wakefresh

The first item you spoke about is interesting. Around the the same time as the Black Power movement was the Chicano Pride movement. There was a lot of imagery and language that evoked their Native American lineage. I assumed that this was analogous to members of the Black Power movement taking on African names, wearing traditional West African clothes, and interest in West African religions. It was a way to connect to something that had been cut from you (through slavery or indoctrination) and they were trying to reclaim this part of themselves. Do you think those Chicano Pride members were using this imagery from a place of privilege within Mexican culture? If it was different, can you tell me why? The second point is the reason why I kinda love wrestling. It is a physical representation of the hopes and fears of working class people in its respective countries. For awhile there was a wrestler in the WWE called Golddust who I think was the most flamboyant wrestler in ages. He was like a white Little Richard. And he was the heel for all of his career. In American wrestling the heels are usually guys with white collar jobs (I.R.S), rich people (The Million Dollar Man, Hunter Hearst Hemly) and educated people (The Professor). The good guys are down-home, good ole boy rednecks (Dusty Rhodes, Bob Backlund, Steve Austin). It just really crazy to see the collective psychic energy of a population being manifest in physical form.

So, it's not just for entertainment value? I thought that the masks were a part of the pageantry of wrestling, sort like how wrestlers in the U.S. have a long tradition of wearing capes and face paint. Maybe I should take my own advice and Google it.

Damn, this was a good conversation. Andrew is right, it's not anyone's job to change/convert your racist (and/or lazy) ass. Google is your friend.

Jason will drown in an ocean of his own jizz if he watched this. This is movie where she is topless. right?

See, I kinda liked this movie. I thought the fight scenes were the only redeeming quality. I like the RZA, but the fatal flaw in this movie was casting himself as the lead. He cannot act. He should have gone to Spike Lee route and give himself a small bit because that is alot to carry --- he acted and directed this movie. I thought he did a better job of directing.

HOW DARE YOU, SIR! I am a budding comedian and you saying that will stop me from telling more jokes, there will be a chilling effect. Why can't you take a joke? This is how comedy works. Blah, Blah, Blah!

I agree that they cut June off too much and sometimes even step on her jokes. Its a running thing on the show.

I thought that Retta talking about the racial aspects of Scary Spice (oh God, I wonder if she regrets all of the leopard print) was on point. Because its not really including black females in this Girl Power frenzy if you're just using the same old racist tropes to represent them. It would be like having Sporty Spice be a cheerleader and she always says stuff like "I don't want to play soccer myself, I just want to cheer on the boys! Aww yeah!" I actually think the Spice Girls are a interesting allegory for feminism in general. I mean, they did include a black woman in the group, which is good, but then turn around and say, "Ok, I need you to be in a box, so I can be comfortable being around you. When we perform, can you hold this spear and wear this kente cloth mini-dress?"

But the racial implications don't just disappear because of the Girl Power stuff. Its almost like, its Girl Power for some, and bones in the noses for others.

I'll untwist my dashiki as soon as you put out the cross you and your buddies lit on my front lawn. So because the majority of white people didn't hear or didn't care about something then its socially acceptable to do? Gotcha! And this is what I don't understand, if there are so many "reasonable" people in the world, then how the hell is sexism or racism still around? Doesn't make sense, huh? It's like you and the Onion writers are living in some alternate white boy reality that is divorced from what is actually happening in the world. To make an analogous joke about Biden, they would have had to make the punchline about him being stupid white male. That is what the Onion did to Quvenzhane Wallis; the joke only "works" because she is a black female. Oh, and also, there would have to have a systematic disenfranchisement of white males in the country as a backdrop to make the Onion's type of "satire" (bullshit quotes, again) work. I don't think I have to explain to you that negative feedback is negative feedback. And if other comics chastise other comics about the jokes that they it can lead to a chilling effect where they do safer jokes because they don't want to upset the other comics in the room. But if you meant that negative feedback coming from minorities (the butts of the joke, most of the time) is what is really damaging comedy, then just say so. Like Andrew says, white people are the worst.

Ok, for me, this movie was a mix of three different things: 1) A vehicle to release new songs. I think that Spice Up Your Life song was new when the movie came out. 2) A movie so that the Spice Girls' fans (8-13 yr olds) could see their heroes on the big screen 3) A British propaganda film. That's why you have all of those confusing cameos by Hoskins, Moore, and Elton John. I think Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry were doing their TV show at the time, so they would have been big stars in England as well. I think the Brits really enjoy them, that's why they were a part of the Olympic opening ceremonies.

How much you wanna bet June slapped Paul upside the head after the recording for calling Ginger Spice old? Cause she was PISSED at that.

