The Downside of South Park

South Park is a cartoon shown on Comedy Central. It is known to be very vulgar and controversial. This television show is found humorous by most, but it also is offensive to many. Although it's older audience is unaffected by the show's humor and vulgarity, the younger viewers can be affected in a negative way. South Park is full of swearing, violence, sexual innuendo, and bad jokes, and often pokes fun at religion and minorities. This show is teaching children that hate is okay and that swearing is acceptable anytime and anywhere.

South Park also gives American families a bad reputation. It portrays lower class families as white trash alcoholics who constantly fight. The Jewish family in the show stereotypes the mother as being uptight, neurotic, and overprotective. Another family consists of a single mother with a son who is considered to be an overweight mommas boy. The family of another one of the main characters is probably the most "normal" with two parents and a son and daughter.

The show has reoccurring themes involving child abuse and neglect, animal sexuality, religion, and the environment. Some of the episodes show the characters being emotionally, physically, and even sexually abused. In early episodes of the show one of the main characters, Stan, has an older sister who is physically abusive to her brother and his friends. Another character's parents are constantly making him overachieve, and at one point in the show even attempted to sell him to Paris Hilton. The character Eric Cartman has been shown on several occasions as a target of attempted or actual sexual abuse. The theme of animal sexuality throughout the show can be rather disturbing. In one episode in particular, Kenny and Cartman are tricked by older boys into manually pleasuring a dog by