Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
At the American Independent News Network, we focus on what we call impact journalism -- stories that can lead to some positive action to change something for the better. And what more impact could you get than this?
On Feb. 23, I broke a story about how the Senate Armed Services Committee determined that Blackwater employees in Afghanistan signed for hundreds of AK-47s and pistols using the name "Eric Cartman," evidently a reference to the popular "South Park" character.On March 17 -- which Dave Weigel tells me is the season premiere -- "South Park" will show Eric Cartman signing for the guns.
It's one thing to help get a bill passed with your timely reporting, or to motivate an organization to start lobbying for a necessary change; it's quite another to have one of your stories turn in to a South Park episode. Here's the scene:
Oh my god! They killed Spencer!
Politics
Comments
I love South Park. I wish we could get it on the Internet here in Germany. It's on MTV here (or was) but it just doesn't sound right in German.
Posted by: Equisetum | March 11, 2010 12:36 PM
@Equisetum
There are... other... ways of getting it on the internets, you know.
Posted by: Ivan | March 11, 2010 12:40 PM
I'm a devoted South Park fan. I was surprised several years ago to find there were others like me when they named a subset of the audience "South Park Republicans". I doubt many of them remain in the party.
Posted by: Michael Heath | March 11, 2010 1:07 PM
Equisetum, I think it would be a blast to hear South Park in German. Too many years ago (Brandt war noch Bundeskanzler) I spent a summer there, being a Gastarbeiter in a brewery, and got to watch a bit of German TV. Dragnet was a gas -- but the German title of the show was Polizeibericht. Talk about not sounding right . . .
What's the German title for South Park?
Posted by: JPS, FCD | March 11, 2010 2:43 PM
I always got a kick out of seeing Hogan's Heroes in German. Apparently, it was (and still is) hugely popular.
Posted by: FastLane | March 11, 2010 3:30 PM
"It's on MTV here (or was) but it just doesn't sound right in German."
What do they do when the English dialog talks about a "German scheisse video"?
Posted by: Jon H | March 11, 2010 3:31 PM
Since South Park is the proper name of a town, it's still called South Park in Germany. Clips auf Deutsch are available here.
However, if it had been a town in Germany I believe it would have been called Südwiese. The word "park" does exist in German. So one would be tempted to call it Südpark. However, in English the word "park," in the context of to mountainous terrain, refers to a large area of relatively flat land, a mountain meddow, as demonstrated in this relief map of Estes Park, CO. So I think the best fit in German would be wiese which means meddow, hence Südwiese. But I'd be interested to hear from a native speaker.
Posted by: Abby Normal | March 11, 2010 3:42 PM
Shouldn't we be giving American-made weapons to Xe and the other contractors? Provide them some proper Christian rifles (or at least gun sights).
Posted by: kehrsam | March 11, 2010 3:43 PM
Abby, I don't think South Park exists -- at least, I don't believe that there's a town with that name. South Park refers to the valley between the San Luis Valley and Middle Park. IIRC, Alma and Fairplay are in South Park. But if there's a town, I've never spotted it on a map.
Posted by: psweet | March 11, 2010 3:57 PM
psweet, you are correct that South Park is not a real town. That's why I used a map of Estes Park to deomonstrate what a park is. I was just saying that if it was a town and that town was in Germany and it was similarly named for it's geological surroundings, meddow would fit better than park.
Posted by: Abby Normal | March 11, 2010 4:23 PM
Michael@3 -- The guy who first introduced me to South Park (before the show first aired, he had gotten a copy of the "Christmas Card" that turned into the pilot) was and still is a die-hard Republican, and is till a big South Park fan.
Posted by: Dave | March 11, 2010 5:11 PM
The "german scheisse film" would be translated as "Das franzoezishe merde film."
Posted by: wrpd | March 11, 2010 6:11 PM
I know plenty of people in real life of a Republican bent that love South Park. The show rails on liberals quite a bit, and don't forget they made Team America, which was an epic bash-the-Hollywood-liberals fest.
South Park has its moments, but I'm more of a Family Guy person.
Posted by: AL | March 12, 2010 12:31 AM
Gosh, I remember reading an article a while back that described the problem with 'parody' humor when it has a political bent. Regardless of whether or not that bent was conservative or liberal, liberals and conservatives tend to view it through the spectrum of their ideology. So, I watch this clip and think it's both funny and sad that something *this* ludicrous could actually happen, but ringwing-nuts who love guns think this is funny because some cartoon character got to sign out a bunch of guns and go blow shit up with it. It also explains how there are actually a lot of young Republicans who are able to watch shows like the Colbert Report and find it funny... they DO find it funny, but for vastly different reasons that we do. The humor for them, as I understood it, was not the parody.
If anyone remembers the article I'm talking about... feel free to reply with a link. I'd love to read it again. Wished I bookmarked it. I actually wouldn't be surprised if it came here or somewhere similar to begin with.
Posted by: Ryan | March 12, 2010 12:35 AM
South Park IS a REAL town, it's outside of the Denver/Boulder area, up in the mountains. I lived in Denver for the summer, and was surprised to find out that this town WAS real! Many of the little towns up there look like the one on the show, too.
ALSO- You can watch South Park in Germany, the same way I do in Mexico. Get a VPN with a US address, it's great for anonymity! Google "cheap VPN", lots come up. Not free, but totally worth the $9.
Staceyjw
Posted by: Staceyjw | March 12, 2010 2:20 AM
South Park exists as a valley, not a town. However, Fairplay used to be known as "South Park City".
Posted by: JakeS | March 12, 2010 9:34 AM
Hi Abby, thanks for answering my question to Equisetum.
Dig a hole, dig a hole in the meadow,
Dig a hole in the cold, cold ground.
Dig a hole, dig a hole in the meadow,
Gonna lay little Kenny down . . .
Posted by: JPS, FCD | March 12, 2010 10:48 AM
Signing for them???
B-b-but that is communism!
Posted by: H P | March 12, 2010 12:36 PM