Does (nearly) everything have to be qualified nowadays?

…nobody ever said comedy was easy.

How does Icarus cross the road?

We’ll just have to wait for him to post to find out!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Wow! That’s so much better! Thanks, Matt!

[QUOTE=JohnT]
Honestly, people, can’t you just let it go? Do you have to jump on everybody who uses group-speak, especially in a friggin’ joke thread? /QUOTE]

As one of the people you are currently bitching about, I’d like to know where I “jumped on everyone”? I requested that people don’t make assumptions based on my gender.

If I’m in a pissy mood, then I’m in a pissy mood, I don’t have PMS. If I’m a bitch, it’s because I’m a bitch, not because I’m a woman.

JohnT, from what I see, you’re the one doing all the bitching in the “Woman-speak” thread. A couple of us were just expressing our distaste for it. I guess I missed the sticky thread stating that opposing views were no longer allowed.

You’re not wearing a bra, are you?

Regards,
Shodan

[QUOTE=Tastes of Chocolate]

Yup. 4 posts. That, apparently, is the new definition of all.

Also, this apparently does not fit the definition of “bitching” (and I’m so thrilled that you were the one who originally used that sexist word, lest I get accused of iinsensitivity.)

Sounds like “bitching” to me!

The joke is “Why did the Icarus cross the road?”

Geez, you Icaruses are so…

Someone on the thread (too lazy to scroll back and see who, possibly several someones) made a fine point.

Some folks are all up in arms against satirizing against sex, sexual preference or race.

But apparently their sense of outrage stops when you get to religious folks, political stance, or other matters.

So it’s OK to be selectively offended by things. It’s ok to make fun of selected groups of people. You just have to have the secret code book and ring to know which people you are allowed to make fun of.

And I can sell you that book for $47.95. The ring is extra.

[QUOTE=JohnT]

Odd, I never used the word sexist, in this thread OR the parent thread.

And if THAT’S your idea of bitching, you should see me when I’m actually mad.

Thanks, ToC for expressing it better than I could have :wink: Men get awful touchy when they’re accused of overgeneralizing, don’t they? How cute.

I beleive I explained the difference between a lighthearted joke thread, and a thread when said thread must be seriously defended when someone gets seriously offended.

Now, why couldn’t you have brought that attitude in the joke thread? :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m glad to see you got the point! :smiley:

[QUOTE=Tastes of Chocolate]

Not to answer for JohnT (and if I’m wrong, John, please correct me), but I think he’s saying that the word “bitching” is sexist, not that you used the word “sexist”.

[QUOTE=Anastasaeon]

That’s precisely what I meant.

[Doug would like to apologize for the following hijack.]
What happened to Sonny was just karmic payback for the Digital Till-Hell-Freezes-Over Copyright Act.
[Here endeth the hijack.]

This is exactly what worries me: a tendency I’ve noted to blame the failings of one’s SO on the entire other gender. I don’t understand it and I think it’s disturbing.

In general, I just don’t understand why people are so quick, in general, to attribute everything a person might do to their gender, either because of it or in spite of it. Yes, I realize this makes me unusual.

Are you seriously arguing that racist, sexist, and homophobic jokes are the only ones in existence? That certainly hasn’t been my experience. I don’t get why they’re funny, and I don’t get why people bother to tell them.

I really can’t do anything to stop you telling these jokes, if you insist on doing so. All I can do is voice my opinion. If I’m really so off the beam, you’ll be able to return to your joking without further ado.

Right: a belief is something with which a sensible person can disagree. Nobody says, for example, that you can’t mock me for being a New Democrat. As for religion, I try to avoid mocking other people’s religious beliefs until they enter the realm of public policy.

However, a race, a gender, or a sexual orientation is not a proposition, something with which someone can disagree, so there’s no point in satirizing it.

Which pretty much just extends the syndrome, IMO. Anybody, of any niche, can be offended by just about anything if that’s what they’re looking for. In the deathless words of a managment/motivational speaker (now there’s ripe fodder for ridicule–“If you’re a hammer, every problem can be solved by a nail.”

I think it was supposed to be profound, but what the heck: no cliche left wasted, right?

Humor’s subjective as hell, mostly because some of it is rooted in ribbing, mockery and ridicule. It’s truth with the sting gentled by a guffaw. And when it’s well done, it can be damned insightful. Some people won’t ever see past the sting. That’s their loss, IMO, because anybody who can’t/won’t accept that they’re perfectly ridiculous once in a while sets him/herself above being human.

Some ‘jokes’ are just assaults under the guise of humor, but it’s impossible to de-fang everything. The offenderati game can get very old, and it doesn’t matter who’s playing it or for what reason. If it’s not funny to one person, fine. They don’t have to laugh. But they don’t get to project their finely tuned sensitivities as a standard for everybody else.

Veb

See, I know this. I LOVE comedy. As you know, for the amount I’m always quoting it. The thing was, for me, that there didn’t seem to be that much truth in the underlying assumptions in those threads. They were presenting, via humour, a view I believe to be false and unhelpful. The humour is not the issue.

Eh, I was tempted to leave the thread alone at first, but then I noticed that some of it wasn’t a lighthearted or a sting-with-a-guffaw. Some of it seemed angry and accusatory and bitter, and I just wanted to remind everyone that hey, not all women are bitches. And what a response I got! Wow. But that was my intent; to be a separate target. So I succeeded, and I count it as a win :smiley:

It’s to be expected, though. Men (here I’m generalizing!) do have a sore spot when they are accused of being even mildly sexist and tend to overreact. So there I was, hitting their sore spot after they’d hit mine, and it just escalated from there. No big deal though! I just wish they hadn’t gotten their hackles all a-raised before considering the issue and being rational about it.

Funnily enough, I’m not easily offended. I’m very laid-back, most people have never seen me upset/angry/excited. So being accused of being easily offended just makes me laugh! Come on guys, can’t you do better than that!

You probably didn’t want this detailed of a response :slight_smile:

Well, I see your point, but I don’t think there is a real sense of gender-blame there. In this instance, it seems like just a way to deal with some strong emotional stuff. Different people cope in different ways. I guess we will just have to disagree on this one.

By the way, matt_mcl’s long post above makes it seem like I said all the things he responded to. I only said the first quote.

GAH. Sorry. I did this before, didn’t I? A thousand lashes with a wet noodle. (I’m still not quite used to the system where it automatically lists the person on whose post you clicked “reply to w/quote”.)