I'm really sorry but you are wrong. I'd like to point out that the Webelo kid was androgynous. The Webelo kid was wearing a scouts uniform. It is clear that this is not a kid with a trans identity, just a child in uniform which makes the other kids are unsure if the kid is a boy or girl.
Look at all that again. And ask yourself: what was the purpose of this character? How were they treated on the show? What point was being made with the inclusion of this scene?
The purpose of the Webelo kid character was as a plot vehicle to introduce prediction market betting apps. The Webelo kid was treated similarly to everyone else who talks in that classroom, the four boys don't listen and whisper amongst themselves. It was a plot device to move the story forward.
Because I'd say the character was introduced in a neutral to sympathetic way.
The Webelo kid is introduced neutrally, yes.
The message being "this is just who they are". The child isn't unhappy or confused, it's everyone else who has the problem!
This is inaccurate. There isn't a message in the appearance of the Webelo kid. The Webelo kid is not a child with a trans identity.
So to make it accurate, really it should be "A Webelo kid is just who they are (a kid in a scouts type club). The Webelo kid isn't unhappy or confused, no one else has a problem (with the kid being in the scouts)!"
As for the betting app, as you point out, it's portrayed in-show as a negative thing.
Agree.
The kids use it to fixate on ridiculous things and ruin people's lives.
I wouldn't say "fixate on", because South Park episodes have always shown the boys getting caught up in the newest fad, and then moving on to the next thing - like children do. It's a peer betting app so of course people will bet on ridiculous things. Again however, no one in this episode had a trans identity.
I find it really hard to believe the message Matt and Trey were trying to convey with this one wasn't: "Non-binary kids are heckin valid and just want to live their lives! Their gender doesn't matter to anyone and wondering about it or trying to find it out is an invasive, childish thing to do!"
No, this is inaccurate because no one in this episode had a trans identity, or a non-binary one either for that matter. There was no judgement on the boys showing natural curiosity about what sex the Webelo kid was, and again the Webelo kid was onscreen for less than 30s and the total chat about the Webelo kid after was only a few seconds worth of "I'm 60% sure it's a boy" "Nah dude I'm like 88% sure its a girl" before the betting app comes out and we move on to will Shelia bomb a Palestinian hospital bet.
The Webelo kid is never spoken about again for the rest of the episode.
The message seems to be that the child in question is happy as they are and the kids (and by extension, the audience) don't need to know if their classmate is a boy or a girl.
Inaccurate again IMO. I think they showed that children are naturally curious about these things.
Matt and Trey never answer the question, and seem to withhold the answer as a kind of gotcha to the audience.
It's not a gotcha, the Webelo kid isn't trans identified or non binary, just androgynous and in a scouts type uniform. The Webelo kid had served its purpose as the vehicle with which to introduce the real plot - the prediction market app betting.
The kids don't mock this new peer, as they once would have.
They would have if the Webelo kid was actually at their school, they mock everyone.
And the show doesn't comment on the reasoning behind the character's strange decision to go through life hiding such a basic fact.
The show doesn't show the Webelo kid as hiding their sex, the show makes no comment on this child other than that he or she is androgynous in the Webelo uniform. You are reading a lot more into this than what was there, the child was literally in the episode for less than 60 seconds, it's really not that deep my friend.
We aren't shown any parents driving their behaviour, or given any other indication of what's going on here.
Why would we? The behaviour shown is a talk on joining the Webelo, there is nothing else going on here.
Let alone a critique of the phenomenon.
The phenomenon being scouts type clubs for children? Prediction market apps? I'm joking, I know what you mean, but no sorry you are really reading far too much into it.
My feeling is that South Park has sold out on this one. I agree they didn't go all in, but there was a distinct whiff of "protect trans kids" / "it's no big deal" / "my gender is none of your business" propaganda about this scene. It felt off.
Sorry but there was absolutely none of this in the episode. It is never explicitly stated, or implied that the Webelo kid is trans identified or non-binary.