The Simpsons and the Patriot Act
by Frederick Meekins

The Simpsons is a series at its wittiest when it pokes fun at issues with broader social implications. Classic episodes that come to mind include the ones spoofing the Masons, the UFO cult, and Homer's Drudge-style webpage. Joining these will be the one alluding to the Patriot Act.

The episode begins with the Simpson kids off to get their inoculations. Bart unexpectedly goes deaf from his and Homer inadvertently signs a waiver forbidding him from holding Dr. Hibert legally responsible. From there, the Simpsons become town pariahs as it is assumed a deaf Bart deliberately mooned the flag after a donkey ate his gym shorts.

Things get considerably more hilarious when ATF-style shocktroops raid the church and arrest the Simpsons for violating the Government Knows Best Act. The Simpson gang is sent packing to a prison camp euphemistically referred to as a "reeducation center".

Though timely in light of the danger posed by certain provisions of the Patriot Act claiming to fight the war on terror, the episode's primary drawback stemmed from the fact that those interned were depicted as leftists of various stripes when in reality there are probably even more conservatives and libertarians opposed to such systematic infringements of our civil liberties. Yet even this skewered presentation was not without humor.

One inmate whined all he did was drive a truckload of explosives over the Canadian border. One old coot claimed he was the last registered Democrat. He then blathered, "Tax and spend. Tax and spend", a clear indication he was out of his mind.

The Simpsons escape and are rescued by a French freighter whose captain remarks upon the irony of the French hatred of America despite being saved by the United States in two world wars. After living in Paris for a while, the Simpsons return to the U.S., observing that if there's one group America will let in is immigrants without identification.

For years, conservative interest groups have castigated The Simpsons as inappropriately subversive. Instead, conservatives ought to look to the show as a source of satire occasionally allied with their movement exposing in a humorous manner the folly and stupidity regularly gaining an upper hand throughout society as a result of misguided policies and faulty assumptions inherent to the liberal way of life.