YMMV / South Park S 4 E 5 Cartman Joins NAMBLA

• Accidental Aesop: One of the pedophiles being arrested at the end explains that his sexual attraction to minors is something he has no control over, which is Truth in Television, and many real-life, non-offending pedophiles have sought therapy, knowing that they shouldn't act on these feelings but also that bottling them up will only make things worse. The major difference is, as Kyle and Stan point out, the NAMBLA people acted on these feelings rather than pursue alternatives to prevent children from getting hurt. So an alternative moral can be "Even if you give the most rational explanation for doing something morally reprehensible, that doesn't excuse you for doing something morally reprehensible."
• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: A more positive interpretation of the above trope is "Child molestation and making/watching child pornography are Sick and Wrong crimes, but pedophilia is an illness that can be helped." Had the NAMBLA men not acted on their pedophilia and instead recognized these feelings as something they needed help with, they would have avoided countless boys getting abused.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: The North American Man/Boy Love Association sounds like some sick pedophile joke that Trey and Matt made up, right? Nope, it's real. Even they admitted to worrying that not enough people watching the episode would believe it was real.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • How can you make the subject of child molestation funny? By having an extended chase sequence between 40 naked child molesters, the boys they want to have their ways with, the FBI, Mumbling Brando impersonators, Kenny chasing his mother to force an abortion on her, and a random French waiter through Scooby-Dooby Doors, all while a goofy French cabaret song plays. Then ending the scene with them all mistaking Kenny's dad as one of the boys and gang-raping him.
  • The "John Denver Experience". Creating a thrill ride based on the singer's fatal plane accident is pretty tasteless but the over the top nature of the ride with the plane-shaped car slowly drifting upward to the sounds of relaxing folk music only to abruptly flail and crash the riders into surrounding structures and finally stopping upside-down in a small pool of water makes it hilarious. What also helps is the motormouthed park employee quickly and unintelligibly spouting safety instructions on the PA before starting the ride, with a concerned Stuart asking "What did he say?".
• Harsher in Hindsight: The boys are playing "Investigative Reports With Bill Curtis," a Life-meets-Monopoly type board game in which players have to guess whether an event was denied or covered up by the U.S. government. When Kyle gives Cartman a jail-time card in the game, Cartman retaliates by giving him an AIDS card. The other characters are horrified by this. In "Tonsil Trouble" (which aired eight years later), Cartman literally infects Kyle with AIDS as revenge for Kyle laughing at Cartman catching the disease in a medical mishap.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: In this episode, Kenny is terrified of getting a little sibling and goes to drastic lengths to prevent it, partly because he hates the idea of having to share food or care for them. If only he knew that in later episodes, not only would he suddenly have a little sister, he would frequently give her advice, beat up bullies, and use all of his money to keep her happy.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • While in jail for "allegedly" soliciting sex from 8-year-old Cartman, Mr. Garrison tries to prove his innocence by ranting that he's not gay and only likes women. 4½ months later in "Fourth Grade", he finally does come out of the closet.
  • Cartman believes "HungDaddy" is a dwarf and refuses to befriend him because "midgets piss [him] off." Seven seasons later he actually does meet a man with dwarfism but instead of being pissed off by the man, he actually can't look at him without laughing uncontrollably.
• Moment of Awesome: Stan and Kyle telling off the NAMBLA leader when the latter starts Playing the Victim Card to weasel himself out of getting arrested.
  Kyle: Dude! You have sex... with CHILDREN!
  Stan: Yeah. You know, we believe in equality for everyone and tolerance and all that gay stuff, but dude, fuck you!
  Kyle: Seriously.
• Nausea Fuel: Stuart's predicament after accidentally ingesting the abortion pills Kenny bought.
• Squick:
  • Cartman becoming the poster boy for NAMBLA speaks for itself.
  • Timmy being groomed by one of the NAMBLA members also deserves special mention. Grooming a child is already bad enough, but it's even worse when it's a mentally handicapped child.
• Values Resonance: While NAMBLA itself barely exists anymore, the satire of online grooming and its vicious skewering of groups that try to normalize pedophilia (with the current trend being trying to re-brand themselves as "minor-attracted persons") as simply being "different" have unfortunately remained relevant in the modern age.

---