The Death Camp of Tolerance

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"The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers"

"The Death Camp of Tolerance"

"The Biggest Douche in the Universe"

"The Death Camp of Tolerance"
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 14
Production no.	614
Original airdate	November 20, 2002
Episode chronology Previous Next "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers" "The Biggest Douche in the Universe"
List of all South Park episodes

"The Death Camp of Tolerance" is the fourteenth episode of Season Six, and the 93rd overall episode of South Park. It aired on November 20, 2002.

Synopsis

The boys are sentenced to the Death Camp of Tolerance where they learn how to treat minorities. Mr. Slave and Lemmiwinks make their debut in this episode.

Plot

Spoiler warning! Plot details follow.

Mr. Garrison is promoted from being the kindergarten teacher to the fourth-grade teacher by Principal Victoria, after having been previously demoted for admitting to being a homosexual. However, realizing that getting fired for being gay 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, terrifying the fourth graders.

The children's parents, hearing the children complain about their teacher's actions, mistake their complaints as being intolerant and send them to the Museum of Tolerance as punishment. Ironically at the end of the tour, the tour guide on site viciously castigates a man caught smoking in the museum grounds with the parents joining in, contrary to what was being imparted throughout the tour. Back in school, Mr. Garrison conducts a science experiment by placing the class pet Lemmiwinks into Mr. Slave's anus, much to the horror of the class. The boys relay their experience to Chef, who, being the only adult who takes their complaints seriously, reports the incident to Victoria. Chef is instead sent to a tolerance seminar, much to the surprise of Chef and Garrison.

When the boys are found to have skipped class over Mr. Garrison's antics, Mr. Mackey regards it as another act of discrimination, and suggests to their parents an Auschwitz-like "Tolerance Camp" which uses arts and crafts and painful labor to teach children tolerance. The boys are consequently sent to the camp, undergoing intense fingerpainting under the eyes of the camp warden.

Back at school, Mr. Garrison is set to receive the "Courageous Teacher Award" for overcoming adversity. Frustrated that he has not been fired, Garrison goes all out at the ceremony in a flamboyant and stereotypical gay manner. 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 a Catatafish respectively). "The Ballad of Lemmiwinks", a parody of the title song from The Hobbit, is played in the background along with other songs from the movie.

At the awards ceremony, Sharon tells Randy that she is ashamed of their son for his intolerance of gay people, as the museum curator announces how Mr. Garrison endured the way everyone ridicules him for being gay. After she calls Mr. Garrison on stage to receive his courageous teaching award, he appears with Mr. Slave in an extremely stereotypical and flamboyant gay manner, with the kids' parents realizing that they were trying to tell them about Mr. Garrison's disturbing acts and not his way of life. As Mr. Garrison and Mr. Slave are trying to put on the same act for the adults that they put on for the students, they clap for them, with the boys forced to play along out of fear of being labeled intolerant. Mr. Garrison, frustrated that his plan is not working, finally breaks down in anger, admitting that he is trying to get fired for being gay and that they should not allow students to be taught by someone with that kind of behavior. He also gives a speech on how tolerating and accepting are not the same thing and that the name of the museum should be changed to The Museum of Acceptance because all of the exhibits reveal things to accept, not tolerate because tolerance means that you are just putting up with something annoying, like sitting next to a crying child on an airplane or having a bad cold and it is still ok to get irritated at it. The parents then realize that they sent their children to the tolerance camp for nothing because they never hated homosexuals, they just hated Mr. Garrison and Mr. Slave's disturbing act, so they head to the camp to reclaim their boys. Mr. Garrison then asks if he can please get fired, so he can get his money from the board, but Principal Victoria says that she has something else in her mind.

Meanwhile, outside the tolerance camp, the parents apologize to their emaciated and malnourished kids for misunderstanding what they were trying to tell them. As they head home, Principal Victoria decides to enroll Mr. Garrison and Mr. Slave into the tolerance camp for being intolerant of their behavior. As the owner of the camp tells Mr. Garrison and Mr. Slave that they will be going through a lot of pain and suffering, Mr. Slave comments that this could be kind of fun. He then coughs up Lemmiwinks, who is then congratulated by Frog King, Sparrow Prince, and Catatafish for escaping from Mr. Slave's body and gets crowned the gerbil king.