Why are the kids friends with Cartman?

Why are the kids friends with Cartman?

He's a racist, causes a lot of trouble and is especially merciless on Kyle but when they aren't fighting they get along. What gives?

Didn't have too many friend when growing up?

This. Had some little shit named Gayvin (gavin) from down the road. That kid was always trying to pick a fight with us but we always invited him out to play when we were bored. We only excluded him from rare occasions. Last I recall he got expelled from High school for stabbing someone but that was years ago and I moved away

Theres a difference between having an asshole friend and having a friend that literally killed some guy's parents, became friends with culthulu, and crashed a couple of jets. We all know he has done more, but those are the example that I can think of off the top of my head.

You never had that friend that nobody knew why he was kept around?

Sure, that it was only for a few years, but this series has been stuck in "those few years" since its inception.

some groups of friends have various dynamics

some groups all the cheap/poor friend
some groups have the brain of the group
others have the guy that knows how to get guns or drugs or knows how to hack the deepweb so how all his plebe friends babbys first gore videos

other groups have the friend that everyone hates. in earlier episodes there are moments when they defend each other and have each other's backs (usually when facing opposing forces).


the simple reason why they always go back to the status quo friendship at every beginning of an episode/arc is because this show is very deliberate in structure and they are big fans of using kyle as the voice of reason and cartman as an arrogant mouthpiece strawman and just pretty much dropping lolsorandom redpills but at the same time sprinkling some wacky pills so so that no true democratic liberal could ever genuinely believe in cartman's or any of his allies/partners/supporters by the end of the episode

Probably because he would be a way bigger jerk to them if they weren't friends.

We all have that one friend. Mine back in the day was some punk named Stephen. Guy was almost exactly like Butters (even down to the weird blond hair), tagging along with me and the rest of my friends; he tried way too hard to fit in.
He got into smoking and got sent to a military school. I think they might have done their version of a Section 8 on him or something.
Kinda miss the little rat. Don't have many friends nowadays.

I miss the days when I was the weird friend and not the weird new guy around the office.

Those are just for plot and comedy effect. It's not supposed to be taken seriously.

why are the guys of TBBT friends with Sheldon?
you think a show just about best bros being nice to each other is fun to watch? there need to be some conflicts

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Because the rest of them are just as shitty when you get down to it, in different ways. Its like that Tolken episode, when he had the other rich kids move in. When he bitched out they all called him a pussy at the end. They are dicks to each other, and that's how they bond. If they see any weakness in you they pick at it. Cartman calls Kyle a jew since he sees it as a cheap thing to pick at with him. He tried calling Butters this before, he didn't get the reaction he wanted, he had to get Kyle back. They all do it though if they see something to pin you with.

Kyle kicks his baby brother and gets into just as bad of situations as Cartman as long as he thinks he's justified in doing it, Stan is an alcoholic who once gave rise to some anti-christ animals and wasted humanities one chance to know anything from god that one time, Kenny at least tries pretty well to not be shitty, but he is a slut.

They're kids, they are dicks to each other as a way of communication, if you haven't noticed they're all awful. its just that they're awful in less overt ways as Cartman. Kyle is just as bad as him when you get down to it though, he just needs to think he's doing the right thing in order to do some bad shit. I'd say that they're opposite sides of the coin.

The same reason the plot of every BBT episode is "Sheldon is an asshole and everyone else mocks him and copes with his bullshit in amusing ways."

He's not a real character anymore, just a shitty episode plot delivery device. He's friends with the others because that's the basic premise of the show. Even though at the start of the show he wasn't completely evil yet, they made him more evil over time because it was supposed to be funny.

Obviously no one cares about the believability and depth of characters from SOUTH PARK and anyone who does is accused of taking shit too seriously and being a gayfag.

Go away guys

Because the show started out with a basic group of kids. They are not that anymore.

Cartman kept evolving to be more and more extreme. But look at the start of the series when they were all depicted as kids living in a weird world.. They would laugh WITH him in pretty much everything they did. But they would still pick on one another back and fourth because that is what guys do. Rip on each other. We all had that kid in our group as kids. Spoiled, plump, rips on guys, but was still respected because he was the biggest and depicted as the most mature.

