*This post is quite long because this topic is quite important. There will be no TL;DR.

If you're unfamiliar with the show, South park follows 4 young boys on adventures which are wholly unimportant but allow the show to criticize and critique modern culture through a specific lens.

One of these boys is Eric Cartman and he is, without a doubt, the worst human being to exist on television. He is a sociopathic, narcissistic, manipulative fat kid with delusions of grandeur and a case of hitler hero worship; so narcissistic and sociopathic in fact that he once chopped up a kid's parents and fed them to him in chili over 16 dollars and embarrassment.

In the early episodes of the show there was a lot of focus on finding out who Eric Cartman's father was. Along the way we find out that his single mother is a notorious slut who has fucked literally every man in town so finding the father is impossible for her. So we've already set the stage for the ruination of this little boy: No father figure and a salacious mother with no shame or decision making.

Eric Cartman is obscenely fat and constantly berated and picked on for this. He can't defend himself with fists because he has no father to teach him to fight, and his mother, instead of delivering him the truth and helping him be a better person, simply aids in his delusion by telling him he's "big boned" and "it's ok, you're perfect how you are". This is how narcissists are born: delusion.

As all little boys do, Eric Cartman acts out for attention, but without a father figure there to punish him and set guidelines, Eric Cartman's need for attention grows with his antics. His stunts become increasingly violent, hateful, and unrestrained. He has learned that he can manipulate his mom's kindness into escaping all punishment and in turn learns to manipulate the world around him.

Eventually his mother grows so weary and drained from her son that she brings in Cesar Milan, dog trainer, as a last ditch effort. Cesar Milan effortlessly trains Cartman through a series of strict disciplinary actions. He treats him like a child because he is one. Not surprisingly, with his fragile ego and narcissism being broken down, Cartman fights back, but is unable to trump true masculinity because he has no weapons to fight it with. His enabling mother is too wooed by Cesar Milan's masculinity to enable her son any further.

So what happens? Unsurprisingly, Cartman's mom falls in love with Cesar but when she realizes he was only there for work and has no interest in her romantically, you instantly reverts back to the coddling mother because her son is the only man in her life and her femininity is utterly and completely tied to his satisfaction. Cartman instantaneously reverts back into his evil self and the show ends.

As someone who has spent an inordinate amount of time around single mothers, this hits the nail on the head. Whenever my own single mom is feeling rejected and alone, she calls me all the time and wants to buy me stuff or take me places. When I was younger this nearly ruined me. I, like many young men of this generation, had a lot of Eric Cartman in me. A lot of anger from a lack of guidance on how to command our dormant masculinity, a lot of anger at mothers who couldn't keep fathers around or married the wrong ones because they were good at commanding her emotions.

This is the state of single motherhood, where children are either neglected once their mother finds a new partner---or in the modern age a new male boss to obey---or they're coddled as a reminder of the great love this woman once had.

You can see it not just in television but in sports as well. Is it shock great QBs like peyton manning and tom brady have strong father figures? Is it a shock that Kobe/Jordan had strong fathers who taught them how to dominate, meanwhile Lebron/Durant always seemed a little soft, a little...off?

I could spout anecdotal evidence all day. I could recite fact after fact. But a 25 minute cartoon does a better job of showing the disease of Single Motherhood than anything I could put together.