Matthew Sheffield passes on word about the latest South Park satire likely to spark controversy:
‘South Park’ Lampoons Overhyped Katrina Coverage
“South Park,” the popular Comedy Central show about the misadventures of a group of four Colorado boys, criticized the news media Wednesday night for its overhyped coverage of Hurricane Katrina. In the episode, two of the boys, Stan Marsh and Eric Cartman, accidentally crash a boat into a beaver dam, flooding an entire town. In the aftermath, local and national media blame it on global warming, ridiculously exaggerate the extent of the damage, make up stories of rape, murder, “cannabilism,” and tell tales of “hundreds of millions” of deaths in a town of 8,000 people.
Has has video excerpts available in Real and Windows Media formats.
There’s no doubt that the need for constant “news” on the Katrina story sparked more than its share of excesses. Still, unlike many false alarms that preceded (and no doubt will follow) it, Katrina was indeed an incredibly devastating storm for the Gulf region. The death toll looks to be around 1200 and the property damage is still incalculable; while that’s much better than the 10,000 plus dead in New Orleans alone that was reported, it is still terrible.
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