The late, great George Carlin was one of the greatest comedians of all time. He was irreverent and had no fear when it came to ridiculing societal trends. Pearl-clutchers from both the left and right tried to shut down Carlin's act a number of times. .In one legendary bit, Carlin explains the structure of jokes. He points out how every joke has to have an element of exaggeration. Any subject can be made funny if you take a part of the story and blow it so far out of proportion, it causes a laugh. When taking a moment to think of any of your favorite jokes, you can see how this rule is consistent. .Comedy writers today must be having a hard time creating new material because the world has become so insane, it is difficult to come up with an exaggeration..Matt Stone and Trey Parker are the creators of the South Park cartoon. Like Carlin, they are irreverent and have often clashed with the woke world as they poke fun at the world they see around them. The series has lasted for 25 years and is still going strong as they try to find new boundaries to push in satire and offensiveness. Their humour isn't to everybody's taste, but the staying power of the series speaks to a large and dedicated audience. .Twenty years ago, they released an episode called "The Death Camp of Tolerance". .The premise was based on a gay elementary school teacher named Mr. Garrison who wanted to get fired on the basis of his sexual orientation so he could win a lawsuit. The fatal flaw in Mr. Garrison's plan was that the school principle, school board and the local parents refused to condemn Garrison's actions in the classroom because they didn't want offend anybody. No matter how outrageous Garrison's antics in front of the children were, local authorities would excuse it and applaud him for his courage. Garrison even brought his boyfriend "Mr. Slave", wearing bondage gear into an elementary school classroom and inserted a gerbil into his rectum in front of the students. When the children complained, they were sentenced to time in a concentration camp where they would be taught tolerance. . Mr. Slave .In 2002, that episode was funny because the exaggeration was so out of bounds. Nobody would really tolerate a teacher going to sexual extremes in front of students would they? .Welcome to 2022 in Canada. .A shop teacher in Oakville, Ontario has been attending class in drag and sporting a grotesque, giant set of prosthetic breasts. This is no realistic expression of sexual orientation. These are the actions of a fetishist acting out a fantasy in front of schoolchildren. Apparently, this teacher had been doing this for some time but it only came to public attention when a student surreptitiously took pictures of the teacher and posted them online. Clearly other teachers and administrators had seen this pervert in action, but didn't dare speak up for fear of invoking the wrath of the woke. .Even after the pictures of this deviant's public actions in front of students made international headlines, the school board refused to condemn the actions of the teacher and essentially applauded the courage of the individual. .Parents and students have organized protests outside the school but so far, the school board remains resolute in protecting this teacher. .If somebody had said twenty years ago that something like this could happen, we would have laughed in their faces. How absurd! There is no way a school would expose students to such displays! That's why the South Park episode was funny at the time. .Now the old South Park episode doesn't look funny as much as it was prophetic. .Perhaps it's time to look at some of their newer episodes to see what we have to look forward to in another decade or so. .Parker and Stone must really be having a tough time finding subjects so outrageous that they are funny as their exaggerations come true. .I guess one silver lining to this bizarre story unfolding in Ontario is that it will increase public support for school choice. Parents are running out of options in the public system and apparently have no control over what their children will be exposed to. .What a mad world we live in.
