5. Illegal Downloading
Episode: Christian Rock Hard Illegal downloading is a hot button topic nowadays with free access to all the media you can carry if you know where to find it. I'm not here to discuss the rights and wrongs of piracy however, I will let the South Park writers do that for me. Starting a band is a rite of passage for a lot of young people, and at the start of the episode we find that boys have done just that in the form of Moop. Seeing no monetary potential in this group, Cartman strikes out to form his own Christian rock group and exploit the masses. While he is away being a typically terrible person the other boys decide to listen to some other music to define their style. Little do they know that they've just committed a crime which will end up with them learning the value of copyrighted property. The stand-out joke of this episode is Sergeant Harrison Yates' Christmas Carol-esque tour in which he shows the boys the toll piracy is taking on musicians. Britney Spears has had to downgrade her private jet; Lars Ulrich of Metallica will have to wait slightly longer for his gold-plated shark tank bar by the pool. Although this is quite a flippant look at the effects of illegal downloading it does successfully poke fun at the super rich complaining about much worse off people listening to their music for free.