"The Death Camp of Tolerance" is episode 614 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on November 20, 2002.

Plot

In this episode, Mr. Garrison is promoted from being the kindergarten teacher to the fourth grade teacher; he had 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 to get a "partner" (business and personal) named Mr. Slave, an S&M whore. He then proceeds to do outrageous acts in the classroom, culminating with performing gerbilling on the class pet, Lemmiwinks.

The kids' parents, hearing the children complain about their gay teacher, feel they are intolerant and send them to the Museum of Tolerance, and then Tolerance "Camp." Back at school, Mr. Garrison is set to receive the "Courageous Teacher Award", and plans to make himself seem as insanely homosexual as possible to get fired; meanwhile, Lemmiwinks traverses the regions of Mr. Slave's bowels, receiving advice from a series of animal spirits who have already died there.

Finally, at the Awards Ceremony, Mr. Garrison appears with his lover in the most stereotypically, flamboyantly gay, not to mention sexually suggestive, mode ever, and when people continue to call him "courageous" for his actions he finally breaks down and screams at them, telling them that tolerance of something you hate is different than acceptance of it as good and that he should not be allowed to teach the way he does. Revealing his plan to get money, he is thrown into Tolerance Camp, as Principal Victoria deems him "intolerant of his own behavior." The parents apologize to their kids, who have been released from Tolerance Camp, for not listening to them. Mr. Slave coughs up Lemmiwinks, who is crowned the Gerbil King by the animal spirits and then sets off to have more adventures.

Trivia

• The minorities shown in the Hall of Stereotypes:
  • An African American eating chicken and watermelon (the tour guide ignores the fact that he appears dumb, is very well built and has a gun, all three of which are common stereotypes)
  • An Arab as a terrorist
  • An Asian with a calculator
  • A covetous Jew
  • A sleepy Mexican janitor (who turns out to be a real sleeping Mexican janitor)
• It is ironic that the Jewish statue in the Hall of Stereotypes is referred to as the "covetous Jew" in this episode, as in "The Return of the Lord of the Rings to the Two Towers", the episode directly preceding it, Cartman referred to Kyle as the "covetous Jew", rather than "the Paladin."
• The old, cartoon version of The Hobbit is lampooned in Lemmiwinks' adventures.
• Even though Lemmiwinks has only appeared in two episodes, he is one of the most popular characters.
• "The Death Camp of Tolerance" was advertised as a propaganda film in Bigger, Longer & Uncut. However, in the movie, the narrator corrects himself by saying "did I say death camps? I meant Happy Camps."
• During Lemmiwinks' adventures inside Mr. Slave, the Catata Fish is holding a pistol. The Frog King and The Sparrow Prince carry a scepter and a sword respectively.
• "The Death Camp of Tolerance" is a parody of concentration camps during World War II. The Death Camp sequence itself was in black-and-white, in a parody of Schindler's List.
• Author Paul Gottfried invoked the "death camp of tolerance" as a conceivable logical conclusion to the trends in European politics he was polemicizing against in his book The Strange Death of Marxism.
• While neither Butters nor Tweek were with the boys in the previous two episodes, they both go with Stan, Kyle and Cartman to the museum.
• This episode was the final time Mr. Hat was seen in the series.
• After Mr. Garrison's angry outburst, a character responds "But the museum tells us to be tolerant." This character and event is a reference to a The Original Series episode called "The Apple."

South Park episodes: Season 6