Have you ever sat in your car for 10 minutes, 20, or even 30 minutes after arriving at your destination because there’s something interesting on NPR (national public radio)? I find myself doing this frequently. The other day it happened while I was going to buy groceries. Fresh Air was interviewing Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park. I ended up sitting in my car at the Hannaford parking lot for a good 15 minutes so I could listen to the whole show.

I have to say I have a new found respect for the show. Although there are quite a few tasteless and quite morbid episodes I don’t much care for, their ability to keep with with current events and sneak them into their shows is astonishing.

“We come in on a Thursday and then that episode airs the next Wednesday. And so in our show what happens that week ends up going on in the show.”

The NPR fresh air interview made me appreciate another thing, the show almost always manages to take a 3rd perspective on any issue. For instance the Terri Shiavo episode; will Kenny continue to live through a feeding tube, or die? The two obvious sides are presented for what they are when near the end a third perspective appears in Kenny’s letter stating something to the effect “If I should be left as a vegetable in a coma, for gods sake don’t show me on national television”. This is fascinating. In the real world, the only perspective taken by the media is the one that will generate the highest ratings; and not often is the south park “third perspective” even realized by a majority of people. Does anyone remember the South Park Boy Scout episode? Near the end of the episode, a similar third perspective appears.

For the full NPR fresh air interview, click here