FROM SUPERMAN TO CARTMAN

By now everyone knows that last week's "South Park" cast a temporary spotlight on Scientology's alien-focused theology, arguable racketeering and oppressive litigiousness. I've already heaped praise upon Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the episode, but just this morning I remembered where I had read of a similar feat.

It was in the pop economics book "Freakonomics" and it was about anti-Klan activist Stetson Kennedy. The parallels are interesting:

Kennedy was supremely frustrated, and out of this frustration was born a stroke of brilliance. He had noticed one day a group of young boys playing some kind of spy game in which they exchanged silly secret passwords. It reminded him of the Klan. Wouldn't it be nice, he thought, to get the Klan's passwords and the rest of its secrets into the hands of kids all across the country? What better way to defang a secret society than to infantilize -- and make public -- its most secret information? ... Kennedy thought of the ideal outlet for this mission: the Adventures of Superman radio show, broadcast each night at dinnertime to millions of listeners nationwide. He contacted the show's producers and asked if they would like to write some episodes about the Ku Klux Klan. The producers were enthusiastic. Superman had spent years fighting Hitler and Mussolini and Hirohito, but with the war over, he was in need of fresh villains. Kennedy began by feeding his best Klan information to the Superman producers. ... The radio producers began to write four weeks' worth of programs in which Superman would wipe out the Ku Klux Klan.

Who says Hollywood liberals never did any good?

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posted by WWB at 1:25 PM |