Cartman became a monster because that is what the audience found most funny. It kept growing and growing. But you would think, yeah hes a psychopath why would they hang out with him? Well it's because the show wouldn't be Southpark without him.

They're guys.

Mine was named Richie.
He's spending the next ten years in jail because he just did his 3rd strike. Elder abuse all three times.

was he cashing a crippled grandparents check or something?

There's nothing wrong with being a slut. Kenny will do pretty much anything as long as he thinks it'll be fun, or he'll get something out of it, even if it's morally wrong. That being said he does have a pretty strong moral compass these days, though he may ignore it out of fear or self-interest, and he seems more genuinely compassionate than the other boys. But that's not the same as being empathetic, Kyle is the empathetic one.

Im pretty sure you were meant to take the parent eating thing seriously.

>Why are the kids friends with Cartman?

They haven't really been "friends" with Cartman for a while now. They just tolerate having him around at this point.

Trey and Matt made South Park to show little kids are not innocent, they're fucking assholes.

Cartman may be the most evil, but the other kids aren't innocent either. They all have their Cartman-tier moments once in a while.

Also Cartman has been getting progressively better in recent seasons.

Well in the Season 19 premiere episode he did say he will became "A new and better Eric Cartman"

It's South Park, they forget things easily.

Remember how many times they forgot how Kenny killed himself in front of them.

>Remember how many times they forgot how Kenny killed himself in front of them.
But that's due to cosmic level shenanigans.

>Remember how many times they forgot how Kenny killed himself in front of them.
That was explained in the superhero episode

That's was one thing, I know it was from the same episode but damn they're forgetful.

Because BAZINGA?

When you're a kid you don't know why you're friends with someone, you just are.

>He's a racist, causes a lot of trouble and is especially merciless on Kyle
You forgot to mention his greatest sin. It was so horrible that his friends had no choice but to disown him. The fat fiend ate the skin off their KFC.

Remember that episode where cartmen got Scott, the red haired half-brother, to eat the remains of his parents in some chili?
They said they'd never fuck with Cartmen, beyond name calling

Didn't that destroy his toilet?

There's been jokes in the past where they do mention it

I know one where Kenny dies and Stan just says "well who didn't see that coming"

Another where Kenny explodes and all anyone did was laugh, commenting on how that death was actually funny

They used to pick on Cartman, but then he started picking on Pip and it amused them.
Reminder that the other kids are responsible for Cartman being evil.

>It's a "Kyle wants to put all poor people in concentration camps" episode

There was an episode about Kyle's birthday and Kyle just said it as it was: he doesn't consider Cartman his friend.

That's because they're BEST friends

But Cartman and Kenny have the BFF necklace.

They can't be real best friends without JO necklace you know.

That was back in season 7, now in season 20 he's crying over him because he took him off twitter.

He and Kenny seem to genuinely like each other, and Stan usually gets along with him too.

Kyle is just friends with Stan. More importantly, Kyle is Cartmans leash, stopping him from going too far.

Initially, because his personality was within acceptable deviations of human behavior, and because it was amusing to call him "fat-ass".

After "Scott Tenorman Must Die", they're now fucking terrified of him.

>what is suspension of disbelief

What is this fucking Cred Forums now?

Is being Canadian also a religion?

Cartman can't stand Kyle because he's jewish but he's okay with Ike.

Cartman can't stand Kyle, and uses his jewishness as an excuse. if Kyle were Catholic he'd still hate him and call him a kiddie diddler.

And would probably try to exterminate all Catholics.

Why do you keep coming to Cred Forums?
It's full of racist, causes a lot of trouble and is specially merciless on jews. But when they aren't doing any of those things you get along just fine with everyone else?

>Taking south park seriously

Wew lad

This. In a group of friends you aren't necessarily good friends with everyone else, you tolerate people because they are in your circle.

when they first met, Sheldon saved Leonard's ass at least twice, one from a relationship with a foreign spy and the other from getting blown up in a elevator.

>It's a "Kyle wants Cartman to jump 410,757,864,530 dead cops" episode

TBBT isn't fun to watch either way, fags

>People still trying to find cohesive story telling in a show like South Park

Stan doesn't like Cartman.

