South Park, Cato Institute, and Big Tobacco profits.

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South Park, Cato Institute, and Big Tobacco profits.

Postby Hugh Manatee Wins » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:05 am

Reason Magazine (linked to the right-wing/libertarian Cato Institute) is having an event in Amsterdam that seems to be an intersection of Operation Mockingbird (Time), anti-liberal youth marketers (South Park), and <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Big Tobacco (UST Public Affairs, Inc.).</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Looks to me like using the example of anti-prohibition Amsterdam to tell South Park-loving and liberal-hating American youth "Thank You for Smoking" (ah, another recent non-subliminal movie) is the motivation for this confluence of trendy right-wing culture warriors. <br><br>Anyone else read the interview with South Park's creators at the time of 'Team America'? They genuinely can't stand "rich liberal actors who bad mouth America," just like in the movie. They are I-got-mine-and-so-did-you-so-shut-up Republicans pretending to be iconoclastic social critics.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>And that makes them perfect allies for the "Just Smoke It" pseudo-liberatarian marketeers of state-sanctioned taxable addiction.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>I noticed that one of the 'Gold Sponsors' of the event is <br>UST Public Affairs, Inc. and that spells US Smokeless Tobacco which gave over a half-million to the Republican Party over the last few years.<br><br>This is one of the most interesting lists of attendees I've ever seen.<br><br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.reason.org/images/reasonamsterdam_sm.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br>http://www.reason.org/events/<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Reason in Amsterdam, 2006<br><br>The Grand Amsterdam Hotel<br>August 23-26, 2006<br><br>With Trey Parker and Matt Stone,<br>creators of the hit show South Park,<br>Time magazine's Andrew Sullivan, Reason magazine Editor-in-Chief Nick Gillespie, and Reason Senior Editor Jacob Sullum<br><br>REGISTER NOW!<br><br>Join Reason in Amsterdam for a three-day conference on the contemporary struggle for freedom in Europe, featuring:<br><br><br>» <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park, which George Foster Peabody Award judges recently labeled “TV's boldest, most politically incorrect satirical series” in awarding them a Peabody</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>» <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Andrew Sullivan, Time blogger, columnist and author of the forthcoming book The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It; How to Get It Back<br>» Ronald Bailey, science correspondent, Reason magazine and author, Liberation Biology</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>» Bruce Bawer, While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within<br>» Boudewijn Bouckaert, President, Nova Civitas (Belgium)<br>» Jerry Cameron, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (USA)<br>» Peter Cohen, Ph.D., retired Director of the Centre for Drug Research at the University of Amsterdam<br>» <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Veronique de Rugy, resident fellow, American Enterprise Institute</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>» Nick Gillespie, Reason magazine Editor-in-Chief and editor of Choice: The Best of Reason<br>» <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Andrei Illarionov, former economic advisor to Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>» Mart Laar, former Prime Minister of Estonia<br>» Julian Morris, Executive Director, International Policy Network (UK)<br>» Johan Norberg, In Defense of Global Capitalism<br>» David Nott, President of Reason Foundation<br>» Ján Oravec, President, F.A. Hayek Foundation, Bratislava (Slovakia)<br>» <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Tom G. Palmer, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute and Director, Cato University</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>» Natašha Srdoc-Samy, President, Adriatic Institute for Public Policy (Croatia)<br>» Carlo Stagnaro, Istituto Bruno Leoni (Italy)<br>» Jacob Sullum, Senior Editor, Reason magazine and author of Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use<br>» <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Kyle Wingfield, editorial page writer, Wall Street Journal Europe (Belgium)</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Amidst the beauty of Amsterdam's canals, flower markets and colorful people, attendees of Reason in Amsterdam, 2006 will enjoy a unique opportunity to learn about the contemporary struggle in Europe from prominent European and American intellectuals.<br><br>Reason in Amsterdam 2006 Lead Sponsors:<br><br>Platinum Sponsors:<br>Richard J. Dennis<br>William and Rebecca Dunn<br>Kenneth and Frayda Levy<br>The Donald and Paula Smith Family Foundation<br>Fred and Sandra Young<br><br>Gold Sponsors:<br>George F. Ohrstrom<br>John and Karen Stagliano<br>Kerry Welsh<br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>UST Public Affairs, Inc.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Silver Sponsor:<br>James D. Jameson<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>You know how I stumbled on this Legal Drug event?<br><br>I was tracking down a disinformation smear against Joan Baez from 2004 which grotesquely spins the fact that her father was an MK-ULTRA scientist at Cornell plus she remembers ritual abuse (totally true) into a fallacious tale of her going into minstrel-show lingo in the middle of a concert as one of her '15 year-old black girl' multiple personalities.<br><br>I thought "who would conjure this crap up?"<br><br>Turns out it comes from Ronald Bailey, "science correspondent" for Reason magazine and his ugly fantasy is all over the right-wing internet. <br><br>I just ran into this in a nasty music periodical that is loaded with this Ann Coulter-esque and worse (CIA?) crap but masquerading as a local rock scene rag called 'The California Herald.' All anti-liberal, anti-woman, anti-hippy, anti-Michael Moore, anti-Neil Young, anti-George Clooney, anti-Che Guevara, you get the idea.<br><br>http://www.reason.com/links/links110404.shtml<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>November 4, 2004<br><br>Joan Baez and Me<br>She gwine tell de folks how dat ol' missuh prez'dent be a debbil!<br>Ronald Bailey<br><br>Charlottesville, VA—America's "culture war" was on full display last night at the Joan Baez concert. Tickets to the concert were a present to my mother-in-law for her 69th birthday. My mother-in-law certainly fit the demographic of the audience, or as she described it, "All the old hippies are out tonight." Let's just say that by attending, my wife and I dropped the average age of the audience by several months.<br><br>Sixty-three year old Baez came out on stage and asked how the audience felt about the election? Of course the audience groaned and moaned—after all, this IS a Joan Baez concert. For her part, Joan said that she felt like she had been run over by a truck. One audience member yelled, "You give us hope." Now I like a good rendition of "Joe Hill" or "Diamonds and Rust," as well as the next person and I do recognize her talent as a singer. And Baez has a perfect right to dedicate a song, as she did, to that insufferable, lying self-promoter Michael Moore, whom she praised for doing his best to save the country. Later Baez announced that she was going to sing a song that she sang only in countries that were undergoing extreme political strife. In fact, she hadn't sung it in the United States in the last 20 years. The song? "We Shall Overcome."<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>However, the most remarkable and disturbing episode occurred halfway through the concert when Joan stopped singing and announced that she had "multiple personalities." One of her multiple personalities is that of a fifteen year old poor black girl named Alice from Turkey Scratch, Arkansas. Baez decided to share with us Alice's views on the election. Amazed and horrified I watched a rich, famous, extremely white folksinger perform what can only be described as bit of minstrelsy—only the painted on blackface was missing. Alice, the black teenager from Arkansas Baez was pretending to be, spoke in a dialect so broad and thick that it would put Uncle Remus and Amos and Andy to shame. Baez' monologue was filled with phrases like, "I'se g'win ta" to do this that or the other and dropping all final "g's." Baez as Alice made statements like, "de prezident, he be a racist," and "de prezident, he got a bug fer killin'." Finally, since Bush won the election with 58.7 million votes to Kerry's 55.1 million, Alice observed, "Seems lak haf' de country be plumb crazy." Since Baez was reading Alice's notes, it is evident that she thinks that Arkansas' public schools don't teach black children to write standard English.<br><br>Once Joan finished her minstrelsy riff, the audience, in which I did not see a single black person, went wild with applause and hoots and hollers. I have never felt so embarrassed for a bunch of "liberals" in my life. I wonder where Baez got her notions of how poor black country folk talk—she couldn't be stereotyping, could she?</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Ronald Bailey is Reason's science correspondent.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: South Park, Cato Institute, and Big Tobacco profits.

