Then again, the “America (F*ck Yeah!)” song has a different version in the end credits: Wal-Mart (F*ck Yeah!) Gap (F*ck Yeah!) Baseball (F*ck Yeah!) NFL (F*ck Yeah!) Rock and Roll (F*ck Yeah!) The Internet (F*ck Yeah!) Slavery (F*ck Yeah!)

Because, you know, Americans are so into slavery these days, which we like totally invented anyway.

I think that was a little insurance policy the boys bought for themselves.

Why are there all these dogs outside in my yard? Hold on. Back in a minute.

In any case, there’s something empty at the bottom of the movie, and yes, I know I am talking about something conducted entirely in the medium of puppetry. Underneath the satire is the same old dodge: everything’s a joke, and only a fool takes it seriously. What’s the song? “Life is just a bowl of cherries / don’t take it serious / it’s too mysterious.” But there’s a difference between that sentiment and asserting that life’s just a bowl of hard clay-flecked cat shite. I never got the impression that the South Park creators stood for anything except making something funny, which is preferable to a team devoted to making grim bleak movies about the lives of meth-addict dishwashers in Omaha and other such uplifting archetypes, I suppose. But it’s not enough to be opposed to hypocrisy and cant; that’s a rather adolescent stance, and it was old the day “Catcher in the Rye” entered its 3 millionth printing. You have to stand for something. I gather that Parker and Stone stand for making fun of Jerry Bruckheimer movies, actors, and bad country music. Not enough for a coherent political philosophy, but enough for a funny puppet movie.

I think Trey Parker’s view of Hollywood types is the truer view: People in the entertainment industry are by and large whore-chasing drug-addict f---ups, as I quote him as saying in my book. But they still believe they’re better than the guy in Wyoming who really loves his wife and takes care of his kids and is a good, outstanding, wholesome person.