But that means that the group that spoke first is the one that has the freedom. If another group disagrees, they can't express their disagreements. Sounds like you went to the Sarah Palin School of Gumnit

So, here's the thing about the Onion joke. Very few who defend it say it was a funny joke. Very few of the defenders say, "ya know what, calling that little black girl a cunt was one of the funniest things of the night." The joke is bad because no one laughed. That's not subjective at all. In fact people were angry. So, the dynamic was people like yourself -- self-styled anti-PC "rebels" -- who swarm down to invalidate other people's reactions and to give big treatises on the State of Comedy and How It All Works all the while saying they themselves didn't find it funny. If you were such a lover of comedy, you wouldn't be defending a joke that no one laughed at. If you were a lover of comedy, you would be booing just as loudly because the comic didn't have the skills to pull off the joke. You know who can be the toughest audience for a comic? Other comics. But under your stupid worldview, every time those comic bust each other's balls, that is leading to a "chilling effect" (for the record those are bullshit quotes. I use those when I am speaking of things, I think are bullshit.) That means that every audience member at every comedy show ever much give the comic a standing ovation after every show, regardless of whether they thought the comic was good or not. I mean, if you show a comic any kind of negativity, that is going to stifle their creative powers and then they won't be able to insult minorities the way you like. And I love how you think that people getting upset over shitty jokes is somehow fake. That must mean in your mind that you believe that there is no possible way how someone can be upset that you called a child a cunt. It's literally impossible for you to fathom. But this is not about comedy or the comedic process. Like I said, if you valued comedy you would be booing just as loud at a bad comic as the person who said comic inartfully insulted. No, I believe white males (overwhelmingly white males defended the Onion's crap) defend these sort of jokes because it the last socially acceptable outlet for them to say all of the racist, misogynistic homophobic crap that they would like to say in public. By hiding behind the "its a joke" defense, they can say whatever they like and then turn any disagreement about the joke into a bullshit conversation about comedy, a bullshit conversation about sensitivity, or a bullshit conversation about freedom of speech. I love how you paint some sort of bleak, dystopian comedic future where every budding comic is given a Book of Taboos and told not to make jokes about anything written within or else they will be taken to the public square and beaten. If you truly believe that the underpinnings of comedy rely on calling minority children gendered slurs, making light of sexually assaulting a woman, or rehashing racist street jokes from the 1850s, then I am glad that people like you are suffering public backlash. Hopefully that will stop them from going to an open mic and spreading their bullshit. Maybe all of you like-minded anti-PC rebels can join a club in this futuristic, bleak comedy landscape. Maybe you guys can wear funny uniforms when you get together. Oooh, and light up bonfires on people's lawns at night. Of course, you'd have to wear white hoods to keep to smoke from your faces...

So in this idiotic scenario you have created, the people who disagree with the Onion and the Westboro church are agents of the federal government?

Since he's a big fan of musicals, I can see him giving them unsolicited singing and dancing advice, especially Posh. "For God's sake, woman, stop pouting and move your body. And I know you're lip syncing, but you still have to move your mouth to make it believable."

I think that's very insensitive of them. Everyone knows he has a bladder issue.

So, bad jokes are critical to the comedic process but how will anyone know that the joke didn't work? In your idiotic world it is impossible to give negative feedback, because somehow it is petty to do so. Also, where is this chart that outlines the appropriate time for closing off all discussion on a topic? You and Garrett seem VERY, VERY INTERESTED in just closing off any sort of discussion about the tweet. Garrett is a quasi-Pollyana who thinks that it is just common sense that everybody thought that the tweet was offensive. Hell, if that was case, then how does the tweet exist in the first place? Are the Onion writers not people. Are they really aliens from Omnicron Eight? And you think that the expiration date on discussion about the topic died out a long time ago (the Oscars were in February), so just BRINGING IT UP is an offense, and is petty, and means I have no sense of humor. Then, to add on your stupid idea, you say it just a part of the comedic process to call children cunts. If anyone says they don't like a joke, you are stifling the creativity of these geniuses. So, how do comics know a joke is "bad" in Hyde's world? That's a trick question: there are no such thing as bad jokes. Every single joke is great and if you don't like it, that just means you're a ole stick in the mud like me. What's that, you don't like being called racial slurs by some stupid alt comic? Hey, those jokes are a part of their act and you are stifling their creative freedom if you dare speak up on it. What's that, you don't like it when comics make jokes about killing their (hypothetical) gay son? Hey, after he apologizes one is to EVER bring it up again. Jeez, you big baby, get over it. What is with you and Critical (Race) Theory? I applaud you on your Google skills, but you don't know the first thing about Critical Theory if you are defending that tweet. A more likely scenario is that you heard about it on some conservative talk radio show and now you think it is going to destroy all white people, enslave all white people, or some such nonsense.

Both him and the Unabomber have crazy beards...

Once again we have someone commenting on something that they don't have the full story on (or even a quarter of the story). Hyde, those weren't scare quotes -- those were quotation marks, that is what you do when you are quoting somebody. The somebody I was quoting was Scott12345Troll. He, himself, called what the Onion did a bad joke...and went to say no one should be upset about it. How stupid is that? A person ADMITS that the joke is wrong, bad, and awful and yet still tells someone that they are not allowed to have negative feelings in response. And I totally understand your sense of humor Hyde -- calling little girls cunts is on par with Voltaire. It's an added bonus that the girl was black. But if they really wanted to add on some more satire, they should have called her the n-word, right? That would've showed the PC police.

When people have to the need to defend something they call "bad jokes," then it must not have been too bad, right?

How does this still cost $9.99? It should be, at most, two dollars.

This is a repeat question, but yes, the phrase "All-American" refers to white women/men. No one is referring to Grace Park as an "All-American girl".

This ep makes me so happy!!!

I doubt that you thought it was a bad joke. You probably laughed your ass off because calling a little girl a cunt is the FUNNIEST thing to you. And that it was a little black girl? Icing on the cake.