Why I’m Coming to Hate Blogging
Above: Controversy swirls on in controversial
wingnut/sandwich controversy
Since I started this whole mess, let me respond to a few points:
1.) I can see the argument against fat jokes. I have quite a few friends who are overweight, and whenever I think about making a fat joke, I ask myself, “Is this something I’d have the balls to say in front of so-and-so?” If the answer is “no,” then the joke is inappropriate. Also, fat jokes are incredibly easy and cheap and anyone can make them. I don’t speak for anyone else on this blog, but I will refrain from using someone’s weight as a criteria for bashing them in the future.
2.) That said, some people need to lighten the eff up. Specifically, I’m thinking of many of the people leaving messages on this thread. Holy mother of God. Let’s do a quick sample of the completely ridiculous and embarrassing comments posted there:
Do you remember what happened the election cycle before last? Do you remember how Al Gore’s suits became more important than George W. Bush’s incompetence? Do you remember how Al Gore was ridiculed for his his stilted speech, his wooden mannerisms, his inability to tell a joke, his wonkishness, his solemnity, his earnest concern? In other words, his nerdiness? Remember how he was turned into the loser of the election not because he was the worst potential president–because hoo boy–but because he was a big dork? Remember the utterly straight-faced arguments about how Bush deserved your vote because he’d be more fun to have a beer with? Remember how the same thing kinda happened again four years later?
These days, Al Gore gets ridiculed for being a fatass AV nerd who cares about girly crap like the environment. And we get into endless wars because we care more about whether or not the president looks cool in a bomber jacket than whether or not he can do his job. Our next candidates are already being evaluated on the most superficial criteria imaginable. Hilary’s too mean. Obama is cute. Edwards smiles too much. Way better hair than that guy with the hair, though. Civilian death tolls? Whatever. And have you seen what Nancy Pelosi is wearing? This country is being run and covered by a bunch of middle-schoolers.
Ahem. Correct me if I’m wrong, folks, but I don’t think fat jokes were responsible for the 2000 election.
Furthermore, here are some other things that fat jokes are not responsible for:
Keep this in perspective, please.
Let’s go to some other goodies:
The problem is that it’s not just about offense. It’s about power and privilege, all the way down from the very large scale to the little scale. You’ve seized on the fact that fatness is something you have the power to mock, and that’s only because fat people are at a social disadvantage. This pattern repeats itself in the previous, larger-scale fractal iteration that is society.
Fat jokes: responsible for racism, sexism and homophobia.
Next:
I argued that superficiality plays directly into the hands of the people who need us to pay attention to anything other than massive corruption and incompetence. Fat jokes are a diversion. Complacency–the kind that excuses torture and, hell, Bush v. Gore–dovetails very tidily with a focus on things like Al Gore’s waistline.
Oy. I don’t really know what to say to this.
Guys, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: shit that gets posted on this very unserious blog has precisely zero real-world ramifications.
Also: people are way the hell too sensitive to everything. You can call me a shitbag fuckrock monster cock, and I honestly don’t give a damn. In fact, I think calling me that is a damn insult to other shitbag fuckrock monster cocks. Spending such a ridiculous amount of time talking about how offended you are about everything is a bloody waste of your life. My God, one commenter on that thread said she was offended when people made fun of Ann Coulter’s Adam’s apple. Holy shit. For your own damn sake, lighten up. Life is far too short to get so offended by silly bullshit.
(And yes, this is the last time I will post on this. I didn’t want to post on it, but I told amp I would because I thought he had some good points. Then I went over to the Feministe thread, where I read about how my fat joke helped contribute to getting Bush elected, and I just wanted to die.)
AMEN!
That feministe thread is all about getting some attention.
I will tell you why I am coming close to not commenting…
Spam filters and no preview button!!! 😉
Brad,
I say this as a friend, Bush is all your fault — and no amount of purging now will make that point any less slender.
We are all nerds. I’m guessing that more than a couple of us don’t have enough to do at work.
BTW- The celery was hilarious.
Woohoo! I got quoted in Sadly, No!
I’m sorry, I still love you, but this is an extremely narrow view of things. Your “perspective” is to deny that those photos are ideologically disconnected from (what you consider to be) the little things. That’s the shortsightedness or failure of imagination of the Standard American Liberal. Again, I’m sorry, but it’s turtles all the way down, you better believe it.\
I’m not highly offended by the joke. I’m more fascinated by the reaction to the criticism of the joke. It’s the standard story told to anyone who has something beyond the mainstream (well-meaning) Standard American Liberal list of complaints. “Shut up and fall behind me.”
OMG!!!! Brad admits that he is a HATE BLOGGER!!!!