Postby professorpan » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:17 pm

Interesting, Hugh, but really... is there anything new here? The (very real) Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has been well-documented. They're all pretty out in the open about their beliefs, and they have conferences, think tanks, and invited celebrities <p></p><i></i>
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Re: South Park, Cato Institute, and Big Tobacco profits.

Postby professorpan » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:25 pm

Interesting, Hugh, but really... is there anything new here? The (very real) Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has been well-documented. They're all pretty out in the open about their beliefs, and they have conferences, think tanks, and invite celebrities who share their beliefs. The tobacco industry is ginormous, and they aren't tight with their money. I'm not sure what you're gettting at.<br><br>And the Baez thing does seem a little weird. If she did start talking in faux-Black dialect, that would probably bother some of my white friends, and would definitely disturb most of my black friends. <br><br>I can understand someone being offended if it happened as stated. Why are you so sure it didn't, and that it's a smear? <p></p><i></i>
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Re: South Park, Cato Institute, and Big Tobacco profits.

Postby professorpan » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:53 pm

I do see, upon a search, that the Baez story became a big deal in the conservative blogosphere. I don't find much anywhere else. <br><br>I would imagine, though, that at least a thousand people would have seen the performance. I'd like to see more confirmation about the incident, but there's no reason to believe it's entirely made up. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: South Park, Cato Institute, and Big Tobacco profits.

