South Park Is Saving Free Speech!

Plus: Trump’s "woke AI" order, Gawker’s cultural legacy, and a listener question on deregulation and the BBB.

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South Park Is Saving Free Speech!

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This week, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Matt Welch are joined by Reason Senior Editor Robby Soave to discuss the $1.5 billion renewal of South Park and why the show remains one of the most important libertarian pop culture creations of the past 30 years. They reflect on its enduring relevance, its crude but effective political metaphors, and its broad appeal across ideological lines. The panel also revisits the Hulk Hogan lawsuit which led to the fall of Gawker and what it revealed about public trust in media, then turns to President Donald Trump's new AI executive order and the growing tendency to frame tech policy as part of the culture war. A listener question sparks discussion of Trump's deregulation record and how it connects to the One Big Beautiful Bill, followed by a look at the latest developments around a potential government shutdown.

 

00:59—South Park's renewal and the political implications

08:19—Late night TV, the Paramount merger, and cord cutting

17:20—The legacy of Hulk Hogan's Gawker's lawsuit

28:15—Trump's anti-woke AI executive order

36:05—Listener question on Trump's deregulation track record

42:24—Are we heading toward another government shutdown?

50:52—Weekly cultural recommendations

 

Mentioned in This Podcast

"South Park Libertarians," by Nick Gillespie and Jesse Walker

"The FCC's Paramount/Skydance Decision Aims To Reshape Broadcast Journalism by Bureaucratic Fiat," by Jacob Sullum

"Meet Stephen Colbert's Biggest Fans: Congressional Democrats," by Robby Soave

"By Settling Trump's Laughable Lawsuit Against CBS, Paramount Strikes a Blow at Freedom of the Press," by Jacob Sullum

"Gawker Was Killed for Publishing Embarrassing Truths. That's Bad News," By Brian Doherty

"Gawker Documentary Fails to Make Case for Publishing Sex Tape," by Glenn Garvin

"'Woke' AI Is the Latest Threat to Free Speech," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown

"Baseball, and the Vanishing Art of Forgiveness," by Matt Welch

 

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• Producer: Paul Alexander
• Video Editor: Ian Keyser

What are we consuming this week?

Peter Suderman

• The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Matt Welch

• Yakyu-Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• Continues Arcade

Robby Soave

• Circe, by Madeline Miller

---

Comments

[Chumby]

Mr. Garrison could be on the Epstein List.

[tracerv]

Mr Slave for sure.

Jesus Christ.

[Dillinger]

jfc it's on one week and you go full dick suck with the saving free speech

[Mother's Lament]

Funny how none of them, except sorta Robby, gave a shit about free speech when the CIA, the administration, and the FBI were illegally censoring millions of Americans on social media for political speech.

I suppose that was (D)ifferent though.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Don't forget T(D)S.

[Dillinger]

ya if anyone saved free speech it was chronic 15 year-old Musk

[BlueCollarCritic]

That's b/c most of them stopped being "Reasonable" long ago. Trump broke them b/c Reason is an establishment outfit; they support whatever the establishment is pushing. Like most they started out noble in their efforts but as success came and so did the $$ someone go to them at least to some extent and so once a non-establishment controlled candidate looked like he could actually win, Reason like most establishment outlets kicked it up to go on defense for the establishment, They fully embraced the TDS Zone. DO DO DO DOD DODO Do DO Do DOO DOO

You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of dark money and wealthy insiders. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that ofthe pedo's imagination. That's a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the The TDS Zone!

You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of underaged kids and demonic ideas. You've just crossed over into... the TDS Zone.

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call "The Trump Derangement Zone" and it is first and most faithful visitor Jacob Sullem is on his way to meet fate if he doesn't loose his mind before this meting of the woke mindfield.

[tracerv]

Freedom isn't free There's a hefty fuckin fee.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

I paid a buck o five because it was cheaper than Reason Plus.

[JasonT20]

Here's how much freedom costs.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Here's how an imbecilic slimy pile of lefty shit (^) responds to government murder:

JasonT20
February.6.2022 at 6:02 pm
“How many officers were there to stop Ashlee Babbitt and the dozens of people behind her from getting into the legislative chamber to do who knows what?...”

Fuck off and die, asswipe.

[Fat Rush Limpcock (King of the Conservatives)]

Where is ML and Jesse to bitch about the number of times Reason brings up the Trump Tiny Penis episode from South Park?