Just look at that title! Why did you decide to come to hate blogging, Brad? Why couldn’t you just stay with the funny blogging?
I love you guys. Don’t let the hysterics drive you crazy.
And I use the term “hysterics” conscious of its etymological origin, and being in full possession of a uterus myself.
It would be funnier if you photoshopped a sandwich into my uterus, though.
*smacks forehead* Should read: “…that these photos are ideologically connected to…”
Personally I think you should refrain from making comments about people with weight problems and concentrate on the left-handers.
Those fuckers are evil, I tell you….
Guys, I say this as someone who’s about fifty pounds overweight…
Keep telling whatever jokes you want. You’re really fucking funny, and that’s what matters. People crying because their thin and tender skins were bruised by the splash effect of one of your devastating humor salvos need to suck it up and soldier on.
I swear, it’s the entitlement bitch syndrome that is driving this country to ruin.
It would be funnier if you photoshopped a sandwich into my uterus, though.
*tweeeeeet!* Penalty! TMI! Roughing the readers! Humor value revoked, repeat the comment attempt.
Personally I think you should refrain from making comments about people with weight problems and concentrate on the left-handers.
I AM left-handed tBooger!!! Making fun of me is worse than torturing people!!!! I WILL BE OFFENDED AND YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME!!!!!
Then I went over to the Feministe thread, where I read about how my fat joke helped contribute to getting Bush elected, and I just wanted to die.)
you have to admit, that’s just funny as hell though. really. it’s up there with the wingnut hysteria.
Fucking ‘ell. I cannot believe the sheer volume of words a single fat joke has generated. You’d better not post any ‘take my wife, please’ routines, or you’ll break teh internets.
This is pretty much the essence of being a liberal. Ain’t it grand?
t would be funnier if you photoshopped a sandwich into my uterus, though.
If you use Miracle Whip, does that make it an immaculate conception?
What is you’re one of those secret left-handers? You know, those duplicitous individuals who do everything with their right hands until their in the necessary AND THEN! those fiends! those FIENDS USE THEIR LEFT!
Thanks B-Rocket. Seriously. My gawd, what a waste of pixels and bandwidth that whole thing was. I come to S,N, I ALWAYS want to offer my piece. In all that bullshit, I just wanted to go read other blogs. Hell, I even read Marie Jon’s”s’s latest frantic, kool-aid dripping piece. s.z.’s been down and out. Jeezel Peezel, I just haven’t been able to have any fun on the intert00bz, and I want you guys to do something about that…
mikey
WE GOTTA STOP ‘EM! THEY’RE GONNA KILL US ALL!
although blog feministe makes for one dreary as hell visit, it’s ultimately superior because it has numbered comments and a preview button.
Fuck me! That chick wrote about a thousand words on fat jokes. The rule has always been, and always will be, if they choose it, it’s fair game; if they were born with it or it just happened to them, it isn’t. And ab Hugh is a fat cunt, EOD.
This jocularity is insensitive in the extreme to those poor poor people with a lunch in their abdomens (who I care about deeply – so deeply).
You try walking through the mall with a sandwich in your uterus some time and see how you’re treated!
The WEIGHT CONTRADICTION is the fundamental contradiction of society!
Eat that, Karl Marx! You portly old Victorian fatty!
Um, GoatBoy?
How is it you’ve come to have a uterus? And to what uses do you put it?
I’m just askin’. I’m just askin’.
I’m sorry, I still love you, but this is an extremely narrow view of things. Your “perspective� is to deny that those photos are ideologically disconnected from (what you consider to be) the little things. That’s the shortsightedness or failure of imagination of the Standard American Liberal.
Counter-argument: you have to let things roll off your back every now and then.
To get a wee bit personal here: I am a chronically depressed person. I take medication for my depression. I have, in strict clinical terms, a mental illness. However, I do not get offended every time someone makes a crack about another person being “crazy” or “off their meds.” Nor do I get upset when I see a TV ad featuring a suicidal robot. I understand that such statements or advertisements are not a personal attack against me. In fact, the way I first learned to keep my depression at bay was by learning to not give a shit about what people said about me. Now, if some guy comes along and says “All depressed people should be put into camps” then I’ll start getting PO’d. But until then, life is just to short to have my antennae up for every perceived little slight. Big picture 🙂
oh shit, the weighty feministe comment thread is about to move into this one…
Lovely. Not 25 comments in and we’ve already got sexism. You really bring them in, guys! Keep up the progressive work! It’s really paying off. [thumbs up, like totally]
Um, some of these people just need to calm down. Seriously. Honestly if I came to Sadly,No! and didn’t see at least one fat joke every other day or so, I’d be disappointed that you guys were starting to lighten up on the wing-nuts. Anybody with half a brain understands that these people come under fire because of where they stand on the issues, not because they’re fat, and you only pick on them being fat or ugly because they’re mostly hateful little slugs who deserve it. Honestly, I don’t think anybody ought to be offended. Certainly not somebody on our “side”, who really needs to just calm down.
