{"id":28543,"date":"2012-07-11T23:22:53","date_gmt":"2012-07-12T05:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/11\/taint-funny-mcgee-2.html"},"modified":"2012-07-11T23:22:53","modified_gmt":"2012-07-12T05:22:53","slug":"taint-funny-mcgee-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/11\/taint-funny-mcgee-2.html","title":{"rendered":"'Tain't funny, McGee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it my imagination, or has rape become the new funny "edgy" comic material thing? \u00a0And if it has, can we just, y'know, stop it?<\/i><\/p>\n

I read a report of this (read the article below) on\u00a0Twitter this morning, and what was remarkable (i.e., disturbing) was the reaction to someone complaining about a comedian . \u00a0To wit:<\/p>\n

1. To complain about it is censorship and shows you hate the First Amendment.<\/i> \u00a0Dolt. To say the government should shut down any comedy show that Tosh is doing, or that features rape jokes — that<\/i> would be censorship. Saying that rape jokes are bad and icky and socially unacceptable — that's criticism.<\/i> To say that TV networks that showcase such comedians should be informed (through contact and by boycott) of the social unacceptability of such things is not censorship, it's society itself. And at the risk of doing the old bounce-back tactic, trying to stifle criticism by calling it censorship is worse than criticism itself, because it's wrong<\/i>.<\/p>\n

2. Why care what Tosh is doing comedy about? It's a free country.<\/i> \u00a0See #1. Yes, it's a free country — free to criticize people who are acting in a crass, hurtful fashion, even if they term it comedy.<\/p>\n

3. Some forms of comedy are all about being shocking. If you don't like it, don't view it.<\/i> \u00a0Again, so no matter what the topic, no matter how rude, or personal, or insulting, or profoundly unfunny, we should just ignore it because it's "shock comedy"? \u00a0If the comedian starts talking about how downright hilarious\u00a0it is that the Nazis sexually molested retarded Holocaust victims, we should just say, "Huh, guess that's not my cuppa" and shrug it off? \u00a0If a comedian starts joking about what a good and pleasant time was had at Southern lynching parties, we (let's even say the hypothetical African-American audience member) should simply internally tsk-tsk about how shocking shock comedy has gotten these days and order another watered down Coke & Rum? \u00a0I disagree.<\/p>\n

4. Why didn't she just walk out, rather than speaking up?<\/i> \u00a0Because some folks feel the need to stand up to what they think is wrong. \u00a0And\u00a0feel that simply leaving is not a strong enough statement (are you going to the bathroom? do you have to go home to relieve the babysitter? are you just tired and want to leave?). Read the actual article, why don't you — she talks about that?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, I would like to think that I'm not so much of a hypocrite that I would feel (or write) differently if the comedian had been poking fun at something I consider humorous and someone else would be deeply hurt and offended by. \u00a0I think that's the case — criticism of such things is part of the social dynamic, as legitimate as the initial "comic" statement. \u00a0Your right to say something doesn't mean that everyone has to listen, or refrain from comment or disagreement. Making any sort of controversial statement — whether it's one I agree with or one I don't — has social consequences, and that's part of why it takes courage to be actually controversial to make a point (as opposed to being controversial to make a buck).<\/p>\n

Ugh. It's too late to be pondering this sort of thing. I'm out.<\/p>\n

\n

Embedded Link<\/strong><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSo a Girl Walks into a Comedy Club….<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis is something that happened to a friend of mine in her own words.
\n\u201cSo, on Friday night my friend and I were at her house and wanted to get out and do something for the evening. We brainstormed…\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Google+:<\/strong> View post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it my imagination, or has rape become the new funny "edgy" comic material thing? \u00a0And if it has, can we just, y'know, stop it? I read a report of this (read the article below) on\u00a0Twitter this morning, and what was remarkable (i.e., disturbing) was the reaction to someone complaining about a comedian . \u00a0To … Continue reading “'Tain't funny, McGee”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[124],"class_list":["post-28543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","tag-124"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26652,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/23\/taint-funny-mcgee.html","url_meta":{"origin":28543,"position":0},"title":"'Tain't funny, McGee","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 23-Feb-12 9:12pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, we've all heard of the prison rape jokes. Heck, I've made them myself. There's something that is, on the surface, funny and appealing about the idea of some person who's committed some heinous crime being locked up for a \"mere\" prison sentence, only to find himself the \"girlfriend\" of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20001,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/04\/when-is-threatening-someone-with-rape-something-the-good-guys-do.html","url_meta":{"origin":28543,"position":1},"title":"When is threatening someone with rape something the good guys do?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 4-Feb-11 2:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Answer: far too often, at least on TV. As a preliminaary, Les has an interesting post about a Penny Arcade comic strip and the huge brouhaha over what some seemed to interpret as a joke about rape (it's actually, to my mind, anything but). It's worth a read, both for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "TV"","block_context":{"text":"TV","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-tv"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/castle.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28570,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/13\/taint-funny-mcgee-part-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":28543,"position":2},"title":"'Tain't Funny, McGee, Part 2","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 13-Jul-12 10:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Reference to this article came from +Heather Dicianna\u00a0in comments to the first post I made on the subject. \u00a0Good stuff, worth reading. Embedded Link The best response we've heard to Daniel Tosh's 'misquoted' rape jokes - 2012-Jul-12 Editor's note: By now, you've probably heard about the terrible (because it's all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128368,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/20\/censorship-is-not-the-way-to-battle-terrorism.html","url_meta":{"origin":28543,"position":3},"title":"Censorship is not the way to battle terrorism","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 20-Oct-15 7:49am","format":false,"excerpt":"But terrorism makes a great excuse for censorship of all sorts.I vote with Jefferson: the best way to combat bad ideas is with good ideas:'Truth will do well enough if left to shift for herself. She seldom has received much aid from the power of great men to whom she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":136529,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/05\/23\/apparently-the-fcc-gets-a-lot-of-complaints-about-youtube.html","url_meta":{"origin":28543,"position":4},"title":"Apparently the FCC gets a lot of complaints about YouTube","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 23-May-18 10:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"The majority seem to be \"Anyone who takes stuff I like down from their privately owned site is practicing censorship because YouTube is a public utility so the FCC should be forcing them to leave up the stuff I like.\" Though there's a good sprinkling of \"YouTube has stuff I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/unnamed-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":137260,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/sixteen-candles-and-rape-culture.html","url_meta":{"origin":28543,"position":5},"title":""Sixteen Candles" and rape culture","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 28-Sep-18 8:59am","format":false,"excerpt":"I will confess I have never seen the rom-com classic of 1984, Sixteen Candles. I don't do rom-coms, to be honest.Perhaps that gives me the perspective to note:1. The subplot described is, by 2018 standards (my standards in 2018, at least), horrible.2. Had I watched it in 1984, I probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}