All About South Park

I had a great idea for a blog post this week. The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, have been in the news announcing details of their forthcoming Broadway musical, called "The Book of Mormon" (see here), and it seemed the perfect time to revisit the (in-?)famous episode of South Park in which Joseph Smith and the origins of Mormonism were given that brutal South Park treatment.

Before bringing a single Cheetos-stained finger to the keyboard, I had the whole post outlined in my head: I would have started it out explaining that the episode, titled "All About the Mormons?", aired during the program's seventh season in November  2003, and I would have given a brief synopsis of the episode's plot. Then I would have mentioned that the Church eventually publicly mentioned the program by name, labeling it "a gross portrayal of Church history" that "no doubt" caused "individual Church members" to feel "uncomfortable." I then might have recalled that my own initial impression of seeing the show, for I considered myself a fully believing Mormon at the time, was indeed one of discomfort... but the feeling of discomfort was coupled with another feeling -- an odd sense of being just a tad impressed with Parker's and Stone's familiarity with Mormonism's origins as demonstrated by their depictions (irreverent and exaggerated though they were) of events many Mormons, in my experience, are wholly ignorant of (or, at the very least, kinda fuzzy on).

At that point in my blog post, I would have remarked that many LDS might be forgiven for dismissing without a second thought those events in the episode that were alien to them. After all, the show was clearly mocking the faith and its founder, so what would have kept the writers from making things up whole-cloth just for a laugh, right?

After that, I would have pointed out that the writers did indeed deviate here and there from the best historical data and did, in fact, get some details very wrong. Then I would have said, all dramatically-like, "...But what they got right might surprise you." I might have even put it in bold or italics. Like, "...But what they got right might surprise you." Truth is, what they got wrong might surprise you, too.

Next, I would have provided a link so that the Droppings reader who wanted to could view the entire episode online for free. I probably would have even put it in a larger font size and on its own line so it would stand out from the other links peppered throughout the post. Maybe a little something like,

South Park Season 7, Episode 12 - "All About the Mormons?"

Then I would have proceeded to do a point-by-point breakdown of the episode, consulting the historical record to show where they got it right and where they got it wrong. It would have been impressive. I might have had to do the post in installments, since the South Park episode covers so much ground, and it would have been quite a time-consuming project. But, I think, it would have been fun to do.

So why ain't I doing it?

Well, I wanted to - I really did. And I started to. Really! But when it came time to do the google search to find the link to the episode, I discovered the existence of something I should have assumed was already out there: My great idea for a blog post has been done. Probably years ago, too. Oh, well. A wiser fella than myself once said, "Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar... well, sometimes it eats you."

Now, I'm not exactly sure what that means, but reflecting on it when facing one of life's disappointments makes me feel better all the same. That and a Caucasian.