Yeah, yeah, TBOGG, you just wanna switch gears because you know they’re coming after you next!
Don’t think they don’t know about your ‘elastic-band Dockers’ jibes and periodic displays of Brent Baker’s fugly visage, you perpetrator of ‘looksism’, you!
I have been finding this whole flapdoodle baffling, honestly, because I had no idea that there was a kind of activist community around fat, although, now that I know that, it doesn’t seem as illogical as I would have used to think it was. Chalk that up as a learning opportunity.
It’s also interesting that, fresh off the Edwards blogger imbroglio — which was all about humor that caused offense, or at least outcries of offense — we’ve seen this thing, in which a lot of the last round’s offensive-humor defenders have been, well, offended. I know that mocking Christians takes aim at the privileged (largely), while mocking the fat takes aim at the unprivileged, but, still.
It’s superficial to mock the appearances of Michelle Malkin, Jonah Goldberg, Dafffyyyddd Whats-his-name, sure. It’s also superficial to mock the appearances of Doug Giles, Ben Shapiro, that Confederate Yankee guy, Vox Day, Joe Lieberman, Gary Bauer, Rick Santorum, the Pope, etc. Would joking about Giuliani’s crossdressing insult crossdressers generally? I have a hard time believing that jokes — superficial ones about their funny faces and/or bodies — at their expense would induce the same ruminations on the implications of superficiality in political discourse.
You try walking through the mall with a sandwich in your uterus some time and see how you’re treated!
Best variation yet.
Mmmmmm, saaaandwich….
Oh, and you missed where we all said you’re responsible for the Holocaust. Best put in some Einsatzgruppen pics in for maximum effect!
I love this site, and I think you guys are teh awesome, I really do.
I hereby agree to suck it up and keep my disagreement with you on this issue quiet. I would hate to contribute to any more time wasting over trivial nonsense… here. I’ll go argue with Gavin about his comment (#422, ahem) over at Feministe instead.
Back to the funny. And if I don’t laugh at the “Ann Coulter is a She-Male” bit, I won’t tell you about it. Promise.
The Feministe gang are Teh Left’s very on Bill Donohue and the Catholic League. Perpetually outraged, perpetually offended, they are just as humorless, puritanical, and rigid and ideologically blinkered as your average Freeper, and about as much fun to have a conversation with.
But really, by all means, we all should tailor our online output to meet their bottomless well of needs, complaints, and requirements. Cos you know, it’s Their Movement. If we can’t do that, then we’re Just As Bad As Republicans.
This round has been spectacularly amusing in particular, though. zuzu rushing into the breach to defend Dafydd ab Huge’s poor, sensitive feelings. Self-righteousness can make for strange bedfellows.
Jack- c’mon, that bit about how fat jokes helped Bush win was completely fucking ridiculous. Give me a break.
Disclosure: I’m “kinda” fat, and not offended at all by fat jokes or suicidal robots or men doing manly things after they kiss each other.
Wow, we all said that? I totally missed that part…huh
how many people died today while feministes chowed into bowls of popcorn and castigated SN for photoshopped pix of a genocidal maniac.
having a whole fucking day to be outraged about a fat joke in a humour blog is a luxury some (many) people can’t afford.
I’m still waiting for the day that Sadly, No! makes fun of a Native American. Then of course my opinion will have to do a 180.
Oh yes you did:
I argued that superficiality plays directly into the hands of the people who need us to pay attention to anything other than massive corruption and incompetence. Fat jokes are a diversion. Complacency–the kind that excuses torture and, hell, Bush v. Gore–dovetails very tidily with a focus on things like Al Gore’s waistline.
how many people died today while feministes chowed into bowls of popcorn and castigated SN for photoshopped pix of a genocidal maniac.
Really, lesley, are you going to argue that you’ve been saving huge amounts of people from slaughter today? With a straight face?
I AM left-handed tBooger!!!
I HAVE boogers, Brad R., and I am offended by that derogatory reference.
Really, lesley, are you going to argue that you’ve been saving huge amounts of people from slaughter today? With a straight face?
I can say with a completely clear conscience that I did not discriminate against or kill any popcorn today.
