sitting before him – corrupt them. (As you can imagine, this did not go over well with the jury.)
While showing that the accusations are groundless, this “apology” – a word that also can mean defense – demonstrates why Socrates got a death sentence of hemlock. Socrates is famous for saying “I know that I don't know” and, actually, this is a wise insight. For Socrates, philosophy was the love and pursuit of wisdom, and this required questioning others to find out what they do or don't know. Unfortunately, people often believe they are wiser than they are. By questioning them, Socrates would show them that they don't know what they believe they know: “I go around seeking out anyone, citizen or stranger, whom I think wise. Then if I do not think he is, I come to the assistance of the god and show him that he is not wise.”4 What makes Socrates wise is his recognition of his own ignorance, through continuous questioning of himself and others. Many powerful people in Athens saw him as dangerous because his questioning and debate would undermine their bases for power.
In the town of South Park, people in positions of power believe they are teaching the children wisdom and virtue. However, as in Athens, the many people of South Park seem to make the children worse, not better. For example, Mr. Garrison “teaches” the children creationism before switching to an absolutist Darwinism, Mrs. Broflovski always goes to crazy extremes with her “moral” outrage, Uncle Jim and Ned teach the boys to kill harmless bunnies and squirrels in “self‐defense,” and the mayor panders shamelessly to voters. None of the townsfolk really talk to the children, except Chef (R.I.P.), who taught the art of making sweet, sweet love to a woman. Blindly following the crowd, from protesting Terrance and Philip to boycotting Harbucks, to – yes – burying their heads in the sand to avoid watching Family Guy, the parents of South Park corrupt the children far more than a television show ever could. As in “Something Wal‐Mart This Way Comes,” their mindless consumption leads to an unrestrained cycle of economic and mob destruction. Like the Athenians, the adults don't know as much as they believe they know. Ultimately, if television does corrupt the children, it does so because they are left to it by their parents, with no one to educate them about what they are seeing. Of course, there are also cases where parents and people in powerful positions do try to discuss issues and ideas with the children. These discussions, though, support the same point, as the adult usually sounds like a bumbling idiot.
Cartman Gets a Banal Probe
One of the most significant philosophical reflections on evil in the twentieth century is Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, a study of the trial of Adolf Eichmann for his role in the deportations of millions of European Jews to concentration camps during the Jewish Holocaust. Eichmann just followed the law of the land, whatever it happened to be, and when Hitler was making the laws, Eichmann simply carried them out.5 In the words of Arendt, Eichmann was an unreflective person, unable to think for himself and definitely unable “to think from the standpoint of somebody else.”6 What was really monstrous about Eichmann was not his vicious cruelty, but rather the way that he was not that different from so many Germans who, under Hitler, accepted and supported laws that were obviously evil and believed that they were doing what was right. Eichmann's banality – the fact that there is nothing distinctive or exceptional about him – is precisely what makes him evil. He was one of the “crowd” who didn't walk to the beat of a different drummer and didn't rock the boat. He embodied complicit citizenship under a dictatorship, which speaks for its subjects and, thus, cuts off their reflective and critical thought.
Thoughtlessness leads to evil, as Arendt says, because it doesn't let us see things from others' perspectives. By blindly following orders, Eichmann didn't think about what his actions were doing to others, or even what they were doing to himself. By saying he was “following the law” and “doing his duty,” he ignored how his actions sent millions to their deaths and, despite his protests, made him a murderer. Thinking, according to Arendt, requires taking another's standpoint, reflecting on how you might be harming others, and asking if you can live with what you are doing.
While the adults in South Park blindly follow the latest fad, or what they are told, it is the children who bring out the absurdity and potential harm that lurks in such thoughtlessness. To be more accurate, it's usually Kyle and Stan who are the reflective ones, while Cartman's mind is as empty as the Cheesy Poofs he devours daily. He is often sadistic, cruel, and evil. Like Eichmann, Cartman is probably evil because, when it comes to “authoritah,” he lacks reflection and critical analysis. (And like Eichmann, he has a Nazi uniform that he has sported on occasion). Cartman sings the Cheesy Poofs song so well because all he can do is imitate what he hears on television. His evil is an imitation of the evil characters of our culture, as prepackaged as his afternoon snacks. Cartman consumes evil and imitates it as blindly and thoughtlessly as Eichmann – even when feeding Scott Tenorman his own parents (like Medea), trying to kill Kyle and Stan on a lake (like Fredo), or torturing Muslims with his farts (like Jack Bauer) to find the “snuke.” Most importantly, because of this thoughtlessness, Cartman is unable to see things from anyone else's viewpoint (as illustrated most clearly in his manipulation of his mother). As Arendt says, such thoughtlessness is precisely what allows evil to emerge in modern society, and Cartman's mindless consumption is as thoughtless as it gets.
Friendship Kicks Ass! The Dialogues of Kyle and Stan
Part of what makes South Park philosophically interesting is the contrast between Cartman's evil stupidity and the nonconformist, reflective virtue of Kyle and Stan. Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle (384–322 BCE) have noted the importance of how critical reflection leads to harmony or balance and helps us to avoid extremes. After all, the “extremes” of thinking and acting often lead to mistaken beliefs and harmful behavior. In fact, following Plato's lead, Aristotle put forward the idea that virtue is concerned with striking a balance or hitting the mark between two extreme viewpoints, ideas, beliefs, emotions, or actions.7 South Park addresses moral issues through a discussion and criticism of established “moral” positions, both conservative and liberal, which are found to be inadequate. Kyle and Stan come to a virtuous position, in part, by negotiating and listening to these views before reaching their own conclusion through questioning and reason. Frequently, their conclusion recognizes that there is some truth to each position, but that its limited perspective is still dangerous. For example, it's true that hybrid cars are more environmentally responsible than gas‐guzzling SUVs. But when an air of moral superiority clouds one's judgment, this “smug cloud” creates hostility and pollutes society in other ways.
How Stan and Kyle reach their conclusions is more significant than the conclusions themselves. Think of how they discuss whether it's wrong to kill Stan's grandpa, who he wants to die. They, like Socrates, question those around them, seeking to know if the people are as wise as they believe. Their parents, Mr. Garrison, and Jesus won't discuss or touch this issue “with a 60‐foot pole.” What Kyle and Stan ultimately realize – with the help of Stan's great‐great‐grandfather's ghost – is that they shouldn't kill his grandfather, because the action would change and harm them. As it turns out, Stan's grandfather is wrong in asking them to do this vicious action. Note that the boys reach this conclusion through living with each other, recognizing their differences, and engaging in debate. Stan and Kyle – unlike Eichmann and Cartman – learn to see things from others' perspectives, through their ongoing conversation.
In the Apology Socrates makes the claim that a good person cannot be harmed by the actions of others. This seems false. After all, aside from being a cartoon character, what could prevent Cartman from punching out the Dalai Lama? But what Socrates means by “good” is something different than we often realize. Goodness
