The Smug Cloud
March 30th, 2006 | by steve |Trey Parker and Matt Stone nailed it last night. Last night’s episode really identified the side of liberalism I despise. Smug. Elitistism.
For those who don’t get Comedy Central. The episode starts with Kyle’s Dad driving a Prius and going all over town and telling everyone else that they are polluting the environment by not driving a hybrid. THIS TOTALLY HAPPENS IN REAL LIFE!!! I have witnessed it personally on numerous occasions. There is a guy down the street, I mentioned before in another post here, that smiled with his eyes closed when he was getting out of his Prius and saw me in the Hummer. He shook his head in total disbelief of what he was seeing. I just gave him the ‘Piss Off’ look.
Next on the show, Kyle’s dad moves the family from South Park to San Francisco to be with “their own kind.” A town full of smug people driving small cars that are “above” any small town folk in the midwest. The Broflosky’s then meet these elitist and become friends. The kids all have hyphenated names. The people are overtly political about their cars and pollution. THIS TOTALLY IS TRUE IN REAL LIFE.
The story breaks down with a “smug cloud” that forms in South Park with everyone driving hybrids, that joins the already big one in San Francisco. Then there is a small smug cloud released from George Clooney’s speech at the Oscars that joins the bigger cloud, creating a “prefect smug” storm. Cartman has to wear a space suit to decend into South Park to save Kyle. He is saving Kyle because he has no one to pick on. He wears the suit because he doesn’t want to set foot in the city. There are many people who feel this way about San Francisco
Now I love San Francisco to death… I was a born there. I am a huge Giant fan. I love the restaurants, especially North Beach Restaurant on Columbus. I love the hills, racing my Porsche down Lombard, the Golden Gate Bridge, Metallica, the Exploritorium and Union Square at Christmas. But dude, the people. The protests. The fact there is a non-existent Republican party in a city with the one of the highest housing values in the nation, one of the highest per capita incomes and just average charity giving in top 25 metro areas.(Note: San Diego leads and is a red city.) The whole caring, anti-war, environmentalist attitude looks like total bullshit when you look at their lifestyles of wine and cheese, fancy imported food and designer homes. Such hatred. These people live in a total vacuum, a bubble. How true South Park and it’s creators are in this take on smugness.
4 Responses to “The Smug Cloud”
By ken grandlund on Mar 30, 2006 | Reply
Steve- Just a note about your “charity giving” links- the website you cite does not measure giving from the local populations, it merely measures the financial practices of the charities themselves. I live in San Diego county and know that people do give quite a bit down here, but I don’t know that we can claim to be the most generous charity givers around. Don’t even know if there are stats that measure that kind of thing.
As for smugness and elitism, while many “high brow” intellectuals tend to lean left, there certainly is plenty of smugness and elitism on the other side of the aisle. I have plenty of friends and acquaintances on both sides of the political spectrum, and among wealthy republicans, there is a lot of that “let them eat cake” mentality too. And you want to talk smug? Just one word- DeLay. That guy is about as smug as it gets.
So while there are kernels of truth in your claims that liberals can be smug and elite, so too can conservatives. Especially the ultra-religious. I mean how elite and smug can you be when you insist that everyone who does not follow your religious dogma is going to burn for all eternity?
Such hatred…living in a bubble…sounds a lot like a Bush Family reunion.
By steve on Mar 30, 2006 | Reply
True Ken, but my article was mainly about Frisco and people who drive Priuses. Those lefties are the one’s that make it so hard to embrace liberalism at any level. I guess it is kinda like Delay and the religious right from your perspective.
By Ann on Mar 31, 2006 | Reply
Steve: I read your other post before I read this one and all I can say is: HA! Pot - kettle - black!!
By mr skin on Oct 16, 2006 | Reply
So Clooney is thinking about running for office? I know he’s pretty politically active, but with his party past I can’t see him going far.