I would have thought that Giuliani’s crossdressing, which was after all for effect and publicity, would be of insult to the crossdressing community by itself. I mean, he’s not really a crossdresser, right?
Huh? The problem with “standard liberals” is what? That they don’t see the connection between the cultural oppression exerted by a fat joke and the consequences of imperialism?? You’ve got to be fucking kidding. The problem is in fact that liberals concentrate on nothing but shit like that. While we worry about fat jokes, the ruling class chuckles. Get a damn grip, people. And read some Walter Ben Michaels, or something.
I said that? Whoa, I gotta quit drunk posting if I can’t remember what I’m posting. Also, if we’d all posted that, I think I would have been more aware of that being the general consensus.
You don’t have to think that fat-bashing is the reason Bush stole the election in order to think that fat-bashing is wrong, no matter what you’re dealing with. But I know, you gotta think about the audience. And what an audience they seem to be…
JackGoff, can I just say I’ve never encountered anyone with a more appropriate screen-name.
OK, let’s calm down for a second.
1.) I said that I wouldn’t fat-bash anymore. It’s at the very top of the post.
2.) People still need to lighten up. Did you even read the points I made about being depressed, and how I could, if I so chose, get upset and anal whenever anyone made a joke about suicide or people being off their meds? I mean, I could do that, but it’d make me much more depressed. People need to stop being so damn sensitive. Jesus.
But I know, you gotta think about the audience. And what an audience they seem to be…
Oh, here we go… Try not to get any on the drapes, guys.
good idea. let’s ramp up the lunacy and make it funnier by getting shit-faced. it’s an appropriate hour for imbibing.
I do not want to live in a world ruled by Jack Goff’s any more than I want to live in a Bush-ruled universe.
Did you know the fatties have an extra bone in their stomachs?
But, of course, the most distinctive feature of the fatties is the shape of their feet.
Why are you wearing shoes, Brad? Do you have something to hide?
.
I avoided those posts about nuclear celery and Dafyyd ab Roller. Whatever was going on there, the descriptions I’ve read sound very lame.
Last comment directed at Brad @ 3:39
I can say with a completely clear conscience that I did not discriminate against or kill any popcorn today.
Lovely. I had a salad today, which was a vast graveyard of tomatoes, arugala, and onions. For dinner, I’m not sure yet. Either way, meh.
JackGoff, can I just say I’ve never encountered anyone with a more appropriate screen-name.
Can I just say that J*ff G*ldst*in said the same thing? You’re in…interesting…company, random.
I don’t really support this a friendship building response. And for the first time EVAR I think I disagree with Jillypants, BUT, our friendship is bigger than that. It involves puppies.
Jack- I am trying to engage you here, amigo. I can give up the snark and be a semi-civil debater when I want to. I’m trying to do that here.
Lookit. Here’s mikey Declaration of Independence Part IV. I will NOT allow anyone’s sensitivity to force me to pre-emptively edit my own speech. Every now and then, know what? I’m gonna put my foot in my mouth. And occasionally, I’ll chew. But I am not gonna let you guys have that kind of control over my behavior, so complain all ya want, or shove it up your ass, or both.
Completely off topic, and appropos of nothing, really, I’ve been thinking. Maybe the world would be a better place if we just rounded up a bunch of mental cases and put ’em in camps. Whaddaya say?
What?
mikey
well perhaps ole pasty is a better judge of character than I presumed. He’s still a flaming wingnut though.
“How is it you’ve come to have a uterus? And to what uses do you put it?”
Got it at the mall. To put my sandwich in.
I mean, I could do that, but it’d make me much more depressed. People need to stop being so damn sensitive. Jesus.
You know, it’s interesting that you say that, because I too suffer from depression. If anything, it’s shown me that when people are “sensitive”, it’s for a reason. Me wanting to kill myself a few years ago could have been chalked up to me just being too damn sensitive. Lighten up already, loser!
But you know, it’s a damn good thing I had people who weren’t callous jerks around me at the time, else I would not be here.
Belittling someone solely because they are Fat is Tasteless. It lacks any thought.
Belittling some Jack Ass who’s projected self-image fails to live up to even a cursory glance at a mirror, is a public service.
will brad and jack make dysfunction-free romance before the night is through? would gourmet treats help?
OK, now we’re having a conversation.
My argument is the same argument as Sue’s dad, who done gave that boy an awful name to make ‘im tough.
That doesn’t mean it’s good to actively try to hurt people, but it is good for people to develop a thick skin. Nobody in the world is required to be nice to you.
I miss the vegetable puns…
Siding with the “I’m fat and not offended and please don’t think all of us fatties are so goddamn sensitive” camp.
