Unless I’m misremembering, the point of ridiculing Trumpist’s claims of “locker room talk” is that the President of the United States was doing it. I don’t think any of us here are running Presidential campaigns yet – although I don’t want to speak on anyone else’s behalf – and we’re certainly not celebrating sexual assault. So I’m afraid I can’t agree with your equivalence.
But, yes, locker room talk happens in locker rooms. That’s the point. Similarly, jokes are shared among the members of a small forum that tends to be a lot more thoughtful, deliberate, and intelligent than the forums I see elsewhere on the internet, not to mention social media at large.
-Tom
RichVR
12580
When one of the posts here gets posted elsewhere along with the inevitable backlash, I will stop. Out of respect for Tom and the community. But of course by then the cat is out of the bag. So far so good.
Houngan
12581
All true, but I think this speaks more to the quality of the japes rather than the reach or lack thereof. I have people in my professional life that I could easily say, “That fat fuck with his skinny jeans and his swollen head, he looks like a fucking pumpkin on a pinwheel.” Spin that the other way to the female gender, and it’s pretty reprehensible regardless of context or limited exposure.
I for one am glad to know that qt3’s pearls will remain well and truly safe in the face of any crude jackanapery.
Timex
12584
Like pointing out objective, factual errors? Overt hypocrisy?
That shit that they don’t care about at all?
But what if we’re not all comfortable??
RichVR
12586
I believe that there is a couch to faint upon. But you must be clutching your pearls.
This still reminded me so much of when Weekend Update has a picture of someone like McConnell up and says “seen here watching children be dragged into an unmarked van” or the like. It always cracks me up, so I mocked one up.
vyshka
12589
Heh, Cruz is such a coward
Thrag
12591
Making fun of someone’s appearance isn’t always the best look, but like a lot of mockery it has a lot to do with how mean spirited it is and if it is in lieu of or complementary to other criticism/mockery. Part of me does want to denounce all mockery of appearance on ideological grounds, but then I remember Henry Kissinger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVGV6lvNTR4
But but Bill, muh federal judges!
I am really not sure what to do with this framing of why it might be a problem to make a negative example of someone’s appearance. Do people really think the biggest issue ‘it’s rude’? or ‘we should be better than them’? or even ‘it doesn’t matter how bad they are, they deserve some basic respect’?
At the end of the day, if you are going to say if you are going to say ‘any general collateral damage of attacking appearnce is worth the cost’ or ‘here is why actually it can’t cause collateral damage’, fine- but you should at least engage with the moral questions beyond abstract politeness and what is deserved by some specific people.
Ted Cruz is a lickspittle.
CraigM
12596
A blobfish has more spine. And a better smile.
Here’s a practical reason to skip it:
If your target is committing evil/stupid/insane acts, then why bother wasting your ammunition on how they look? It’s both lazy and beside the point. If people come away from some MTG meme thinking “TIL that she is a rather plain women and there are some pictures out there that make her look goofy,” that’s a fail if what you were trying to convince people of is that she’s trying to overthrow democracy.
Plus, it’s ultimately ineffective, because there’s a 100% certainty that there’s no shortage of pictures that make you and yours look just as goofy. So the other side will deploy those against you. A meme war that concentrates on that stuff ends up being “I know you are, but what am I?” endlessly repeated forever. (Which doesn’t mean that’s not gonna happen in a meme war; the thing is, it’s not going to determine the outcome. It’s basically just endless suppressing fire.)
Timex
12598
On one hand, Ted Cruz’s abject cowardice is offensive in its own right, in that it’s just so incredibly pathetic and slimy. It’s almost painful to behold.
On the other hand, I am enjoying seeing such a worthless piece of trash be dragged like he is.
Timex
12599
Because it will sting, because they are often the types of people who most highly value such shallow things. Further, it will resonate with their supporters, who are dumb as fucking rocks and can only comprehend such insults.
