In an age when the merest whisper of an identity politics offense sends most corporations, entertainers and shows scrambling for the exit, the Simpsons cheerfully dismissed an identity politics critique.
The Simpsons goes after politically correct critics, singling out "The Problem With Apu” https://t.co/4QRHsUJnd9pic.twitter.com/HZRYPWoqaI
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) April 9, 2018
The question is whether the show will pay the price.
The Twitter echo chamber attacks have made their way into the New York Times, and soon, undoubtedly into the Washington Post, the hellish nexus of Gawker/Slate/Vox that drives many of these attacks. And now that Disney is buying FOX, the Simpsons will be under the grip of a ruthless politically correct corporation that is obsessed with virtue signaling and political conformity.
The Simpsons has always been well to the left, but it was also ahead of its time in pointedly challenging the virtue signaling mores of political correctness.
There's its ruthless mockery of what has become the gender identity politics norm.
And then there was its sendup of politically correct changes to Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride (after massive complaints from two people). And its ridicule of campus SJW agitation.