Postby Hugh Manatee Wins » Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:56 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr> Interesting, Hugh, but really... is there anything new here?<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>I think it is the level of positive sanctions being bestowed on South Park's creators for their self-serving view of Imperial America.<br><br>Did you see 'Team America'?<br><br>The portrayal of anti-fascist Hollywood types as allies of North Korea's dictator who are then blown up into spattering gore is punctuated by the climactic allegory that "the world is made up of pussies, dicks, and assholes. Because their are assholes, America has to be a dick and not listen to the pussies."<br><br>South Park Imperialism and recruiting for our kids. A-hua. <br><br>Re: Did Joan Baez go minstrel or not?<br>If you think the mainstream Mockingbird press wouldn't jump on a chance to scream that Baez is a racist hypocrite, then you might still wonder if that really happened or not.<br><br>Notice the date that the story was flushed into the reich-wing echo chamber. Election 2004. Agit prop season. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: South Park, Cato Institute, and Big Tobacco profits.

Postby thurnandtaxis » Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:41 am

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I think it is the level of positive sanctions being bestowed on South Park's creators for their self-serving view of Imperial America.<br><br>Did you see 'Team America'?<br><br>The portrayal of anti-fascist Hollywood types as allies of North Korea's dictator who are then blown up into spattering gore is punctuated by the climactic allegory that "the world is made up of pussies, dicks, and assholes. Because their are assholes, America has to be a dick and not listen to the pussies."<br><br>South Park Imperialism and recruiting for our kids. A-hua. <br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>C'mon Hugh, it's FUNNY, right?<br><br>Don't want to be seen as a stodgy ol' "politically correct" greyface.<br>Laugh, laugh, it's the I-R-O-N-Y. get it?<br><br>Seriously though, I do find Parker and Stone's cynicism revolting, despite the laughter, it's just that in a world that has seen the failures<br>of both liberal and conservative democracy what is there to do other than laugh - or cry? Certainly the media gives us no other option.<br><br>Best to do without the damned distractions I say. Kill your television.<br>And starve Hollywood by boycot. But how to fill the vacuum? They <br>really don't teach kids THAT in school. Just emulate the entertainment<br>industry, or the military industry or just plain ol' industry in general.<br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: South Park, Cato Institute, and Big Tobacco profits.

Postby orz » Fri Jul 21, 2006 4:33 am

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Did you see 'Team America'?<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>While Matt & Trey clearly like to mock 'liberal' hollywood types, Team America is also a parody of parody of hollywood... remember it was originally going to be a straight remake, but with puppets, and released on the same day <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :eek --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eek.gif ALT=":eek"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> , of "The Day After Tomorrow"! I think that probably would have been funnier...<br><br>ANyway, people alas don't seem to get that Team America is as much a parody of right-wing jingoistic blockbusters as it is of left-wing actors... why I don't know?, i mean it's not exactly subtle!<br><br>But then again a lot of people didn't get that Starship Troopers was satire! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :eek --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eek.gif ALT=":eek"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>I think basically people don't understand films generally... which makes it a bit of a dangerous business making a 'controversial' one... people will take it the wrong way. i suspect matt & trey know and enjoy this. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: South Park, Cato Institute, and Big Tobacco profits.

Postby Hugh Manatee Wins » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:59 pm

Kicking away from the edge of the pages. <br><br>My op illustrates the synthesis of fascist media moguls and deadly messages for kids. <p></p><i></i>
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oh man ...

Postby Corvidaerex » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:59 am

So now the Masters of the Conspiracy are the two guys who make a funny cable cartoon and a non-profit mag read by a few thousand weirdos .... Good work! Keep this up and you'll get to the bottom of the Conspiracy in just a few hundred more years.<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/laugh.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: South Park, Cato Institute, and Big Tobacco profits.

