# South Park 12/7 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625 "2005-12-08T04:37:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/21 "2005-12-09T20:12:08Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Is the Catholic League the group that’s run by idiot, Bill Donohue? From what I understand, that group does not have any official sanction from the RCC. It’s just a fringe group run by a raving, anti-semitic crackpot. Donohue is an embarrasment to the Church. I think the vatican likes to pretend he doesn’t exist. Unfortunately, he gets trotted out on news shows all the time as if he’s some kind of legitimate spokesperson for Catholics. [http://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=Catholic+League+Bill+Donohue&btnG=Search](http://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=Catholic+League+Bill+Donohue&btnG=Search) Yes it would seem to be the same [Catholic League](http://www.catholicleague.org/). [South Park link](http://www.catholicleague.org/05press_releases/quarter%204/051208_south_park.htm) No comments from me: just links for others. Jim ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/22 "2005-12-09T20:13:37Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Is the Catholic League the group that’s run by idiot, Bill Donohue? Yeah. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic\_League\_(USA)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_League_%28USA%29) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/23 "2005-12-09T20:27:47Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > [http://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=Catholic+League+Bill+Donohue&btnG=Search](http://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=Catholic+League+Bill+Donohue&btnG=Search) > > Yes it would seem to be the same [Catholic League](http://www.catholicleague.org/). > > [South Park link](http://www.catholicleague.org/05press_releases/quarter%204/051208_south_park.htm) > > No comments from me: just links for others. > > Jim Thanks. I thought it was the same guy. Just so there’s no confusion. The Catholic League does not speak for the RCC. Iknow that no one has yet suggested otherwise, I’m just saying this preemptively. It is not the actual Church which is making this noise, it’s just a self-appointed defender of the Church. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingCowOfDoom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyingcowofdoom/32/21776_2.png) [@FlyingCowOfDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingCowOfDoom)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/24 "2005-12-09T20:33:51Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’m always amazed, however, at how quickly they turn these out. The [bleeding Virgin](http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10237371/) in Sacramento was just in the news last week and is already on an episode. On some special about South Park I saw Trey and Matt explained that the software that animates the show is so advanced that they can produce an entire episode in about five days. Amazing. –FCOD ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/25 "2005-12-09T20:43:14Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Thanks. I thought it was the same guy. Just so there’s no confusion. The Catholic League does not speak for the RCC. Iknow that no one has yet suggested otherwise, I’m just saying this preemptively. It is not the actual Church which is making this noise, it’s just a self-appointed defender of the Church. I know nothing about them, so I don’t want to comment. I understand there point on this, but it makes them look stupid to treat South Park seriously. **What South Park does best is push peoples buttons**. As I pointed out earlier, we all have sore spots, mine was an Orca lying dead on the moon, but I would hardly advocate protesting it. Strangely, they didn’t pick on Tolkien Fanatics and actual seem to send a message that we are okay. In the same episode they slammed Harry Potter Fans. Few groups escape unscathed once South Park’s attention is drawn to them. Jim ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/26 "2005-12-09T20:59:04Z")
> [@gatopescado](#): > > But why did Marsh leave the car and walk home? He hadn’t started drinking yet! He’s gonna walk home, have a 12-pack then wonder where his car is. He’ll just end up walking back, drunk, then driving it home! 😃 He had already been drinking; he started drinking (as did many of the AA participants) when he heard that the statue wasn’t a miracle and decided he wasn’t cured and was helpless to resist alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/27 "2005-12-10T01:38:04Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Thanks. I thought it was the same guy. Just so there’s no confusion. The Catholic League does not speak for the RCC. Iknow that no one has yet suggested otherwise, I’m just saying this preemptively. It is not the actual Church which is making this noise, it’s just a self-appointed defender of the Church. I believe the saying is, “with friends like this who needs enemies”. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/28 "2005-12-10T01:41:59Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > As I pointed out earlier, we all have sore spots, mine was an Orca lying dead on the moon, but I would hardly advocate protesting it. > > Jim That part bothered me too for some reason. Up until that, it had been all laughs but when the dead whale was lying on the moon, it felt like an “aw shit” moment. I know it’s just a cartoon, but that one bit fell flat for me (I had been rooting for the whale). But, I won’t stop watching just because of that. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/29 "2005-12-10T02:13:23Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > That part bothered me too for some reason. Up until that, it had been all laughs but when the dead whale was lying on the moon, it felt like an “aw shit” moment. I know it’s just a cartoon, but that one bit fell flat for me (I had been rooting for the whale). But, I won’t stop watching just because of that. very 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/30 "2005-12-10T03:45:52Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > That part bothered me too for some reason. Up until that, it had been all laughs but when the dead whale was lying on the moon, it felt like an “aw shit” moment. I know it’s just a cartoon, but that one bit fell flat for me (I had been rooting for the whale). But, I won’t stop watching just because of that. me three the thing is - by now South Park has got a very specific reputation as making irreverence seem like a Sunday afternoon picnic. Watch it at your own risk. Why then, knowing this (and if they don’t, that’s their own problem, not the rest of the world’s) would the CL even watch South Park? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/31 "2005-12-10T05:34:08Z")
Why was the alien in the background of that one scene? > [@Sean Factotum](#): > > Parker & Stone rely on exaggeration and take things to a ridiculous extremeto drive home the point. “This is what Scientologists actually believe.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/32 "2005-12-10T08:42:55Z")
