South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias

I've been a big fan of South Park for years - their brand of irreverent foul-mouthed humor hits a nerve with me I guess. However, I never really thought of that cartoon as a particularly pointed political satire. Maybe because I generally agreed with most of what they had to say, so it did not seem that they were going out on a limb with their message. Then some months ago I got an e-mail from a friend that linked to the original article that coined the term "South Park Republicans." That article claimed that a new brand of conservatism is growing, especially among the younger generation. It had very little to do with the preppy, staid attitudes that were the norm of conservatives just a generation ago. Suddenly, things made a lot of sense. Although the Creators of "South Park" spare no one from their ridicule, and they don't seem to have a single coherent political agenda, with a help of hindsight it is easy to see that they have an especially low regard for the lefty activist types. Brian C. Anderson's book is not only, nor even primarily, about "South Park". And that is a good thing. When I first bought the book I was a bit apprehensive that it might get boring after a while. After all, how much can you really write about one particular aspect of one cartoon series? Luckily, Anderson focuses mostly on the subtitle of the book, and in a very detailed and well researched exposition demonstrates how the rise of new media outlets is evening the field for the conservatives. "South Park Conservatives" is a very well written book, and an invaluable resource and a reference for other sources of conservative opinion.

As I was reading this book I felt as if there was finally a member of the older generation who "got" the mindset of the average young adult in America today. There are many topics covered in this book such as the emergence of talk radio, the blogosphere, and Fox News, as well the rise of conservative books and the arrogance and pomposity of the elite media, all of which Anderson details quite well. However, the portions of this book that he absolutely nails are the ones dealing with conservative inroads in both academia and entertainment. I am 24 years old and am a 2003 graduate of a "elite" university. When I was a senior in college the Iraq war had just begun, and the first shots had not even been fired before the left wing reactionary faculty had begun describing the conflict as another Vietnam and a hopeless situation that we would never get out of. Anyone who dared challenge their point of view was callously dismissed by the professor and/or laughed at by his or her obidient and grade-grubbing classmates without even retorting his or her points or engaging their ideas without the words "racist", "facist", "Hitler", or "war monger" entering the ever so sophisitcated world of left-wing debate on college campuses. Anderson details the accounts of many young college conservatives at schools such as Princeton, Cornell, Yale, Harvard, NYU, Columbia, and Berkeley as they battle their left wing professors and often times have to hide their beliefs in their academic work due to fear of retribution in the grade book. However, this is not a "woe is me tale" as Anderson illustrates the rise in the of conservative influence through the emergence of new conservative school newspapers, increased membership in conservative political organizations on campus, and polling data which indicates that more and more students are falling in line with the Republican point of view. Anderson touched on affirmative action for a few pages, perhaps he should have paid more attention to it, as I feel one of the biggest reasons why more and more young people are becoming conservative is because of the outright robberies that occur in admissions offices all across this nation every year due to this disastrous policy. This was touched on at modest length and I believe deserved an entire chapter to set up the chapter about the rise of conservatism in the ivory echo chamber. Finally, the section on South Park and other new forms of entertainment with an "anti-PC" edge was brilliant. Anderson explains how the writers of South Park, Dennis Miller, and Colin Quinn among others have tapped into a chord among a generation that despite Hollywood and the elite media's best efforts, thoroughly rejects political correctness and the "blame America first" crowd. Anderson recounts hilarious examples of Reiner, Garafalo, Robbins, Sarandon, Moore, and others being mocked by these newfound comedic talents and the commercial market driven successes that have derived from it. This book

With style, wit and meticulous reporting, South Park Conservatives has clarified for me the dangers of a biased media. Until I read this book, I did not fully understand the implications of distortions in the press. We cannot make informed decisions without balance in news reporting. Mr. Anderson gives us a well researched understanding of how all this is changing.

First, let me say that the chapter on anti-liberal political humor in South Park Conservatives is hilarious-one of the funniest things I've read in age! With rich examples, Anderson shows the subversive genius of South Park's creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and gives the reader an excellent sense of what comedians like Nick Di Paolo and Colin Quinn, and talk show host Dennis Miller, are up to in their humor. The chapter is worth the price of the book. But there is lots more of interest in South Park Conservatives, which provides a clear-eyed view, expressed in reader-friendly, punchy prose, of the remarkable shifts in media and culture that are undermining liberal control of the institutions of information and argument. Want to know why liberals aren't good at talk radio? Read the chapter on the rise of conservative talk radio and find out. Anderson's take on how the blogosphere is transforming politics-drawing on extensive interviews with everyone from Andrew Sullivan to Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit)-is a model of lucid analysis (plus, it's pretty funny too, except maybe to CBS News and Dan Rather). The chapter on Fox News, also based on behind-the-scenes interviews, in this case with Fox people like Sean Hannity and Dick Morris, offers lessons both liberals and conservatives can learn from. The final chapter, on the rising conservatism-or at least anti-liberalism-of college kids, is fascinating, in part because so the reader encounters so many interesting student voices. One last thing about this book should be noted: it's a real triumph of reporting. So few books, by conservatives or liberals, feature any reporting these days. One of the pleasures of South Park Conservatives is the thickness of detail-everything from Neilson ratings to off-the-cuff remarks by comedian Colin Quinn about PC critics. You come away from the book knowing a lot more.

Brian Anderson has, in honest and fair detail, provided me with hope that my children (and my husband and I) will experience a far healthier media environment than that to which I was exposed growing up. South Park Conservatives is factual and capably written. It is good to know, as Anderson reports from the "inside", that a new, less Left-dominated, era is dawning on our editorial pages, on the airwaves, on campus, and through the Internet. I found the book to be illuminating and a quick read. As a person whose interests customarily lie beyond politics, I am happy that I found a book on the topic that was so compelling and eminently readable. Hats off to Mr. Anderson!