*914* Bloody Mary

[Marzipan92]

I'm quite sad to keep coming back to comment on this thread...

I just wanted to say that as an Irish Catholic, I'm NOT offended by this episode.

(I've already said above) I find it a really interesting story line.

The first time I watched the pope getting closer and closer to the statue's ass tho, I was smiling and cringing!!! that bit definitely is cringworthy. but in a funny way.

[JohnHorn]

My favorite part was “no my karate teacher.”,

[GrandTheftAutoHater]

I thought this one was fair, but nowhere near the best. For me, it had little to show. But it did feature "Dischiprin'! Come from within!" This episode is one of the reasons I don't approve of alcohol. You could be seen as a loser if you get a DUI citation.

[203177]

i didn' care for this one, but randy was funny in it.

[CaNNaBiS]

Great ep. I loved the Alien easter egg. In case you don't know what I'm referring to, At exactly 13:22 until 13:28, there's an Alien in the reflection of Randy's back car window, and it's gone after that. I think it's there because the series was originally going to have much more extra-terrestrial themes and there were going to be a lot more Alien episodes, but that idea was scrapped after the first episode because Matt and Trey didn't want to compete with shows like the X-files. ...I think I heard that in one of the commentaries

[Inofaith]

I saw an alien in the window of the car when Randy wants to go to the church.

[duremar]

Don't drink and drive, just smoke and fly.

[absurdism101]

I love South Park and am especially appreciative of episodes like this one that apply to my own life. I am a current sober person and I go to AA meetings. Trey and Matt are definitely onto something here with the whole higher power thing. Fortunately for me I am very versed in philosophy and science and have read many of the great minds who try to prove and disprove the existence of "God." I have found the use of the word "God" in AA to be a language barrier between me and the program, but I think Trey and Matt say it best at the end of this episode that discipline comes from within. They reveal themselves and their ideology in this line. Trey and Matt believe in the individual and a power within and that could easily go along with many of the existentialists views on existence. Nietzsche wanted to get rid of "God" much like Matt and Trey, but wanted to avoid nihilism (the feeling of powerlessness in a world of the unknown) so he focused on how the individual could empower him or herself. That form of power takes the place of "God" and it can be whatever one wants it to be. We can simply call it the belief in "I don't f*cking know" but it is still a form of belief. Fortunately, some AA meetings are set up so that "God" is whatever works for you and is merely a word to describe whatever that is that gets you, me, or Trey and Matt through a day without doing something self-destructive or destructive to others. We can do whatever we want, good and evil are just invented by human thought and don't actually exist. Happiness and unhappiness exist in the human psyche and I think we would all agree that finding happiness is a good goal, but if you don't want to be happy that is your choice. The words powerlessness, disease, God, and so forth are a matter of semantics. If you really look at nature you will see that it is full of chaos and there is no way to control it (hurricane Katrina). That is what is meant by powerlessness. As an open rational thinker, I recognize that there are things in this world which I will never understand and that all I can do is control what I do and try to be happy. I truly believe this is all AA does and it actually allows you to make that choice for yourself. It can be made into a cult if someone interprets it that way as some do, but it doesn't allow itself to be advertised, sold or deified in its book of traditions which I see as an attempt by its founders not to make it a cult. sh*t, you could say America is a cult with its ideas of freedom, money, founding fathers, constitution, and capitalism. Anything written down and practiced is subject to dogmatism. Trey and Matt are right, it is about individual power and AA allows for that if you allow that for yourself when you are trying to be sober. It doesn't have to be an obsession if you don't make it one. Why take on another addiction?

[.Stoch]

wooo

[CrashCavanaugh]

As a Catholic and an alcoholic I laughed my f!@#ing ass off! I didn't see this episode until it was repeated this week.

[RockonMadonna]

Merci beaucoup, Parker and Stone, for this episode!

Having had experience with the whole DUI thing and court-ordered AA myself, Ican definately affirm that it's philosophy is not secular and is highly extremist. In many ways, AA is very much like cult! (I've never been addicted to alcohol, and now I can enjoy a single glass of wine with my dinner.)

Also, I like how you poked fun at how a few people in our society (i.e. MADD) go overboard on the issue through Mr./Mrs. Garrisson's comments.

Finally, I don't think the Bloody Mary was unmerited; on the contrary, it is a good counter-statement to dubious doctrine and practice. Since the High Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church has elevated Mary almost to the level of Jeshua. (A great illustration of this mariolotry is how the Eastern Orthodox Church calls August 15th the "Dormition of the Virgin," while the Roman Church made it the "Assumption of the Virgin.")

[stanftw]

i was wonderin about that alien too haha i bet they just just put it in to see if ppl would catch it

[craigdahilog]

its wierd

[Ddog]

Randy marsh is so f n dumb

[48TomKat]

holy crap a statue had her period