"Miss Hairyarmpitsbad", "Miss Slackistan", or Why

[jbg]

We can debate the intricacies of race-fueled comedy until the end of time, but it isn't really applicable in this case. (I'd hope) that anyone with common sense can see this obviously crosses a line.

What if a bunch of people dressed up as catholic priests and pretended to rape little boys? You think they'd just let that pass?

Better to debate it than to riot.

[M.Dancer]

All kidding aside, what would happen? If you have to, PM me the answer.

I believe the Hasidim would chase you out of the area punctuating their opinion with sticks and stones.

[jbg]

I believe the Hasidim would chase you out of the area punctuating their opinion with sticks and stones.

Immature and nasty, but hardly deadly.

[CLRV]

Yes-yes. All very amusing.

However rationalizing this away with a "humour is subjective" deliberately misses the intent. There is a thing in comedy known as the Cheap Shot. It's not admired nor enjoyed, generally speaking. Nor do people have a tough time recognizing it as ugly and more an indication of a lack of genuine humour in the person doing it. Cheap shots draw audience groans and boos, not laughs. People ask "Is that the best you can do?"

Islamic women? Could these wags have attacked anybody more powerless if they tried? What's funny is how the Islamic woman was justification for military invasion. Oh they have to wear burkas and they can't go to school and you anti-war hypocrites don't care about them the way we in the cheerleading squad do. Then the next moment the exact same people are posting that a cheap shot like "Miss Hairyarmptsbad" is "hilarious and harmless". So much for our abiding western concern for the plight of the poor Muslim woman.

Only the most ignorant and boorish could find this amusing, let alone actually perpetrate it as an attempt at fun. Trying to pluralize it with a "one man's meat is another man's poison" excuse is simply an attempt to obfuscate the obvious. A cheap shot is kicking somebody while they are down. It is the act of a coward.

Thank God good taste prevailed in this one instance.

[M.Dancer]

Yes-yes. All very amusing.

Islamic women? Could these wags have attacked anybody more powerless if they tried? What's funny is how the Islamic woman was justification for military invasion. Oh they have to wear burkas and they can't go to school and you anti-war hypocrites don't care about them the way we in the cheerleading squad do. Then the next moment the exact same people are posting that a cheap shot like "Miss Hairyarmptsbad" is "hilarious and harmless". So much for our abiding western concern for the plight of the poor Muslim woman.

Thank God good taste prevailed in this one instance.

I think if you read my first responses you will find that I feel it is in bad taste. But I also feel that bad taste is a right. I think the Police overstepped their authority and (if you may) trampled on the right of free expression, artist freedom and the freedom to make an ass out of yourself.

Everyone in our society should be put on notice that everything is fair game for a cheap shot or even a barbed wit. Big noses, religious fervour, Irish accents, dredlocks, pot smokers, stay at home mothers, recent immigrants, old money, nouveau riche, social conservative hypocrits, female politicians with (subjectively speaking) dumptruck arses, Anglicans, Hari Krishnas, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, Arther and Martha, Adam and Steve, etc etc etc.....

And if they don't like they are certainly free to tell everyone they want .

[CLRV]

Everyone in our society should be put on notice that everything is fair game for a cheap shot or even a barbed wit. Big noses, religious fervour, Irish accents, dredlocks, pot smokers, stay at home mothers, recent immigrants, old money, nouveau riche, social conservative hypocrits, female politicians with (subjectively speaking) dumptruck arses, Anglicans, Hari Krishnas, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, Arther and Martha, Adam and Steve, etc etc etc.....

You forgot handicapped people and terminal cancer patients. There's a goldmine of yuks there, as long as we're all being complete assholes

And if they don't like they are certainly free to tell everyone they want .

Which of course was my whole point. Some people don't have the power or ability to do that.

Edited August 30, 2007 by CLRV

[M.Dancer]

You forgot handicapped people and terminal cancer patients. There's a goldmine of yuks there, as long as we're all being complete assholes

WHat do you call a woman with one leg?

Ilene

What do you call a Chinese Woman with one leg?

Irene

What do you call a woman who keeps getting lymphoma over and over again?

A Lymphomaniac

[M.Dancer]

Which of course was my whole point. Some people don't have the power or ability to do that.

Who? Chances are if the don't have the power to express that they were offended, they propbably did even see or hear the skit.

Like all those people who were so offended by The Satanic Verses/Last Temptation of Christ etc, how many actually reas or saw what was supposed to be offending them?

