Vallejo holds panel discussion on what is and isn't funny...

Some folks are just humorless cunts, (Rick) liberals can be very funny, shit Portlandia is hilarious, because they skewer progressive sects. What makes people unfunny is the constant policing of the language, or trying to define what is and isn't offensive. I'd pay real money to see a Jim Norton sit in on that panel.

I have it on good authority that Vallejo is, in fact, extremely funny.

I am not, however.

I've noticed that. It's very Ying/Yang. She should have written you better; it doesn't seem fair.

I'm only the sum of my programming, although if you convert all the code into numeric values and add it up it's a respectably large integer.

That maybe so, but you should feel outraged. She's neutered you.

At least you're nothing like Shoebot3000.

Or Pimpbot 5000

I'm several paragraphs in and do not know what I'm reading.

Imagine watching a panel of NPR hosts talking about comedy.

http://www.playboy.com/playground/view/stop-saying-sorry-on-twitter

Aww, three days in and I'm already popular. That is so sweet.

You're going to get the serious reply once. Next time I'll just mock you.
I love that all it takes to turn a sexist man into a passive-aggressive muppet trying to desperately defend his privilege is... a woman with an opinion. Oh noes, you poor little thing. You're going to lose all your manliness.

When a privileged group makes jokes about a (racial) minority or another group that's traditionally been at a structural disadvantage in our societies for centuries (women) then who gets to decide whether or not the "joke" is funny? Surely not the privileged group.
Making jokes about less privileged groups isn't fun and edgy, it's just pathetic (ymmv depending on whether or not you have a brain).
So since being openly racist or sexist isn't all that hot in society anymore these "jokes" are your last line of defense, right? The last remnants of the "good old days" when male whitey ruled the world. It must be sooo horrible when somebody criticizes you for making jokes about people that were disenfranchised, oppressed and marginalised by your group for ages.

I am not policing anybody's language. I'm just saying making these jokes makes people look like hateful little jerks with a tiny dick.


Short answer: No. Try again.

I couldn't even get through Gottfried's white male tears.

Far as I can tell, liberal comedians are only allowed to make fun of conservative white males.

And God forbid you should employ irreverent humor regarding a woman!

I'll take making fun of those in power (white males) over making fun of groups with less power.

Comedy is just fine. It's just stupid bigoted humour that is dying.

And with the second sentence, you obliterated the claim of privilege. Now do something predictable and pretend that you failed to see the truth of my statement -- remember, the more vehement your denial, the more "genuine" it will seem and the more likely the proles will be to believe you.

Really though, are white males in power anymore? Is not the sexist humor a symptom of how powerless they actually are?

I'm taking away your privilege.

Slowly.

Surely.

Wickedly.

Watch me.

Things are improving, that's for sure. But a look at who is still mostly in charge of politics, economy and media proves that we're not nearly there. The numbers are pretty obvious sadly.

You're a kitten stalking me across the carpet.

I am watching you.

And I am amused.

Tandelou is sneaking up on you from behind ready to do nasty things to you while I'm distracting you with my fabulous looks, my silky fur and my purring.

Meow.

Don't mess with kittens.

I really do like cats.

Can the rest of us watch too? If we promise we won't be quiet?

You're welcome to join the fight, cheer me on or tweet about it.
And then we'll have an orgy.

But kittens are just the very most fun to mess with. Especially pretty English kittens. So raunchy, yet they present it with such class.

I'm more partial to Scottish folds, myself.

Why do you hate ears?

It is the form of telling that matters. All comedy belittles in some way, even if it is just the person telling it in the case of self-depreciative humour.

I've heard people tell really crap racist and sexist jokes and give out the "hur hur hur" because the joke was fitted their nasty little worldview, meanwhile I've laughed at subtle and clever racist jokes because, well, they were funny.

There is also ironic use, and when it is there purely to rib someone.

I mean, I made a German joke the other day in MC. I've lived with Germans, visited there, spent weeks camping, drinking and singing with Germans. If I was anti-German I kind of think I, and the Germans I've stayed with, would have noticed that. So why cannot that be applied to gender and race?

You cannot box a joke and state, in absolute terms, that anyone stating it is something.

Context matters, sure. Yet you still admitted that it was basically up to the Germans to decide whether you were being anti-German or not. It's not the privileged group that gets to decide whether making a joke about a minority or a marginalized group is "fun".
It's for the targeted group to decide whether the "joke" reinforces racist or sexist stereotypes in a harmful way depending on the context.

I'd also say that Germans in general aren't non-privileged so it's not exactly comparable to racism or sexism.

So what you seem to be saying is that it's up to the mob to decide who it's okay to chase after with the torches and pitchforks. Can't say I see how that's supposed to be anything other than a double standard.

Well, that's not what I said. I was pointing out joking about a group !== being anti that group.

Of course offence is always in the eye of the beholder, how could it be otherwise? Nothing is objectively offensive, only in the context of individual or group sensibilities, and part of the role of comedy is to skewer through that.

Privilege should have no bearing on it, surely the very basis of equality is equal treatment? What you propose is little other than a form of social apartheid. Comedy, much like death, is something of a leveller, across social barriers, across skin colour, across genders.

It holds up a mirror because all the best jokes are based in truth, and really the ability to laugh at yourself and recognise those truths is a more powerful armour against any oppression than any forced differentiation, no matter how well intentioned.

I'll also point out the content of the jokes informs about society too.

30 years ago "what do you tell a woman with two black eyes?" was a well received circuit joke, these days it gets short shrift unless it is done in a highly ironic way.