Postby tbdp » Wed Oct 11, 2006 4:43 am

I work as a Director of Photography in the film industry, so I felt like I should comment. Hugh is actually partly correct. <br> I've worked w/ Matt and Trey. On a personal level are they are really decent guys. They treat their crew well, pay people on time and step up to the plate when some one is getting screwed by the backers and money people. However, these guys are true-blue <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>died in the wool</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> Libertarians (and all the baggage that carries). But they are not fascist. Boneheads maybe, but not fascist. <br><br> Now, here is how Hollywood (and ALL "markets" for that matter) works:<br>If the industry/money people (who do have heavy fascist tendencies) feel like there is a way to angle their policies around your storyline, you will be rewarded for it. Hence, South Park is saturated all over the media, Matt and Trey are ridiculously wealthy and have an open checkbook to basically do whatever the hell they want to do. Team America is a perfect example of this. Now, If you or I went to Lion's Gate or Dimension and said, I want to do an all puppet version of "Conspiracy of Silence" and name names in the piece... well you know what'll happen. So do Matt and Trey. Try making anyone (we're all human here) stop doing something that every tv, internet and radio program says is "brilliant, ireverant and revolutionary" since they were teenagers. Good luck. Now with the Amsterdam thing: Simple. Some guy called them up and said, we'll give you X amount of money to show up at this venue. That's really the long and the short of it. Which I think is just as dangerous as the Legion of Doom getting together and planning world domination. Banality of Evil in action...<br><br>As for "liberal" celebrities? Well. I hate to say this, but... Most mean well however they are embarrassingly under educated on the reality of things and are completely incapable of making a compelling argument. And in reality, most are not progressive. Just feeling guilty. I live in this world and please don't put your bets on people who are daily rewarded for being a part of a system that is inherently corrupt. Commandante Marcos (of Chiapas fame) was well aware of this and got them out of the picture as soon as they no longer provided any use.<br><br>I also think it’s important not to over estimate the intelligence and agility of these powers that be. They are selfish, myopic short-term-results oriented people. That is bad enough.<br><br>A little long winded and as always open to dialogue.<br><br>-T <br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: South Park, Cato Institute, and Big Tobacco profits.

Postby Joe Hillshoist » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:20 pm

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>ANyway, people alas don't seem to get that Team America is as much a parody of right-wing jingoistic blockbusters as it is of left-wing actors... why I don't know?, i mean it's not exactly subtle!<br><br>But then again a lot of people didn't get that Starship Troopers was satire!<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Yeah (T A) its hardly a propaganda film.<br><br>America Fuck yeah was on the radio the other day.<br><br>Its a good song. America, fuck! ... yeah .... <br><br>Its pretty much the same thing as when Pauli (from Fat Pizza) got stranded on a desert island.<br><br>He needed to get rescued so so he wrote "America sucks" in 40 foot high letters on the beach waited for a satellite to spot it and send a warship.<br><br>Took about 15 minutes.<br><br>And whats worse?<br><br>Me smoking or society telling me I can't?<br><br>I know satire is supposed to resemble society to a certain extent, but is it just me or does it start getting disturbing when society really starts to resemble some satire. <p></p><i></i>
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thank you tbdp!

Postby nashvillebrook » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:03 pm

this is a great summation and pegs what i've thought about matt and trey since day one -- they are like that guy you hung out with in high school who's parents belonged to all the right clubs, but he liked to smoke pot. <br><br>raised in shallow water... albeit bong water. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: thank you tbdp!

Postby tbdp » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:22 pm

Yeah, on the nose Nash. I do have to add that IMHO Hugh is on the right track. I always learn something from his posts. I just think sometimes we focus too hard on the symptoms of the problem as opposed to the problem itself. It's just a hell of a lot harder to be at the dinner table and broach the subject with your loved ones saying, "Well, I guess it all boils down to this shallow, artificial and materialistic paradigm that we've set up for ourselves, which not only breeds but rewards morally crippled, selfish and sadistic attitudes to those other than ourselves. In reality Ego is a just structure that is erected by a neurotic individual who is a member of a neurotic culture in perpetual struggle with reality. And culture, which we put on like an overcoat, is the collectivized consensus about what sort of neurotic behaviors are acceptable. So we ourselves are equally at fault for serial killers, sexual predators and all forms of tyranny; personal or outward." Just doesn't roll off the tongue as easily as "Bush is a creep." Which is what I usually end up saying. This doesn't mean these investigations are fruitless. Just gotta keep our eye on the prize. <br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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South Park demonizes 911 truth.

Postby DBtv » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:32 pm

This week's episode simplistically ridicules the 911 truth movement as <br>"retards". <br> <p></p><i></i>
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Southpark

Postby chillin » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:51 pm

I recently watched the episode from season 10 called the Return of Chef. Chef is played by Scientologist Issac Hayes who left the show (I believe) because of an episode that ripped on Scientology.<br><br>In The Return of Chef, the Chef returns from The Super Adventure Club that he left Southpark to join. The episode uses obviously pre-recorded stock audio of Hayes re-cut to make Chef sound like a child molester. Later we find out that molesting is what Super Adventure Club is all about, and Chef has been brainwashed. They de-brainwash Chef, but Chef again decides to leave SP for the Club anyway. <br><br>Reminds of some gossip last year about Jenna Elfman accusing someone (who was hassling her about Xenu) of being 'one of those baby-fuckers'. All part of the Elron/hollywood weirdness pile.<br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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