the less you'll empathize with the poor.
There is research that suggests empathy diminishes the higher one is on the socioeconomic ladder.
Another Psypost article suggesting that being a follower of an omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent deity might incur a drop in creative thinking to solutions.
It’s trendy and profitable to critique capitalism right now, but almost none of these pieces in the mainstream provide a real alternative. Therefore just leading to nihilism and complacency. If they actually challenged the status quo, they wouldn’t get produced at this level
What could they change or add to challenge the status quo? I imagine even wisecrack writers and management have to serve a greater company's interests and thus must not be demonetized.
Lmao people are literally begging for universal healthcare and free higher education but sure "nobody offers any alternatives". Eat shit lmao. All people want is some regulatory action on late atage capitalism and not let businesses rule our lives. Fucking read something for once.
Indicating that capitalism, despite having issues, is still the best system we have in order to create wealth, innovation and technology.
@@Skogand1988 Socialism is the alternative, I suggest checking out Second Thought for a good interesting take on it.
@@runningbetweenspaces As someone who used to live in the former socialist occupied part of germany, i really h@te all socialist-fanboys (who mostly are priviliged, white rich kids) with a buring passion.
Socialism is like war: The only people who like it are the ones who never experienced it.
I got to this video from "AI generated a megalodon documentary"
The day that 'Mericans learn that words have meaning is the day half the problems of the USA will be fixed because people will be able to talk to each other and understand that they actually agree.
One of your most compelling commentaries on the inherent contradictions of capitalism. Also one of your most depressing.
"In an average lifetime, each American uses 40m gallons of water" -- Love the video, but I think it's important not to use 'average', it's too vague -- is it mean, mode, median? Economic inequality is so extreme in America, I imagine that mean and median averages of water consumption are waaaaay apart... which is an important point to make.
It's a really blackpilling special, but it's also a good reminder for people to snap back to reality as we're engaging in escapism through consumerism to avoid facing the increasingly dark reality of unbridled capitalism. However, talk to a conservative or someone with a similar capability for media analysis about this special and they'll just tell you how funny they thought Randy being a Karen and the chin diaper joke was.
are you even able to tell me what a woman is?
@@axiom385 are u
@@axiom385 This is what I mean. Head empty.
Just noticed Credigre weed's different payment plan with an asterisk next to the "Advertisement free"
Matt Stone and Trey Parker are one of the very few people who say we criticize everything and actually mean it. How accurate their criticism is on any given issue can be debated but they do try to dig at the flaws of every ideology.
If we're going to have any chance of saving our planet, we all need to be anti-capitalist. Kudos to Trey and Matt.
You people have saying that for 200 years lol. Cope and seethe
@@KingArthur39 200 years ago we were coming out of feudalism
@@star-pi1bh No? I am talking about the Industrial Revolution, Feudalism was mostly gone from Europe by that time (outside of a few countries, like Russia)
@@KingArthur39 yes feudalism was mostly gone like 250 years ago i was just exaggerating
hey, @wisecrack can you link the study you mention on 7:47?
study how water rights in Colorado works and this episode becomes either more disturbing or funny
I was surprised as well, it's like they started reading books!
No. It upholds Capitalism.
idk. every interview with M and T reveals that they are about as self-aware as a turnip. but hope springs eternal.
We are rolling in water here in the midwest. Consumption isn't a problem when you have a local abundance.
Late Stage Capitalism at it's "finest."
Capitalism seen through a blood-drenched eye looks like cannibalism.
You guys have been calling it that for two hundred years.
I don’t know if Matt and trey are against capitalism so much. They just recognize that the current crony capitalism we have is not working for people. And it’s affecting our society in very negative ways.
Though they have claimed that their libertarians in the past. But I think they’re libertarians more on social issues/woke politics/PC culture more than anything else.
Lmao
Honestly, they had the classic right-wing Gen Xer vibe. Acting like stereotypcal Gen Xers though to them, the man are the "liberals" who basically try to tell people how to live while supporting the same supply-side economic chicanery. I think now as they're older and realizing kinda the shitshow they're in, it's a realization of what happens when you lost track of the plot.
The thing about all of this is that capitalism inevitably becomes crony capitalism, because eventually the best investment is to buy up competition and any possible regulation.
@@loganhurley5590 Doesn't matter what system we use, evil people will abuse it and create what is essentially a oligarchy.
@@CountDVB
Actually as a GEN Exer myself I kind of understand if they did at one time believe in crony capitalism/Reaganism.
We were brought up in a time that America was the “shining city on the hill” That we were the greatest country in the world. And that’s the only way that to be successful in life was to believe in capitalism. Well at least they’re brand of capitalism.
I tell you. Reagan did so much damage to my generation.
Good work. I think they are, like many Americans, passing through the fog and seeing that while Capitalism is the dominant system in the world, that doesn't make it a good system. Changing it is something that is increasingly difficult.
I don't need Better Help. Seeing that shirt of yours perked me right up.
Matt and Trey have always been pragmatists above everything else. They judge events with logic rather than frameworks, traditions or ideologies, and that's why this was the perfect commentary on modern capitalism. Despite the fact that the actions of corporations might be legal and fitting into the idea of free market and libertarianism, it just feels very wrong and immoral. That's why south park can go from admitting manbearpig is not real to accepting it's real to manbearpig has become just another marketing campaing for companies
I'd add that the corporatist version of capitalism as the one true god is a not so subtle framing. Even the USSR had black markets. Co-operatives are capitalist. It is an excluded middle of choices, with this repackaged version of Malthus also not impressing.
You can't just stop at denouncing "capitalist mentality" i.e. the drive for profit and growth. It's naturally selected for by the market to be the mentality of the most powerful people on earth. We need to change the incentive structures that give rise to the mentality, not just denounce it.
