Liberals, PC Police and Big Business

Okay. Your statement from the OP, which I quote below, coupled with your insistence that attendees were not entitled to complain publicly read like complaint to me. But if you say those are not complaints, I am surely willing to drop the issue.

I find this suggestion of project ridiculous and insulting. People who find offense at rape jokes might well be disgusted at the comedian for telling a what they consider a sick, tasteless joke even if they don't have any personal experiences or close second hand ones with rape. Why would they be projecting?

I wasn't complaining that they're doing it, just saying I don't feel they need to do that.- Oni

You don't think it's fair to say that the person is projecting their dislike of rape onto the comic who makes a joke that involves rape in it?- Oni

Sure absolutely, self admittedly there is MY personal bias to never find anything Bush Jr. has ever done to be successful. But, is this just an excuse to never find anything offensive? So let me test this hunch: Have you reviewed the video? If so, can you name another person in the world who has caused the death and destruction of a million people including woman and children and US military persons and can make that into a funny joke?They often say, tragedy and time can equal humor. If there's an unfunny Hindinberg joke, I haven't heard it. But what about a war in progress? Can we specifically laugh at the American soldiers who die or the children they've disfigured?I know we are both biased against Bush Jr., so perhaps it would be enlightening to hear from one of Bush Jr. supporters who did find the WMD joke quite funny. Anybody?

Your friend is wrong.Having to alter one's speech because of public pressure is not an infringement on freedom of speech. You still have the right to say what you want. The fact that you choose to not to exercise your right to avoid the consequence of public pressure and criticism does not equate to infringement.Freedom of speech does not mean you get to say anything you want free of criticism or consequences, at least not as the term is commonly used in this country. Implicit in your friend's objection is the position that others not have the right to level criticisms of him. If they did in fact not have that right, that would be an infringement of speech.

That's not the same type of projection you discussed in your previous post. You originally suggested that the offended person was projecting his anger at some past rapist at the comedian. There might be somebody doing that, but that's not probably what most people feel.What you are saying now is a little bit less unreasonable, but your wording is contrived and silly. I'd suggest that in the case of rape, the comedian is using a subject he knows most people find distasteful and that it is his choice that results in the disgust/offense/anger. I would not call the resulting taking of offense a projection of any sort. Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

Well, it would take a really dedicated liar to continue lying after death. (My brother and I once had a routine about equal rights for the dead. If dead people could vote, why not let them?)To me, the absurdity in the joke (what makes it funny), is the length to which people will go to suspend reality. It's closely related to the joke of creationism.

Okay, let me express my point more directly. If the joke is about the stupidity of racism, which based on one of your comments, I took as your identification of the point, then the passengers on the bus are not lying. It is instead the policeman or sheriff's insistence that the living people might actually be lying dead people that is being made fun of.If in fact the joke is about dead people lying about being alive then there aren't really any racists in the joke at all and the point would seem to be something else. In fact the point would be the behavior of the passengers rather than the policeman.I don't get the relationship to the joke of creationism.ABE:Actually, I do see the relationship, and your point. Except that I still don't see how the joke still can be about talking dead people and still be a comment on racism.Edited by NoNukes, : Added by edit.

Since I'm not a Bush supporter, so my opinion does not count. But in fact, by the time I saw video of Bush himself telling those jokes, I had already heard a talk from a man whose brother had died in the Iraq war who was irate about the Bush's attempt at humor.But I do remember seeing a skit that revolved around Bush Jr. traipsing around Iraq with a briefcase having a false bottom that allowed him to drop some WMD's on the down low that he could pretend to find in front of reporters. Would that kind of joke be funny?Just asking to see if you can separate your dislike for Bush from jokes about the horrible circumstances surrounding the Iraq war. I have to admit to laughing at the briefcase joke.

I think you're over-analyzing. It's funny that the guy believes the people are lying in spite of the glarinlgly obvious fact that they're not. It's only "about" racism because racism is the reason for his bizarre logic. Religion could be another possible motivation for bizarre logic.

Exactly.

Good question, let's see if my abhorrent dislike for Bush Jr. is colourizing my stance. Let's see if we can create a similar real-life scenario WITHOUT Bush Jr. and see if it is possible that there is some 'humor' which might be similarly offensive:

quote:

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You and you're lovely wife has just taken in a show and dinner. From the shadows, a masked man puts an unlicensed gun to your wife's back, and tells you both to move into the alley. He fires two hot loads of lead into your kneecaps and you are completely immobile. He then rips off your wife's clothes and starts raping her. Right before he climaxes, he says, "this must be bittersweet for your Jewish wife, I am a doctor."

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DURING the attack, would you personally find his joke funny as long as it wasn't Bush Jr. telling it? If not, why is it not similar to the Bush Jr. jokes about the WMD and the death of US marines and Iraqi children?

You are totally ducking my question. I don't mind you probing my sense of what constitutes humor, but the question was about your sense of humor. I cannot imagine your joke being funny regardless of who told it. I am not sure I could reach the same conclusion about the two different Bush jokes. Are you going to answer my question or not?

Sorry about that Nonukes. I thought my parallel example was answering your question. Please allow me to try again . . . Ok, good, we are in agreement here. (TWO different Bush Jr. jokes? TWO?) Okay, can you explain the difference you see between the Bush Jr. joke and the rape 'joke'? Perhaps my second scenario is not parallel enough? No, I don't think I can separate them because I see them fully entwined. When I see pictures of Bush Jr., I see pictures of dead US marines and dead Iraqi children. And vice versa. At the present, I can't imagine any jocularity regarding those items. Astonishingly, for me, people DID laugh at Bush Jr.'s joke about WMD. Oni's friend would see me as weak for being offended. The people who laughed at Bush Jr.'s joke would probably see me as having an anti-Bush Jr. bias. Can there be yet another explanation for me not to laugh if there is no such thing as an offensive joke?By saying you could not reach the same conclusion about the two Bush jokes, AND that you found the suitcase joke to be jocular, leads me to believe there MAY be a scenario where you would think Bush Jr telling jokes about WMD to be humorous.Do I understand you correctly?