Making such a big deal over a joke that my fat ass laughed at is downright embarrassing.
It’s really hard to be a liberal sometimes.
Jack- I am trying to engage you here, amigo. I can give up the snark and be a semi-civil debater when I want to. I’m trying to do that here.
Fair enough. So can I. I do not think the problem here is people being too sensitive. One could say that me being depressed is my fault, as there are theories about depression out there that say exactly that. Stupid boy, wanting to kill his idiot self. God, what a little wimp! Grow a pair! Man up! I can tell you, I’ve gotten that before, many times. It hurts. I can live through it, but imagine how much better it feels to not be judged by my mental illness but by who I am.
Satan made them do it.
Yeah, but xjerryx, you don’t understand that you are succumbing to the post-structuralist racihomosexiphobicism. Laughter is the first sign that you are a post-structuralist racihomosexiphobicist pig.
Lettuce rest, I’m feeling beet.
Hey I’m monopolar depressive and kinda fat.
Trump, cobags!
OK, so now we are going to have to ban poop jokes.
Because Dick Cheney’s spawn are offended.
P.S. Don’t make me sue your fat asses!
Kiwi all just get along?
Nobody in the world is required to be nice to you.
You know, I see sentiments like this in conversations all over the blogosphere, from the tiniest most insignificant site (like my blog) to the big boys like DU and Daily Kos.
I wonder why it has to be said. Isn’t it self-evident? To gauge by the reactions of some commenters, I guess not.
Telling you, people. It’s the entitlement syndrome. It’s gonna kill us all.
/broken record
One could say that me being depressed is my fault, as there are theories about depression out there that say exactly that. Stupid boy, wanting to kill his idiot self. God, what a little wimp! Grow a pair! Man up! I can tell you, I’ve gotten that before, many times. It hurts. I can live through it, but imagine how much better it feels to not be judged by my mental illness but by who I am.
The trick is to say back to the person, “You’re an asshole!” and let it go. And to be fair, you seem to be pretty good at the first part 🙂
Johnny Cash notwithstanding, I do not agree that developing a “thick skin” is something that is requisite for people in a progressive society. As there isn’t really anywhere to go with this argument (wussy-boys vs. true men or whatever), I’ll jump out here.
Altrocket,
I hope this puts our football spat into perspective…I think you are good peeps.
Personally I think you should refrain from making comments about people with weight problems and concentrate on the left-handers.
Those fuckers are evil, I tell you…..
No kidding. They’re downright… sinister.
I’m a PTSD victim drug addict convicted felon with high blood pressure. Oh, ok, I guess maybe I could stand to lose 35 pounds, but it was such trauma when I just l lost my keys, I’m kind of afraid to. But I’m sensitive as hell about my taste in clothes. So be careful of my feelings, or the republicans will win in ’08…..
mikey
Making such a big deal over a joke that my fat ass laughed at is downright embarrassing.
Werd.
As there isn’t really anywhere to go with this argument (wussy-boys vs. true men or whatever), I’ll jump out here.
My point more was that I think men AND women should have the confidence in themselves where they can simply brush off stupid things that people say.
Anyway, thanks for engaging 🙂
I don’t mean to fan the flames of this. I’ve done enough to make this an issue, but still, gotta say something more.
There’s really two kerfluffles in one, here.
First kerfluffle: revisit to old, harmless, not funny joke. kingubu’s response was, for lack of a better word, the right one. not funny, i’m fat, awwwww, whatevah, let’s move on.
(not funny not for being fat humor, but for being easy and obvious.)
Second kerfluffle: Lesley, sorry to name names but let’s not beat around the bush, is an insensitive asshole and said stuff that legitimately offended folk
feministe tried to link the old bad joke and Lesley’s tude, and that was wrong on their part
Bunch of us gave Lesley deserved crap, and then perhaps got overzealous and kept at it too long, if only speaking for myself.
Point being, the first kerfluffle was silly and Brad and Retardo have apologized mre than needed and learned whatever lesson they should or could.
That’s what’s truly “important”, and really should be permitted to die.
As should the rest of the crap, which I will try to allow to happen.
But had to get that in first.
I still love you, PP. And your doggies.
My comment was indeed intemperate. It’s rooted in some old wounds directly related to my own experiences with feminist hypersensitivities that I really don’t like to talk about, just because the stories involved really make feminism look bad, and I still really do believe that the core principles of feminism are important.
Maybe I should be more straightforward about some of the institutionalized stupidity masquerading as feminism that led to me going mean and snarky on this topic sometimes. Maybe by not talking about it, I’m doing the same sort of thing that the Catholic church did when it refused to talk about the problems it had in its priesthood. I’m still really conflicted about the whole thing, and I don’t have an answer yet.
