Friday, July 22, 2005

The Most Important Decision

As an economist you get to ponder a lot of life's major issues. Questions of life and death. Qualitative judgements. Things like;

"Do we continue to give aid to Africa or do we cut them off completely, knowing full well there will be millions of deaths, but we'd be saving millions of more in the future as the population would dwindle to a point where the economic infrastructure would be able to support it."

Or;

"At what point is it not worth paying for the elderly's health care? Should we drop $100,000 just to keep an decrepit old man alive another 6 months, or should we just let him die?"

Or;

"How much is a person's life really worth in the case of a wrongful death lawsuit? How much should the plantiff be awarded for the loss of her child/husband?"

We are unfortunately put in the position of being forced to play God.

But recently I was put in the position to make a decision that I would have never imagined I would have to make. A decision that without a doubt will be the biggest one I ever have to make. Bigger than what do I do with my life and career. Bigger than do I join the military and go to Iraq. And bigger than who do I choose to marry.

I am being forced to choose between South Park, The Family Guy and The Simpsons as to which is the funniest cartoon ever made.

I am leaning towards The Family Guy, although I certainly would appreciate any advice or commentary you might have.

3 comments:

Caliban said...

I like them all, and would have great difficulty deciding. Of those 3, I would vote for Family Guy.

I also love Futurama, and would recommend the following from the "Adult Swim" programming block on Cartoon Network: 'The Venture Brothers' and 'Harvey Birdman.'

Captain Capitalism said...

Andrew, how can you say The Family Guy is CHEAP LAUGHS??? My God, Stewy alone puts it on intelligent par with Frasier! Albeit, there's a fair amount of slap stick with Peter falling down and getting knocked out at least 3 times an episode but it's usually following some witty parody. Watch the episode where Stewy is trying to prevent his parents from having another baby. Pure genius.

David_Z said...

I'm a huge fan of family guy, and a huge fan of the simpsons. It's unfortunate that I often have to choose between the two shows in the 11pm slot, although Cartoon Network rotates their schedule every month or so, so as to accomodate people like me.

That being said, I think the Simpsons have to take the cake. Although their best seasons are behind them (notably 3-6) they still come up with great material.

The Family Guy, I believe, is poised to take the top spot, if they can put together a run anywhere near as long as the Simpsons. Their die-hard fan base is a big part of the reason that Fox brough them back after the show had previously been cancelled twice. Their parodies are witty, Stewie is effing hilarious, and you've got to love Brian. Chris' masturbatory habits are a never ending source of amusement. But I feel that many of the jokes/siutations on FG mirror too closely episodes of the Simpsons from years ago. No specifics come to mind, but I know I've noticed it on several occasions before.

South Park, for all it's political, current-events type satire-- I don't know. I got bored with that show in season 3 when I was still in High School, and haven't really watched it regularly since the movie came out.

1-Simpsons
2-Family Guy
3-South Park