On the subject of addiction and AA, Penn & Teller took on AA in an [episode](http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/topics.do?topic=12) of their show “Bullshit!” Apparently AA keeps their stats pretty close to the chest, but according to the best numbers P&T could get hold of, the success rate for people who go to AA meetings is about 5%. The figure for people who try to quit _without_ AA, just going cold turkey on their own? About 5%. Not to say there’s no value in having a social support group and so on; of course it’s possible that the 5% of AA attendees who successfully quit wouldn’t have done it on their own. Nonetheless, it’s a sobering statistic. (I am _so funny_.) ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/33 "2005-12-10T08:55:43Z")
Can I just say one thing about the transexual episode? Was I the only one who DIDN’T see it as a slam agaist transgendered people? I saw it as a slam against this current trend of plastic surgery. Several years go, if you wanted to get a tummy tuck or boob job, it wouldn’t be nearly as easy as it is today. You’d talk with the doc several times to make sure you were 100% POSITIVE you wanted this life altering surgery. But nowadays, it’s closer to a department store makeover. You go in, say “give me this”, and walk out a few days later with new boobs/ a new face. The whole point of Mr. Garrison becoming a woman was satirizing the plastic surgey trend, and showing the ridiculous extreme that this could go towards, someone who obvoiusly is not ready nor really wants/needs this most extreme of pastic surgery, yet is still able to get it extermely easily. That was just my take on the episode. Obviously, if you feel different about it, I can’t change your mind, I just wanted to get that idea out there. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/34 "2005-12-10T09:24:14Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > On the subject of addiction and AA, Penn & Teller took on AA in an [episode](http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/topics.do?topic=12) of their show “Bullshit!” Apparently AA keeps their stats pretty close to the chest, but according to the best numbers P&T could get hold of, the success rate for people who go to AA meetings is about 5%. > > The figure for people who try to quit _without_ AA, just going cold turkey on their own? About 5%. > > Not to say there’s no value in having a social support group and so on; of course it’s possible that the 5% of AA attendees who successfully quit wouldn’t have done it on their own. Nonetheless, it’s a sobering statistic. (I am _so funny_.) Well…Its not so much that they keep their stats close as they dont really have any. Its an anonymous organization that doesnt really keep any records and nobody is ever really considered “cured” . From what I understand the study they quoted in that episode was pretty well debunked decades ago. Nobody really knows how effective AA is. I’m not a member but I thought that episode of bullshit was, well, bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/35 "2005-12-10T11:01:13Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Why was the alien in the background of that one scene? They have those aliens stashed all around the series, at least one per episode. I found a website once that catalogued them and they’re usually so subtle that you never see them unless you’re _really_ looking hard. This one just wasn’t that subtle. ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/36 "2005-12-10T12:56:36Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > They have those aliens stashed all around the series, at least one per episode. I found a website once that catalogued them and they’re usually so subtle that you never see them unless you’re _really_ looking hard. > > This one just wasn’t that subtle. I found that odd that there was an alien in the window ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/37 "2005-12-10T16:52:59Z")
> [@bdgr](#): > > Well…Its not so much that they keep their stats close as they dont really have any. Its an anonymous organization that doesnt really keep any records and nobody is ever really considered “cured”. > _\_ > Nobody really knows how effective AA is. And that was much of their problem with the organization. The details are so sketchy that nobody can even tell if it works or not. They used the best information they had, which was practically nothing. > [@](#): > > From what I understand the study they quoted in that episode was pretty well debunked decades ago. Did they even cite a specific study? There have been many studies done on spontaneous remission of drug and alcohol addiction. [Here](http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0978/is_3_26/ai_65803046) is an analysis of dozens of studies on the subject. Unfortunately none of them were truly large-scale studies, so, while the analysis says that spontaneous recovery is not at all uncommon, it remains a poorly understood and under-researched phenomenon. I’m not sure which study Penn & Teller’s 5% figure came from, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable. P&T’s main beef with AA was the religious nature of the organization, and the SoCaS issues involved in sentencing perpetrators of alcohol-related crimes to attend meetings. They also pointed out that if alcoholism is indeed a disease, as AA claims it to be, then why are they using God to treat it? How many other legitimate medical treatments require that? How many legitimate treatments have remained entirely unimproved on and unstudied in the last seventy years of medical science, despite not even having a clue as to their efficacy? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/38 "2005-12-10T18:41:01Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > Randy is a wuss Hey, Randy and Gerald just _watched_ each other in the hot tub. That doesn’t mean he’s a wuss. A serious alcoholic, yes. But not a wuss. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/39 "2005-12-10T18:46:31Z")
> [@neutron star](#): > > P&T’s main beef with AA was the religious nature of the organization, and the SoCaS issues involved in sentencing perpetrators of alcohol-related crimes to attend meetings. > > They also pointed out that if alcoholism is indeed a disease, as AA claims it to be, then why are they using God to treat it? How many other legitimate medical treatments require that? How many legitimate treatments have remained entirely unimproved on and unstudied in the last seventy years of medical science, despite not even having a clue as to their efficacy? Well, thats the other thing. It isn’t really a religious organization. There is a section in the book (I’m going from memory here, I worked in a psych hospital but its been a couple of decades) about how you can still work the program and be an atheist. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625/40 "2005-12-10T18:51:19Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Can I just say one thing about the transexual episode? > > Was I the only one who DIDN’T see it as a slam agaist transgendered people? . I pretty much agree. When I talked it over with a friend, she said that she thought it was supposed to make fun of stuff like “Nip/Tuck” the the plastic surgery industry in general. And the fact that Mr. Garrison is hardly a spokesperson for any group and arguably should be committed. He’s not an average homosexual and not an average transexual, but seems to be on the nutty fringe of both groups. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-12-7/334625.md?page=3)