All I know is that I spent years working heavily in feminist movements. I don’t anymore. And I don’t even really feel like I can talk about it.
So sometimes I snark instead.
My bad. Sorry ’bout that.
Spotted at Feministe:
While some wingnuts will go into hysterics over the threat that Islam poses to “Western values� while simultaneously supporting religiously-motivated sexist, homophobic, regressive legislation, at least bed-wetter Dinesh D’Souza is consistent
Why does Dinesh D’Souza have to be a “bed-wetter”? Shouldn’t he really get ridiculed for being wrong? Why does opposing D’Souza have to involve belittling, even treating as disgusting, a bodily function that can be a genuine health issue? This degrades the discourse, and, ultimately, is a key reason why the left loses elections.
You’re a good egg, Bradrocket.
Now can we please have a new Post O’ Snark so this thing can die the death it deserved two days ago?
will brad and jack make dysfunction-free romance before the night is through? would gourmet treats help?
If so, will there be pictures? And how will they be photoshopped?
Kiwis aren’t a vegetable.
Marita wins this round. LOL.
Silly Lawyers®©³² said,
March 2, 2007 at 4:02
OK, so now we are going to have to ban poop jokes.
Because Dick Cheney’s spawn are offended.
You just offended poop. Off with your head.
Jillian. You end up where you are at the end of a long series of events. You take your hits in the flesh, you win a few tactically important but strategically meaningless battles, and it all shapes what you are. You, of all people, have nothing to apologize for. You are the bearer of the light. Sometimes you not only have to rip the clowns, you need to. Because the cost is unbearable unless you can drive your stake in the ground and say:
THIS IS ME
THIS IS WHAT I THINK
AND IF YOU’RE OFFENDED, I DON’T HAVE THE CYCLES TO SPARE!!
That’s what you say…
mikey
First kerfluffle: revisit to old, harmless, not funny joke. kingubu’s response was, for lack of a better word, the right one. not funny, i’m fat, awwwww, whatevah, let’s move on. (not funny not for being fat humor, but for being easy and obvious.)
In so far as I had anything to do with touching off this madness (the “fat suit/mall experiment” I guess) I’m deeply sorry.
Man, I am not reading another long thread where people act offended at a four month old fat joke. Too much. I’ll just cut to the chase:
1. “Pork tuba” is funny as hell
2. Homer Simpson is the modern stepin fetchit
thank you
The canard that the Dafyyd Sandwich is somehow lowering the nation’s discourse is insulting and reeks of self-importance. “Snarky humor on medium-traffic blogs allows the Republicans to win.” I mean, fuck that noise. Nobody gives a shit what Feministe thinks about anything, save for a few hundred people.
STOP PRETENDING LIKE ANY OF THIS MATTERS. You don’t like fat jokes, there are plenty of blogs out there for you.
JackGoff said,
Johnny Cash notwithstanding, I do not agree that developing a “thick skin� is something that is requisite for people in a progressive society. As there isn’t really anywhere to go with this argument (wussy-boys vs. true men or whatever), I’ll jump out here.
that’s funny. SNosians have been bellowing at me to develop a thick skin for the past two days. Thick skin is a bitch to take care of.
I love you, mikey.
Honest to Bejus, if I thought that pic of ab Hughsit with the Photoshopped sub was egregiously hurtful or over the top, I would say so. But I really didn’t think it was that bad. It would have been funny even if ab Hughsit didn’t have a little avoirdupoids.
I can’t believe it ignited such a massive flamewar. I guess we should all just be grateful the original pic didn’t come from the dude’s WEDDING.
In so far as I had anything to do with touching off this madness (the “fat suit/mall experiment� I guess) I’m deeply sorry.
It’s a worthwhile thing to think about. Putting on the Althouse here, wasn’t there some idiotic reality show in which a desirable woman put on the fat suit to see which of her beaus was a shit? Good times.
Btw, although I myself am a drunk, I do not take offense every time someone calls Hitchens a gin-soaked popinjay.
Shitbag fuckrock monster cock, I think that this and the previous post is a perfect display of the difference between this blog and the kinds of blogs it comes up against. When Malkin Thing tore a hole in the space time continuum with the “logic” behind her “destroyed” versus “damaged” post, she made no follow ups to acknowledge her error, let alone apologise for it. Instead she obfuscated some more by conveniently “misunderstanding” why it was significant that “destroyed” only appeared in the initial raw feed. When Patterico completely missed the whole point of your disagreement with him about it, he used the fact that some people called him “Pattycakes” (how mean!) to disregard the whole thing, conveniently avoiding having to acknowledge the fact that he’d fucked up. But here you’ve been blamed for and called God-knows-what, and you’ll at least acknowledge the points being made, even if you don’t agree with them all. Good for you. Nobody behaves flawlessly, but pretending you do and clapping your hands over your ears when someone shows otherwise can only work for so long.
