It was an obnoxious parody to begin with, and TwistofFate was plenty constructive in pointing out why it (and other similar threads) fail to fly with many posters.
I totally disagree. It’s the Pit. If I don’t like what an OP is posting, I’ve every right to say so. The fact it was parody doesn’t change a thing. It’s posted for all to see, and for all to react.
I don’t think it’s a good example. In real life, with a group of friends, most debates, exchanges and arguments we can read on this board would never happen. Friends wouldn’t viciously attack other guy’s religious beliefs. They wouldn’t make a point of tearing apart his arguments. This board is mostly a place for debates and arguments. You can’t expect people to behave in the same way they would during a family dinner. You can’t expect them to cut you a lot of slack, especially not in the Pit.
And by the way, with a group of people IRL, would someone make a parody to ridicule the opinion of one of the members of the group at the first place? Most probably not. If you think it’s OK to make a parody of someone in a given situation, then it’s fine to criticize the parody too. If you think one should politely refrain to point out a joke isn’t funny, then you should think one should politely refrain from making fun of someone else too.
I do. It happens just about every time I go to the pub!
Someone tells me a joke that I don’t find funny I tell them that I don’t find it funny.
Same guy keeps making unfunny jokes, I keep telling him the jokes are unfunny.
He may or may not stop telling me the jokes, but having a difference of opinion over a sence of humour is hardly a reason to ostracize someone!
I find it very difficult to read anything Libertarian writes without hearing the voice of Charles Winchester the Third in my head.
YMMV.
The fact of something being in the Pit gives you additional rights under SDMB rules. It does not change whether or nor something is obnoxious.
That is true, to some extent. But if a person is participating in GD, he is specifically inviting people to criticize his religious beliefs etc. That’s the whole point of debating them. There are real life situations in which people specifically put forth their ideas to be debated and in such cases the same type of criticism is warranted as online. The situations you describe differ only in that the participants are generally not interested in debating these matters.
I don’t think this follows. The parody is meant to be an amusing attack on an idea. If someone would attack the parody on the basis of its ideas, i.e. that it does not properly make the point that it was intended to, I have no problem with that. But to criticize on the grounds that it is not funny or that you found it confusing - and particularly when generalizing to all other parodies by this poster - is just an uncalled-for personal attack.
I assume that everything Libertarian writes is a parody and not to be taken seriously. Even when it seems serious and thought-provoking, I hear this little voice in my head saying, “You’re about to be whooshed! Beware!” This means I miss out on actual thought-provoking material, but that’s the downside of constant parodies by the same person; the credibility of that person begins to wane if the parodies aren’t clearly parodies. IMO.
As someone who thoroughly enjoyed this particular parody thread, I’d like to jump in here. This particular thread was really only funny if you’d already independently read the linked GD thread. It’s not funny at all if you read the parody thread first, said “WTF?” and then read the GD thread. So it’s a joke only a fraction of posters are going to get – to the rest it’s going to be just about as irritating as the original GD thread it’s making fun of.
But so what? Some joke threads don’t make anybody laugh. I had already read the GD thread, found it profoundly irritating, and so the parody of it completely cracked me up. (Particularly the punchline of [paraphrased] “well, you support restaurant inspections, don’t you? How is that different from hymen inspections?” Same crazy-ass logic as the GD thread. Gold!)
I don’t always like Libertarian’s parody threads, but this one was hilarious.
The point is Giraffe, that instead of saying “Oh cripes, ok, I guess this one’s a little obtuse”, Lib decided to PURPOSELY further confuse those of us who, I suppose, were to stupid and bottomfeederish to get his fantastical wit, by misleading us at to what the parody was about.
I understand that all jokes aren’t for all people, but I think PART of Lib’s ongoing goal is to make himself look more clever and more smart than any of the rest of us. And those of us who don’t GET the joke can be made fun of by those who do.
Sounds great
IIRC For a while Fenris and Libertarian posted parody threads at the same rate. Every few months, a comic gem would appear in the Pit.
Then, Libertarian began to post parodies more frequently. It seemed like he didn't put the same effort into them. I often feel as though I'm looking at a roughdraft instead of a finished work.
Libertarian-
Set your sights high(or rather low) when targeting an OP to parody. Only the truly stupid, or closeminded OPs should get parody threads. Your “White People Dining Out? Gotta Be False!” is a brilliant example of this.
RE Fenris And Libertarian-
I think losing the parodies of either would be a shame. Lib’s parodies are very Swiftian. Other than providing the link, he never admits he’s any less than serious. The position he’s taking is completely rational and well thought out. And why can’t people see that eating Irish babies is the solution?
Fenris’ parodies are Pythonesque affairs. Everything is ridiculous. The One Trick Pony Chowder And Marching Society doesn’t even have a pony! One of them is just carrying coconut halves! No attempt is made to explain where the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch came from. Just remember to count 3 and to tell JDT that you are uncircumcised.
Pretty much my feelings as well. Also, what punha said.
I mostly enjoy Lib parody threads. This one was far from his best, but it was fairly amusing.
Jarbaby, I totally see your point, and I agree to some extent. But really, seems like you’d know by know that a Pit OP by Libertarian is almost certainly going to be a parody. Not that everyone would know that though, which is why I think your point has is valid.
jarbabyj, fair enough. I agree that Lib can be very irritating, primarily because he seems incapable of just saying “whoops, my bad”, but always has to defend his every post to the death.
But I don’t think he was being purposefully misleading in that thread, I think he was finished the joke. The restaurant inspections thing (which set off posters already confused by the first few posts) was the punchline. After that, I agree that he should have taken a more straightforward stance and addressed the people who were confused in a nice way, but until that if he was going to make the joke, he had to finish it.
I’d just like to point out that English is in fact my primary language, despite what one might assume from my last post.
Maybe there should be a law.
Somebody just answer this question:
Is this thread a parody or not?
Nah. A parody would be-
We’re Taking Libertarian To Court
A lot of Dopers have grown frustrated trying to figure out Lib’s parody threads. They’re filing a class action suit.
CrochetTina had this to say “When I heard that some burly, jack booted thug would be coming over to inspect my hymen, I was simply stunned! I put on my lace nightie, so he could rip off me with hid rough passionate hands y’know, and waited by the door. But nobody came. Then, I found out the whole thing was just a joke! I’m suing Libertarian for mental anguish! I want 2.3 million, or a burly, jack booted hymen inspector!”
LRond expressed another common complaint "I know his thread’s are parodies. But, I can never figure out what they’re paradies of. Everytime I open one of Lib’s threads, I end up with a huge headache. Somebody should be held accountable for that.
When asked how he felt about the lawsuit, Libertarian responded
“Hamburgler Message-‘Ronald Hates Burgers!’ Ronald never intended for people to sit in booths or stools and eat 2 all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles on a sesame seed bun! No wonder people blame Ronald for making them fat! But, it isn’t Ronald’s fault. Buns and fixin’s got in the way. I stand in the parking lot and just eat the meat. Some people say that I would never have gotten the meat if the McDonalds employees hadn’t processed, delivered, thawed, cooked and served it to me. But that’s circular reasoning.”
I don’t.
I won’t.
Kind of like when certain fucking tools tell you to use a dictionary when they don’t even know the definition themselves?
Seeing as you cant even keep it in the same thread, let me post my explnation of my comment on “mongoloid”
Mongoloid was a classification for a sub set of Human. I was thought in school that the human race could be split along 3 divisions Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid. Hence my question of Aisian Extraction (not as a form of “Mongolian”) as an insult.
It appears that I was at fault, you want to insult people with Down’s Syndrome instead.
Now Go Fuck Yourself.
taught.