Episode 477 - No Topic Off Limit

[JulyDiaz 2797]

On today’s episode, Andrew and Gaby Dunn talk about off color jokes and comedians who say no topic should be off limits. Don’t forget to keep leaving us messages by calling (323) 389-RACE.

[wakefresh 689]

I wish this guest would be a co-host on this show. She's great!

 

All comedians do have off limit boundaries. For example, make a joke about Robin Williams suicide and you'll get them ruffled and in a huff.

 

One of the things I wish you'd touched upon is the "you just don't get the joke" defense that these assholes pull out all the time. The underlying meaning of that is that the audience is just too damned stupid to get the "subtleties" of their rape jokes. Like when the Onion called Quevenzhane Wallis a cunt, to the site's defenders it wasn't that people were upset that you used a sexual slur against A 7-YEAR-OLD, no, it was that they didn't properly "get" the joke -- by calling her cunt, they weren't REALLY calling her cunt, you see. Isn't that funny? No reasonable person would call a child by that name (except for the Onion), isn't that funny? Calling her cunt was making a statement about the celebrity culture that we all live in (what is that statement? Who knows? Something something Kardashians are bad???) and funniest way to do that was by calling this little girl a cunt. Because black children and sexual slurs go hand and hand, its just inherently funny, right?

 

And it is so damned transparent this "you can make fun of us too" bullshit is just that. Just look at the death threats...fucking DEATH THREATS that a female comic fan got for making fun of a comic book cover. Apparently, those are the jokes that cross the line for white guys -- making fun of drawings. But rape? Hey, what's the big deal? Racist jokes? Hey, its ok, all of that is over now.

 

And of course Patton Oswalt is an asshole. Of course, Marc Maron is a racist prick. Comics, especially white ones, were picked on growing up. So to feel better about themselves and their situation, they look to pick on people who are "beneath" them -- and in a society where the white male is looked at as the personification of "ideal" and "normal", that leaves women (of all colors) and people of color as the targets.

 

All of these bastions of "nerd" power -- comics, video games, the internet -- are not welcoming spaces for anyone but other white guys. It's not some hippie commune where there is peace, love and attempts at understanding; its antagonistic at best, dehumanizing at the worst.

[wo 265]

MORE GABY DUNN. YES. I wasn't familiar with her before she appeared on this show; definitely a fan now.

[Podus 108]

I wish this guest would be a co-host on this show. She's great!

 

All comedians do have off limit boundaries. For example, make a joke about Robin Williams suicide and you'll get them ruffled and in a huff.

 

 

One of the things I wish you'd touched upon is the "you just don't get the joke" defense that these assholes pull out all the time. The underlying meaning of that is that the audience is just too damned stupid to get the "subtleties" of their rape jokes. Like when the Onion called Quevenzhane Wallis a cunt, to the site's defenders it wasn't that people were upset that you used a sexual slur against A 7-YEAR-OLD, no, it was that they didn't properly "get" the joke -- by calling her cunt, they weren't REALLY calling her cunt, you see. Isn't that funny? No reasonable person would call a child by that name (except for the Onion), isn't that funny? Calling her cunt was making a statement about the celebrity culture that we all live in (what is that statement? Who knows? Something something Kardashians are bad???) and funniest way to do that was by calling this little girl a cunt. Because black children and sexual slurs go hand and hand, its just inherently funny, right?

 

And it is so damned transparent this "you can make fun of us too" bullshit is just that. Just look at the death threats...fucking DEATH THREATS that a female comic fan got for making fun of a comic book cover. Apparently, those are the jokes that cross the line for white guys -- making fun of drawings. But rape? Hey, what's the big deal? Racist jokes? Hey, its ok, all of that is over now.

 

And of course Patton Oswalt is an asshole. Of course, Marc Maron is a racist prick. Comics, especially white ones, were picked on growing up. So to feel better about themselves and their situation, they look to pick on people who are "beneath" them -- and in a society where the white male is looked at as the personification of "ideal" and "normal", that leaves women (of all colors) and people of color as the targets.

 

All of these bastions of "nerd" power -- comics, video games, the internet -- are not welcoming spaces for anyone but other white guys. It's not some hippie commune where there is peace, love and attempts at understanding; its antagonistic at best, dehumanizing at the worst.

 

Wow Shariq, you must be a joy to hang out with. Who screwed up your world view so horribly.

[DanEngler 5249]

Wow Shariq, you must be a joy to hang out with. Who screwed up your world view so horribly.

Good rebuttal, bro.

[Podus 108]

Good rebuttal, bro.

 

Typing at work on a small phone. No rebuttal necessary for this dude.

[DanEngler 5249]

Typing at work on a small phone. No rebuttal necessary for this dude.

Understood. I'll just delete your pointless non sequiturs from now on.

[ComedyGangBang 88]

Apparently, those are the jokes that cross the line for white guys -- making fun of drawings.

 

wtf are you even talking about?

 

must be trolling

[HipGuide 196]

Yay, Shariq's Onion critique is back!

[wakefresh 689]

 

wtf are you even talking about?

 

must be trolling

 

http://mic.com/articles/88161/rape-threats-are-not-the-way-to-defend-comic-book-misogyny

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/21/female-journalist-gets-rape-threats-over-comic-book-criticism.html

[wakefresh 689]

Wow Shariq, you must be a joy to hang out with. Who screwed up your world view so horribly.

 

It takes real hard work to be as ignorant of the world, and people, as you are.

[wakefresh 689]

Yay, Shariq's Onion critique is back!

 

If it was so important for the Onion's "social critique" to call a kid a cunt, then its just as important that we keep talking about it. They're not just telling jokes, man, they're holding a mirror up to society, man. Speaking truth to power like Carlin, man....

[HipGuide 196]

You still don't understand that the color of her skin is irrelevant here.

[wakefresh 689]

You still don't understand that the color of her skin is irrelevant here.

 

It obviously did because she is the one who the joke was directed at. You don't see hipster jokes directed at Jersey Shore types and vice versa.

[HipGuide 196]

 

It obviously did because she is the one who the joke was directed at. You don't see hipster jokes directed at Jersey Shore types and vice versa.

 

 

She was chosen because she was a young, cute, innocent kid in a kids movie.

[HipGuide 196]

 

 

She was chosen because she was a young, cute, innocent kid in a kids movie.

 

Also, the flavor of the month at the time.

[wakefresh 689]

 

 

She was chosen because she was a young, cute, innocent kid in a kids movie.

 

Southern Beasts of the Wild is not a kid's movie. Abgail Breslin was a young, cute, innocent kid in Little Miss Sunshine, yet the brilliant comedic minds at the Onion didn't write an article where they called her a cunt. It appears that the inspiration happened upon them when the cute, innocent kid was black. Because like I said before, these people think black children and sexual slurs go hand and hand.