Brad R, I know that you’re using it to illustrate a totally different point, so your stance on this may well be identical to mine, but just in case it’s not, allow me to register my disagreement.
As a clinical depressive, I speak for all clinical depressives, and our opinion is, the problem with “off his or her meds” jokes (note gender-neutral language) is that they are TOTALLY HACK.
The Onion ran the headline “Depression Sufferer Insufferable” a few years back. THAT is funny as hell.
As for this perceived offense you’ve commited–and you really should stop doing anything that might offend someone who just liiiiiiives to be offended–what mikey said up there (any of ’em), except less Mametian. DAMN that dude can write.
OH MY GOD I HOPE I HAVEN’T OFFENDED MEMBERS OF THE SUBPAR WORDSMITH COMMUNITY
Does anyone else look at the picture of daffy and any other picture of an out of shape wing nut and feel like they’re staring at the personification of the gaping maw of a hyper-consumerist society that is all too happy to use violence to control more of the world’s resources? Maybe a barrell of oil would have been a more germane image from this point of view but not as funny as mass amounts of luncheon meat. Inability to control one’s appetites is a human foible and foibles are funny. If someone makes fun of the fact that there are people who consume an inordinate share of the world’s kindest bud to make fun of a wingnut and his role in society, said stoners are probably not going to get too upset about it. I’m sure we’ll, I mean they’ll take one for the team.
As for Jack Goff, he came over here for a debate and some of you treated him like a wingnut troll which was too bad. Save that shit for the real wingnuts I say. And I agree with ADB that Lesley has been way out of line.
it would be funnier if you photoshopped a sandwich into my uterus, though.
If you use Miracle Whip, does that make it an immaculate conception?
…and thus the internet was born.
Mametian. I had to go to the google. Made me laugh right out loud. Salesmen!! Men selling things!! Can you not see it??
Thanks for that. I’m going to put it in the complement column, and smirk about it tomorrow when some 27 year old MBA is telling me my voice over script is just not compelling, y’know?
mikey
Political ideologues can be as nauseating as the religious-right freaks. it’s why i abandoned politics altogether from the late 70s until Bush got elected. I can’t stand the “scour your brains with soap for being incorrectâ€? bullshit.
“My point more was that I think men AND women should have the confidence in themselves where they can simply brush off stupid things that people say.”
Brad, the thing you don’t understand is when people are made fun of because of how they look they become less confident. I mean, no one envy’s the fat person’s body shape. Any attention to the way they look would either be negative, “helpfully” rude, or downright rude, like the “Hey Koolaid” thing. And then of course, depending on how fat they are, people will stare, point and giggle. Every time they go in public.
Yeah, they should just brush it all off. Because you know, they’re just fat people, they should lighten up and be all jolly.
When you are depressed, do you cheer up because someone tells you to shake it off and just be happy??? It’s the same deal.
It seems you have offended fat people online. Online they will lecture you and be all tuff, because online they have the confidence given them by being physically unknown.
Let them yell at you but for crying out loud, enough with the placating bullshit. You made a joke. BIG DEAL. The endless crap that is going on now is the stupidest shit ever. You trying to I dunno, make everyone happy while still trying to get across that it’s a joke, and it’s not working. Give it up.
Unless you’re having fun. 😀
I’m just glad we managed to miss any fruit jokes with the photoshopped vegetables.
I had never heard of Dafydd until I saw his picture posted on this blog, and could not understand why he deserved such scornful treatment. I had to waste a half hour of my day googling this man, reading through his blog, and driving up his blog traffic. I believe this man should be judged not by his looks, but by the content of his character. Here are his words:
America should outsource torture — limited to extraordinary circumstances — for the same reason neighborhoods “outsource” animal slaughter to slaughterhouses, factories to industrial areas (or even other countries), and the holding of prisoners to established prisons.
It’s really just an example of zoning: America is not zoned for torture, so we rendite certain special captives to a country that is. We outsource polluting industries to places where the natural byproducts won’t cause us as much harm — and the same practice makes just as much sense for torture.
It may sound odd, but it’s really no different than what every city council in America does every day.
