The Death Camp of Tolerance
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| “The Death Camp of Tolerance” | |
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| South Park episode | |
 Mr. Garrison introduces Mr. Slave |
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| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 93 |
| Written by | Trey Parker |
| Directed by | Trey Parker |
| Production no. | 614 |
| Original airdate | November 20, 2002 |
| Season 6 episodes | |
| South Park - Season 6 March 6, 2002 – December 11, 2002 |
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| ← Season 5 | Season 7 → |
| List of South Park episodes | |
"The Death Camp of Tolerance" is episode 614 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It was originally broadcast on November 20, 2002.
[edit] Plot
In this episode, Mr. Garrison is promoted from being the kindergarten teacher to the fourth grade teacher, after having been previously demoted for admitting to being a homosexual. However, realizing that getting fired could allow him to sue the school for millions, he decides, along with his S&M partner, Mr. Slave to do outrageous acts in the classroom, culminating with the gerbilling of the class pet, Lemmiwinks.
The children's parents, hearing the children complain about their gay teacher, feel they are intolerant and send them to the Museum of Tolerance, and then an Auschwitz-like Tolerance "Camp" which uses arts and crafts, strict tactics, and painful labor to teach children tolerance. Back at school, Mr. Garrison is set to receive the "Courageous Teacher Award" for overcoming adversity. Frustrated that he has not been fired, he redoubles his efforts and, on the advice of Mr. Slave, he plans to make a show of his ceremony. Meanwhile, Lemmiwinks traverses the regions of Mr. Slave's digestive system, receiving advice from three animal spirits who have been killed while trying to escape (a Frog King, a Sparrow Prince and the Catata Fish respectively).
At the awards ceremony, Mr. Garrison appears with his lover in an extremely stereotypical and flamboyant gay manner. Although Mr. Slave's prediction is correct and the parents are indeed shocked by the behaviour, they cannot bring themselves to criticize it, as they are worried about being "intolerant," and when people continue to call Garrison and Slave "courageous" for his actions he finally breaks down and screams at them, telling them that tolerance of something one hates is different from acceptance of it as good. He goes on to say that tolerating his homosexuality should not mean that he can do things that are obviously inappropriate in front of his students. He begs to be fired so he can collect on a discrimination lawsuit. Principal Victoria says she has a better idea. The parents apologize to their now-malnourished and emaciated kids, who have been released from Tolerance Camp, and despite the children's attempts to inform their parents of Garrison's behavior throughout the episode, the parents tell them that they should have told them about Mr. Garrison's behavior, and about how much they "suffered" when their children were in the camp.
Principal Victoria concludes that Mr. Garrison and Mr. Slave are "obviously intolerant of [their] own behavior", and sends them to the tolerance camp so they will accept themselves. Mr. Slave thinks of the horrible torture as "kind of fun". He suddenly coughs up Lemmiwinks, who has freed the spirits of other animals who got killed inside Mr. Slave's body. They appear to Lemmiwinks, and crown him the Gerbil King. Lemmiwinks exits the scene with the Ballad of Lemmiwinks playing over the credits.
[edit] Cultural references
- The tolerance camp sequences are presented in very similar style to Schindler's List, including being shot in black-and-white.
- The scenes where Lemmiwinks is trying to escape from Mr. Slave include parodies of songs from The Hobbit animated movie, including the title song.
- Lemmiwinks and the animal spirits are also parodies of the Redwall series
| Preceded by “The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers” |
South Park episodes | Followed by “The Biggest Douche in the Universe” |
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