They have a cult leader to prop up.

[Mother's Lament]

Why would we bitch about that, Pedo? We already said we were fine with the episode.

South Park was one of the few shows with the guts to mock your precious Democrats and their woke hordes. There's no hypocrisy here by mocking Trump too. That's what these shows are supposed to do as long as it doesn't only go in one direction.

Your worldview really is just a greasy ball of outdated tropes from 35 years ago, huh?

[DesigNate]

Hypocrites like shrike can’t wrap their head around other people not being like them.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

The only requirement I have for jokes making fun of me is that they're funny.

[DesigNate]

Pretty much.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Cartoons are important!

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

turd, the ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

You were banned for posting a link to child porn.

[KARate kid]

The episode reminded me of the Trapped in the Closet episode because it wasn’t laugh out loud funny, but there’s shock value in being outrageously mean to powerful people who are known for retaliation.

The line that made me laugh the loudest was Cartman and Butters trying to die by leaving the car on in the garage and Butter’s dad saying “I’m proud to own an electric car!”

[sarcasmic]

Don't worry. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Trump sues Comedy Central, demanding tens of millions of dollars for fraud and defamation.

[Mother's Lament]

Still batting zero on your predictions I see, but maybe this one will be right. I mean statistically at least one of them would have to be true in the end.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Leftists want this so bad. It's sad they want their enemies to attack speech so they can feel better about doing it themselves.

[Uncle Jay]

"South Park Is Saving Free Speech!"

South Park's "Team America: World's Policeman," was a classic comedy, if for no other reason, it really pissed off Sean Penn.

[Nobartium]

Gawkers cultural legacy will be the weakening of
Sullivan.

[Pear Satirical (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Call me when they undo the tyranny of the Uk.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Hey Robby, why did you marry a woman when you're gay?

I don't care that you're gay. But for a true libertarian society to exist, people need to honor their their commitments.

You entered a covenant before God with a woman, when you had no intent to honor it.

Your word means nothing. Which means you cannot be a reporter for liberty.

[5.56]

Whenever a right-wing brain cripple tries to show somebody elses moral failures, they resort to fairytales of a textbook authoritarian ("god"), and in utter incoherence, try to somehow derive that what their childish whim told them is wrong, is, in fact, wrong. They substitute the "god" construct for ethics, because they have no access to actual human morals, so they need lists and clear instructions from authorities.

To the modern, educated, winning onlooker, this all looks rather bizarre and embarrassing. Your impotence and ineptitude ooze from your obese body every time you are in public. Be aware that most normal people have a radar for how cringeworthy you are. And this is why you are the reject.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

To the modern, educated, winning onlooker

LOL, stop. Your side can't even figure out how to pay off your student loans, and you're chimping out over men lusting after a conventionally attractive white girl in a clothing ad.

[Luxie]

I have a simple request, Can we get Matt back in the host seat? The show is getting .... Tedious.... Whiny.... I made the mistake of listening to the Across the Movie Isle for a few months, it was ok, the female would come in and out of vocal fry (Sp) and the other fella (thats not Suderman) made me realize why I hate the bulwark, its annoying and loud for no reason. Lately Suderman is just becoming that same guy (I couldn't tell them apart lately so I stopped listening to Movie Isle). The show sounds 50% Bulwark now. It's listenable because Matt and Katherine will come in and talk, calmly, make points, interesting educated points and great guests as of late between the shouty host that makes us all feel like we are going out somwhere to play boardgames and refer to bartenders as Mixologist, drink murky beer and other silliness we don't want to deal with. It's getting a bit much. No one with a brain likes the bulwark, (every thing is hyper and shouty), thats why we come here, no one likes Hyper and Shouty. Just put it back like it was before. Thanks for listening...

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Welsh? Fuck no! Who needs a TDS-addled pile of shit running the show?

[MasterThief]

I find Matt's voice to be even more grating than Suderman's. Suderman just sounds like a effeminate weasel. Welch has this slimy, smarmy tone and a personality that projects how weird you are fir not loving the smell of his farts.

[Quicktown Brix]

Or bring back Andrew Heaton.