Factos 👍
Personal profit motivates all human action, not just that of the wealthy and powerful .
@@robertmartin6800 Not entirely. The average wage dependent person is more directly inclined towards meeting their own needs by virtue of their economic position. That's why it's hardest to get a cab on rainy nights when profit maximization would dictate that's when drivers should be the most eager to work. Only once you start making your living mostly off of capital i.e. the labor of others does the logic of
1. Have needs
2. Sell labor power for money
3. Spend money on necessities
get supplanted by the need to outgrow the competition i.e. to maximize profit. Having more money (capital) than your capitalist peers is infinitely more important for your survival than having more money than your employee peers.
Of course, by virtue of literally owning all major private media, capitalists who are economically more inclined towards "greed" get to disseminate their ideology to everyone, so you're right in that it's not strictly a capitalist-only problem.
@@TheJayman213 Workers labor to meet their needs, i.e they work for profit. If there was no profit in a worker's labor, he would not perform that labor freely and of his own volition. It's harder to get a cab in the rain because nobody wants to walk in the rain and all the cabs are taken. Cabbies don't sit in traffic all day talking to strangers because they like doing it, they do it because they want money. If they didn't think they'd make money doing it, they wouldn't do it.
@@robertmartin6800 Yeah, but we're not talking about whether people acquire money, we're talking about whether people make acquiring money their goal. As I said, to the average worker, money is no more the thing they want to maximize than calories are. They need some to survive and that's it.
(Cabbies literally work fewer hours on rainy nights on average, it's not just that there's more people taking cabs, which would lead to longer wait times even if the drivers put in more hours on rainy nights).
Talking about who makes money in a capitalist society is like talking about who eats or drinks. Of course everybody does. But there are those who are forced to do it and those who seem to view it as an end in itself. To parody your stance a little: "Gluttony is a universal problem because everybody eats".
No, it was not about capitalism but about the specific issues presented....
@CK Lim this statement implies you think liberals are against capitalism
9:47 Would be interested in reading more about 19th century Japan's "Culture of Contraction". Do you have any recommendations?
I figured they were starting to have doubts about capitalist ideology when they aired the Marxist box episode.
S22E9 "Unfulfilled"
“Alright everyone, today we’re going to talk about the dangers of capitalism. But first, my sponsor, Better Help.”
K.
"Capitalist production, therefore, develops technology, and the combining together of various processes into a social whole, only by sapping the original sources of all wealth - the soil and the labourer."
- _Capital_ Vol I, Ch 15 (Machinery and Modern Industry), Sec 10 (Modern Industry and Agriculture) - concluding sentence of a whole breakdown of how this happens
oh did they.
Before i watch this, no, they Matt and Tray are still libertarian. the one thing holding them back.
LMAO looks like someone's butthurt about other people opinions
The Malthusian environmentalist take on endless economic growth relative to limited resources to sustain our consumptions have been played over and over again in history but: 1) this argument have always been wrong and 2) it have been used to harm disenfranchised groups, populations and countries. Finally, I'll conclude on what we should focus on when thinking about growth, our economy and it relationships with resources.
First, Malthus and his students don't understand that economic growth is not just an expansive process - i.e. expanding the amount of resource needed - but also an intensive process - i.e. doing more with the same or less resources. The intensive process really just mean higher productivity - the real engine of our economy - usually created via innovation, higher education, better organization and automation. For example, some farmers have found innovative way to deal with drought and maintain yield despite lower amount of rain. Hence, resources is not the real limit to growth but rather our ability to make the most out of the resource we have.
Two, the negative impact of Malthusian thinking is well documented. Mathus original text was used to advocate for not providing aid to the Irish during the 1845 to 1849 great famine as the British refused to send food and help based on Malthusian principle. More recently, The Population Bomb by Ehrlich, which follows the same logic as Malthus and their environmentalist kin, was used to push for forced sterilization program.
On a positive note, we have to realize that the world economy is largely service driven. Services account for 64% of the world GDP (World Bank). These services are not supported by deep resource consumptions but by long-term infrastructure investments, good organization and, very largely, human workers. By looking at the economy beyond what we see with our eyes - the stuff in our human life we tend to focus too much on due to our physical self - we can see continued growth opportunities with low resource expenditures thanks to the service sectors: from healthcare and education, to the internet, insurance, hairdresser, dog-walker, streaming services, entertainment, video games and etc.
Nope, there are hard limits.
m.th-cam.com/video/wGt4XwBbCvA/w-d-xo.html
It’s a long video, but the idea that ‘the service economy’ is a way around those limits is addressed.
Nice video man and south park is so awesome :]
When did “Streaming Wars” drop?
Thanks
Thank god you guys finally said it. Capitalism will destroy itself and us eventually.
Go live in cuba , there are zero evil capitalists there
so what is the better system you propose?
Not true.
Wisecrack was better with Jared.
Nah
@@ryancarroll2886 Yeah
Thank you for the existential crisis wisecrack.
Traditional Riparian rights to water were upended with cowboy economics, mostly by mining operations, during the westard expansion of the U.S. and it's been downhill ever since. At least Reagan's dead.
South Park is anti-everything and very funny about it
Has south park ever been that pro capitalist
The creators are libertarians who hate regulation and love free market capitalism by definition
Yes, they literally made 1.4 billion just in streaming rights.
It'd be impossible for South Park to properly critique American culture without delving into the free-market capitalism that powers nearly all of it. Even if they weren't aware of it, they were interpreting an effects of an economic system severely in need of reworking, and readily encourages selfish, unsustainable behavior.
Hottake of the century: Capitalism is only bad when i don't profit from it.