No they're not. They still make fun of him and beat the shit out of him when he gets out of line.

Stan is usually neutral about him

Remember when all the nations of the world nuked Finland.

In the earlier episodes, Kyle/Stan were much more meaner to Cartman. It just became more justified to ream on him when he started to go full-on racist and insufferable.

They explained it by reincarnation basically.

His mom gets pregnant with another Kenny and he dies then the cycle continues

Didn't they all agree not to piss him off after the whole Scott Tenorman thing? It's better to be Cartman's friend than his enemy, and the boys seem to have forgotten that recently.

So is Cartman just a little sjw fag now or are they building to something? The past two episodes have been all build up and no pay off, it's frustrating.

because they are kids, they don't really care if he is racist and causes a lot of trouble, plus he gets good ideas for games to play

Troublemakers are top tier friends as a kid.
And there's this thing when you don't really pick friends, or more accurately you don't leave friends for their flaws, especially as a kid or adult. Teenage years are your only window for proper friends divorce.

This. You want "that asshole kid" on your side.

They actually say it: Leonard needed an apartment and the other 2 are friends with le nerd.

The Christmas Critters was Hartman's fanfic though.

> The past two episodes have been all build up and no pay off

It's called a "story arc" user

Stan is friends with Kyle, who is friends with Kenny, who is friends with Cartman.

And then they broke all of his electronics.

>tfw you were "that kid"

His mom buys him whatever he wants. He's like the rich kid with the cool toys.

maybe they were just forced to hang out alot by their parents as a kid and they're just conditioned like that

Could see this being the case. My best friend from middle school to high school I absolutely despised when we first met, but after I was forced to hang out with him for about a year straight he kind of grew on me.

They still intentionally pissed him off and made fun of him after season 5, user.

Token is the rich kid, and Cartman doesn't share any of his shit, you know this.

>tfw you're occasionally struck by the dear that you're "that guy" in your friend group despite any and all evidence to the contrary.
It doesn't matter if my friends actively seek me out to hang out with me, even going so far as to pick me up and bring me into town so we can all hang out, the moment I text someone and they don't respond I can't help but worry that they're fed up with me.

I believe they know he dies and comes back they either put it in the back of their minds or a don't talk about it just move pass it thing.

See, thats why you shouldn't bother.

Inevitably they will see you for the unfun, boring jerk you are, so just cut out the middleman and resign yourself to solitude.

I think the ultimate tragedy about Butters is that even though you watch the show and think "man, why do they treat him like shit, he's such a nice guy" the truth is we all have that one guy we knew growing up who was the same, a genuinely decent guy that we treated terribly.

That's some deep insecurity.

Shut up Boco, stop projecting.

Yes sir...

I mean, it doesn't really effect me much, it's more that annoying, nagging voice in the back of your head.
Part of that was also because I was living away from most of my friends at the time, so communication was difficult.

Kyle secretly wants to be fucked by him.

Yep. Ours was "Shrimp", that scrawny twitchy kid who we played basketball with and whose Dreamcast we kept squatting.
I apologized to him a few years ago via facebook for bullying him, he (understandably) didn't respond.

You went away and they're still there. And I assume they also contacted you when you were away.

Sounds like you have nice friends, user.

They're assholes, but so am I, so it's a nice fit.
I'm glad to be back now though. The friends I made while I was away were genuinely good people and I always had difficulty knowing how to act around them.

He's fat and his mom is a whore...so je has reasons to be an asshole.


Dewymey from the Boondocks on the other hand...lives in a big house with a rich grandpa and is angsty or racial shit that happened two generations before him.

I assume you mean Huey. He's not much of a character, but I'm pretty sure he's also angry about what he perceives to be happening right now.
Also his very name shows he's stuck in the 60s.

they have to due to limited options and he is right next door, the stalker you keep close just to know were he is.

fuck off kyman

Don't forget how his parents named their new baby Kenny and hoped this one wouldn't die too.

Because it's a comedy show. In reality no one would put up with the shit he's done.

after seeing pic related, I can't help but see them as kismesis