[Jokibif0]

Funny that Robby pronounces "Scylla" correctly (SKILL-uh) but didn't pronounce "Circe" correctly (KER-key). There's no "c" in the Greek alphabet, only kappa, which looks, and is pronounced, like "k", and is the letter for which "c" was substituted in Romanizing both of those names. I've never understood why they didn't just replace kappa by k.

[Jokibif0]

To possibly answer my own question, it seems that, in ancient Latin, "c" was pronounced as "k", so the Romanization may originally have preserved the pronunciation, but doesn't do so in English.

Like any of you care about any of this ...

[Square = Circle]

in ancient Latin, "c" was pronounced as "k", so the Romanization may originally have preserved the pronunciation

This is the correct answer. By later medieval times the Latin would have been pronounced "Shill-ah" and "Church-ay," respectively.

[Uomo Del Ghiaccio]

Katherine,

Yes the election was between a turd sandwich and a douche which I fully understand now voting for either of these two choices.

I however disagree with not voting. I argue that your should vote for anyone else even though there is zero chance of them winning. Personally, I voted for RFK JR even though he was no longer running. He however was not able to remove his name from the ballot due to a recalcitrant Democrat single party state that does not comprehend that the real authority is the people and not their sorry asses.

It's not that Republicans don't do the same sort of shenanigans in Republican single party states, but it is far worse in my state than it was in any of the red states I've lived in by far.

My point is voting for someone other than either faction of the uni-party swamp helps to deny the swamp creatures a claimed mandate. Even though I prefer humans, if Mickey Mouse got 1% of the vote it sends a message.

Please consider my argument and vote for the best of the third parties or independent running. Even if they are not perfect (because no one is ever perfect) and by the grace of god Pigs Fly, it would still be far better that the two buffoons that the uni-party will scrape up from the sludge and impose on us.

Not voting really does not send a message. It's simply ignored when they calculate the percentages. Voting for anyone else, reduces their percentage.

Even if we can't deny them power, we can deny them a mandate. Even if 15 third parties get 1% of the vote, that is 15% of the vote that THEY (uni-party swamp creatures) can't get. THEY would still be in power, but THEY will have difficulties claiming a mandate,

[Lester75]

They claim a mandate anyway. That is the power of propaganda: “Ah, that is different!” said Boxer. “If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right.”

[Square = Circle]

Not voting really does not send a message. It's simply ignored when they calculate the percentages. Voting for anyone else, reduces their percentage.

^^^^

[JohnZ]

I got a laugh when Cartman explained why he was disappointed in defunding NPR as he found it funny listening to lesbians and chews complain about something. LOL!

[squarooticus]

It's like Matt doesn't understand that we had only two choices in November. Trump didn't win because people were like, "We really want Trump!" He won because the Democrats had to be taught a lesson about their behavior and policy preferences over the preceding four years. Either way that election went, we were risking some form of censoriousness, and the Trump/Musk team were at the very least paying lip service to free speech, whereas we directly observed the censoriousness of the illiberal left Biden administration. This was very likely a no-win scenario from the start.

[BlueCollarCritic]

SOUTH PARK isn't saving anything! This last episode is the worst SP ep I've seen in a very long time and it has nothing to do with Trump being the target of their jokes but that their jokes are so weak and worn out in this one. It's nothing but penis size and "I'll sue you" which could be funny if Trey and Matt actually cared about it but its clear they are going thru the motions for the $$$; nothing more. And you Stage 3_ TDS victims like Jacob Sullem just can't eat up enough of this slop to satisfy that Trump hating crave that eats away at you.

At least the #WokeAuthoritarianLeft has an excuse; their mindless NPC cultists who do as party leadership dictates, What generates you guys weak response and criticisms? It's not as if Trump hasn't made mistakes that he can easily be raked over the coals with but for you guys it's "Reason Enough" and not "Reason' #Anymore.

[James K. Polk]

The Biden administration's assault on freedom of speech was sinister and cunning. Trump's is almost comical in its disregard of the 1st amendment.

The Biden administration demonstrated consciousness of guilt in its censorship efforts. In other words, they understood that the 1st amendment prohibited what they wanted to do, so they concocted a scheme to launder censorship through indirect threats (that's a nice social media company you got there, it would be a shame if someone regulated the fuck out of it), NGOs, and foreign organizations.

Trump just flat-out declares war on people who say things he doesn't like.

They both suck, but the Democrats act exactly the way I would expect dumb authoritarian progressives to, whereas I was hopeful the Trump administration would be different.