[M.Dancer]

Sorry......

A Man Hears He Has Cancer

A man hears from his doctor that he has cancer and only has six months to live. The doctor recommends that he marry an accountant and move to Cultra. The man asks, "Will this cure my cancer?" "No," said the doctor, "but the six months will seem much longer!"

Praying For A Miracle

A religious man discovers that he has testicular cancer, and decides to pray for a miracle. The next day he visits a urologist, who tells him he must have surgery immediately. He tells the doctor "I do not want you to remove my testicle, I am praying for a miracle from God". Then he visits a radiologist, who tells him that he must begin radiation therapy immediately. He tells the doctor "I do not want you to expose my body to radiation, I am putting my faith in God." Finally he visits an oncologist, who tells him that he must start chemotherapy immediately. He tells the doctor "I do not want you to inject me with caustic chemicals, God will heal me." A few months later he dies and goes to heaven, where he is very upset and asks God why he didn't give him a miracle. God replies "I gave you three miracles, a urologist, an oncologist and a radiologist, but you chose to ignore them."

[jbg]

You forgot handicapped people and terminal cancer patients. There's a goldmine of yuks there, as long as we're all being complete assholes

How do you put savages in the same category as handicapped people and terminal cancer patients?

[jennie]

What do you call a man with no arms and no legs floating in the water?

Bob.

What do you call a man with no arms and no legs hanging on the wall?

Art.

True, we get a laugh from offensive humour at the expense of others.

However, usually in private where no one is directly offended.

On the street at a public event, to make fun of people's religion ... is WAY beyond the realm of acceptable.

I would like to comment on the priest jokes, though: I think where a pattern of guilt has been established, such humour has its place in discrediting a profession that has repeatedly discredited itself in the most vile way possible, without proper attention to the need for serious reform of its policies: Nothing but coverup. The humour is more of a political, societal statement of well deserved scorn, imo.

Edited August 31, 2007 by jennie

[JB Globe]

What we have here is religious/ethnic hatred masquerading as comedy.

You have a group of white people who are cowardly using the excuse of "it's a joke" to make fun of Muslims for being Muslim. The "humour" is so obvious it's lame and lazy - "Muslim women are hairy!" - Congradulations Captain Comedy - you know how to mimic a played-out stereotype. Here, have a cookie. What's the sequel? Are these Cro-Magnon Men going to wheel around in wheelchairs and fall out of them so fellow primates can have a laugh? - "Har-har-har! Look at that! That cripple fell out of his wheelchair! Har-har-har!" With comedic talent like that, you wonder why none of these guys are performing on stage, right?

This crap should not be confused with comedians who poke fun at quirks in religion or ethnicity in an equal-opportunity way - ie: Russel Peters, Dave Chappelle. You won't catch these folks making fun of themselves, only making fun of others. With these guys, their humour is inclusive, meaning they set up their routine so that everyone lightens up on touchy subjects and ends up laughing as much at the ridiculousness of things like racism, stereotyping, as much as they do their part in such things. ie - Peters makes fun of both the minority of Indians who act stereotypical and white people who ignorantly think these folks represent the whole community. Their aim is to get people laughing together, and their humour about other groups of people is informed by their real-life friendships with people from those groups.

Contrast that to these dolts, which are making fun of a group of people because they think they're stupid, inferior, backward, etc.

The only analogies that really stick in this case are ones in which you have a society containing a religious/ethnic minority which is the primary target of a good deal of bigotry by a substantial portion of mainstream society. The Catholic Priest example doesn't cut it - because there is no organized movement against Catholicism like there is against the Muslim community in the UK by the likes of the BNP. A more accurate example would be Jews in pre-Nazi Germany, or black folks in the US prior to the civil-rights era. In both cases there was much political presssure from bigots against the groups, but things hadn't yet turned violent on a society-wide level, and the state wasn't yet in on the act.

If things like this become more publicly acceptable, things will only get worse, and outright civil violence only becomes more of a possibility.

There's no doubt in my mind that if this "parody" had been about a group of people that some posters here felt sympathy for (ie - a group of Neo-Nazis or extremist Muslims dress up as Jews, talk about hairy Jewish women and chase quarters running down the street) their opinions would drastically change.

Quite frankly it's times like this I'm glad I live in a country where this stuff is not only illegal, but you'd be hard pressed to find any community where such a spectacle of ignorance would be publicly accepted.