n the latest issue of World, one of the leading conservative Christian magazines, readers are treated to the typical conservative complaint against The Simpsons.

"Much to the distaste of some conservatives" The Simpsons is coming back for a thirteenth season we are told to their dismay — and my glee. "The key to the show's success," according to World, "is that it plays on two levels. "On the surface is a dysfunctional family tale." In the background "lurk" a collection of cultural references, sight gags, cinematic illusions [sic], celebrity cameos, and quick takes."

The editors nod to Bart's bad boyness and fail to mention Homer at all. Instead they suggest that Lisa is the "worse role model." Bart's just a mere trouble-maker while Lisa, "as the moral voice of the show," is a one-world feminist and anti-corporate zealot. The worst offense is that Lisa feels she's bound for better things. "Middle-class existence is just not good enough; she belongs somewhere better — like Harvard, the alma mater of numerous Simpsons writers."

This is all largely true if not necessarily relevant. Lisa is certainly the liberal voice of the show. But what seems lost on the gang over at the World is that Lisa is quite often exposed as an intellectual fool. Her intellectual anomie receives near constant derision. World says she has "more schemes to save the world than the UN General Assembly." Exactly, and just like the UN General Assembly, Lisa is constantly messing things up because the world doesn't operate as she thinks it should.

For example, in the 1999 episode "They Saved Lisa's Brain," Lisa joins a group of intellectuals — and major losers — who set out to create a "new Athens," or a "Walden II." The would-be Committee for Public Safety's arrogance of intellect runs amok and they set out to make the world hyper-rational, imposing theoretical schemes on a non-theoretical world. My favorite example comes from the comic book guy. "Inspired by the most logical race in the galaxy, the Vulcans, breeding will be permitted once every seven years; for many of you this will mean much less breeding; for me, much, much more."

The intellectuals grow disputatious, as all avant-gardes do, and Homer seizes the moment to lead a counterrevolution; "C'mon you idiots, we're taking back this town!" As University of Virginia professor Paul Cantor writes in Political Theory, this episode is the "epitome of what the Simpsons does so well. It can be enjoyed on two levels — as both broad farce and intellectual satire."

Enjoyed, that is, by everyone except the gang over at World.