Dating back to the eighties running into the 2020s, The Simpsons has covered a plethora of issues that still hold up today.
- "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" explores corruption at the highest levels of government. A 1991 gem that appears even more relevant in the 2010s and into the 2020s, when faith in Congress and the presidency has been at its lowest levels.
- "Homer Badman"
- Much like Network, the episode is still considered a spot-on satire against how scandals (particularly sexual ones) are sensationalized by the media in this day and age, despite being a cartoon from 1994. The writers acknowledged this in the DVD Commentary, even arguing that things have gotten worse since this episode originally aired.
- Marge gives an intended Spoof Aesop that "as long as everyone keeps filming one another, justice will be done." This was a joke at the time, because the technology simply didn't allow for it and therefore a person being exonerated by a random bystander filming the event was an absurd Deus ex Machina. However, many people these days consider it a simple true statement; the vastly-increased availability of video cameras and smartphones has led to it being far more likely that a random person can whip out a camera and capture events that would otherwise be hearsay or unreliable witness testimony in full detail, and that evidence can often be a major clinching factor in court.
- In season 6's "The Springfield Connection", when Marge joins the Springfield Police Department, there's a scene where Lisa says that the police should focus their time on tackling the roots of social problems that lead to crime rather than just simply maintaining the status quo and jamming criminals in prison, which Marge attempts to brush off, though at the end she ultimately quits due to the corruption of the Springfield PD. In the decades since the episode aired, police brutality and abuse of power became far more widespread and talked-about issues, making Lisa's concerns very prevalent today.
- "Much Apu About Nothing" showed the legal and human side of illegal immigration. It works better at a time when Congress and states are debating greater border security and restrictions.
- In "Homerpalooza", during a flashback, middle-aged Abe rants about no longer being up to date with what was once trendy in his youth, and warns young Homer that the same will happen to him. While this illustrates that the generation gap is ever-prevalent, it bites especially hard in the age of the Internet, where trends and memes rotate very quickly and "millennials" (those born around 1980-2000s) and GenXers (born around 1970s/1980s] get lumped in with "boomers" (those born around the 1950s).
- In "Treehouse of Horror VII"'s spoof of the 1996 presidential election, Kang and Kodos replace Bill Clinton and Bob Dole: no matter which of them wins, they intend to turn America into a slave state for their planet. When the deception is revealed, the pair smugly inform the populace that because America runs on a two-party system, one of them will still rise to power. It was not quite as funny in 2000 when George W. Bush was controversially appointed rather then elected president due to a very close election and many blamed third-party candidate Ralph Nader for siphoning away votes from Al Gore resulting in his loss.Kang: [with slobbery laughter] Go ahead—throw your vote away! Ha ha ha haa!
- In "You Only Move Twice", Homer is hired to work for the Globex corporation, where he prospers because he has a nurturing, if diabolical, boss who encourages him. With the COVID pandemic and the Great Resignation revealing an American populace fed up with their workplaces, suddenly many Americans find themselves wishing to work for a company like Globex.
- "Lisa's Date with Destiny" has Lisa gain a crush on Nelson and try to make him into a better person, which (unsurprisingly) ultimately fails and causes Lisa to realize that no matter how hard she tries, she can't change him. The episode, while certainly not irrelevant in its heyday, is even more relevant today due to taking a massive swipe at the I Can Change My Beloved trope, which has garnered much more criticism in the decades after the episode's debut due to being seen as encouraging women to stay in abusive or toxic relationships under the belief that they can change their man just by "loving him harder". It's even lampshaded in the case of Marge and Homer, with Marge claiming that she turned him into a "whole new person", with Lisa not seeming to buy it.
- "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show": The episode's mockery of toxic and entitled fans has only grown in relevance since the Internet has grown. The episode also mocks the writers' who try and revive their declining show with a cheap gimmicky character, which has grown in relevance as much of the world's media has become consolidated into a few massive megacorporations.
- "Homer's Enemy" demonstrates how, often times, your ability to get along with your boss and your coworkers will get you further along in your career than your ability to perform your job competently.
- "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" has scenes involving the Betty Ford Clinic musical about celebrities going to rehab for their erratic, criminal behavior is still relevant today, thanks to the likes of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan (who actually did check into Betty Ford), Charlie Sheen, Amanda Bynes, Tara Reid, Paris Hilton, and others getting the same treatment.
- "The Cartridge Family": While not every person who owns a gun is a lunatic, there are people (like Homer) who should never own a weapon. This episode was new in 1997, predating Orlando, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and even Columbine.
- "Lard of the Dance" explores the need for girls to seem grown-up by imitating pop culture icons and wearing revealing clothing.
- "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge":
- The episode showcases the hypocrisy of Moral Guardians decrying certain art forms (In this case, animation) as "Trash" for the content it shows, while putting up other forms of art (in this case, the statue of David which is known for its nudity) as True Art. It also was amazingly ahead of its time in which Marge loses credibility in that her belief(s) are not consistent - something that people have pointed out with "fair-weather allies" of causes.
- It also shows some good values resonance in that when Meyer responded to Marge's criticism by mocking her, it only strengthened her point. After critics have been doxxed and harassed by creators weaponizing their fandom(s), this episode rings a lot more true.
- In "King-Size Homer", Homer wants to work at home instead of going to the Nuclear Power Plant day after day (albeit mainly to avoid having to go through Mr. Burns's daily 10-minute calisthenics exercises). Working at home has become more commonplace thanks to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Notably, Lisa and Marge aren't bothered by the idea of Homer working at home, only that he's doing so by abusing a program intended for the physically-disabled, pushing himself past his already-obese state and endangering his health in the process to qualify for the program.