Hatched by Dafydd on this day, February 12, 2006, at the time of 9:13 PM
It is right and just to expose such words to ridicule, because these words are worthy of the utmost scorn and contempt. Focusing on Dafydd’s appearance obscures his reprehensible message. Ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish by publishing this unflattering photo. The posters at Sadly, No may be familiar with the writings of Dafydd, but this casual reader did not. Fat is not the issue. His ideas are the issue.
If I have learned anything today, it is that victims of Othering are keenly sensitive to the jibes of non-Others. As a semi-professional comic author, it is my job to make people laugh; but as a liberal, it is my duty to not increase the marginalization of others. Therefore, I have developed a calculus that will allow me to detect when it is appropriate to comment on the minority-status attributes of my fellow man, based on my own degree of otherness. The resultant figures will be measured in positive or negative Big Sandwich Points.
I am American. -1 Big Sandwich Point.
I am also a male. -2 Big Sandwich Points.
However, I am a liberal living in a red state. +1 Big Sandwich Points.
I am heterosexual, but I don’t go out much. Draw.
I am only half-white. +1 Big Sandwich Points.
The white half is Irish. Draw.
The nonwhite half, though, is SAUDI ARABIAN! Home of most of the 9/11 terrorists! SCORE! +5 Big Sandwich Points!
Unfortunately, I am not a Muslim. -1 Big Sandwich Points.
On the other hand, I am not a Christian either. I’m an atheist. +1 Big Sandwich Points.
I am fat. +2 Big Sandwich Points!
But not really super fat. -1 Big Sandwich Points!
I’m, uh…hmmm. I like rap music! +1/2 Big Sandwich Points?
So, I dunno, let’s call it a nice round +5 Big Sandwich Points, which means I am only entitled to make fun of people slightly less white and fat than I am. Also, I can feature Photoshopped images of Daffyd ab Hugh holding a big sandwich on my website, but the big sandwich can be no longer than 6 inches.
The celery made me laugh out loud! Don’t listen to fatheaded comments from wannabe mollycoddlers, you are hilarious!
Also, can I just add how much I hate it when some person out there anoints themselves Grand Spokesperson for some Oppressed group that I happen to belong to myself? Especially when I don’t agree with a damn thing they’re saying?
Okay, so that’s really apropos of nothing. But then again, all of this has been that as well.
So I hereby decree that any further attempts to settle this matter must be done not by commenting directly, but by adding captions to film on this website.
This seriously looks like an awesomely silly toy. If it weren’t already three hours past my bedtime, I’d be up all night playing with it.
You know something, Brad? It’s really too bad that that first comment you quoted — about the shallowness of the political discourse (Al Gore is a nerd, Hillary is too mean, etc.) — was created in the service of such a meaningless criticism. Because taken on its own, it’s a damn fine comment.
you’ll never play the big rooms, kid
if you apologize every time a tourist gets bent at your joke.
have confidence in your material, and if a joke bites, eat it and move on.
only don rickles can call someone a hockeypuck for 85 minutes
and make it right in the last five.
and kid, you ain’t rickles.
I wanna be on the debate team!
You’ll never be on the debate team with those thighs, Jerri. They make your arguments seem so… flabby.
I’m a PTSD victim drug addict convicted felon with high blood pressure.
Yeah, but I hear you’re fun at parties.
Like Jillian, I love you, too, mikey, but you know that.
I love Bradrocket, as well, but please don’t tell him, as it will only go to his head. And it hurts me that Brad is coming to hate blogging, because he does it so well. It would hurt me even more if he stopped blogging.
PS I’m a poor, disabled woman, who is over 50 years old, and I can say whatever the fuck I want. And you (the collective, liberal and non-liberal you) cannot bitch at me.
Not just because I trump you on Teh Suffering Scale (which is pretty much true), and you will look like assholes if you pick on me, but because I am a totally gold-plated bitch on wheels and I will kick your ass. Because I can, that’s why.
Well, that, and because it’s fun. When it stops being fun, I’ll quit.
Can we stop this now, and get back to kicking Republican ass? Because I find this internecine conflict tedious and counterproductive.
Thank you.
Love,
GW
Please Brad R., don’t join Malkin’s legion of one-handed readers and start coming to hate blogging. It will make you go blind.
Shooshy?
I don’t understand why the feminist people aren’t going crazy over the picture Amanda Marcotte put up of a man and a woman’s wedding day to make some political point. She puts up a picture of a man and a woman on their wedding day, the happiest day of their lives, and assumes that it is a tragedy because the man has been disabled. What right does she have to bash on the disabled as if once you are disabled you are no longer human? What right does she have to use him and his bride in such a way?
That is what the feminists should really be mad at. She is denying a woman the ability to truly love a man just because the man is disabled, she is denying a disabled man the chance to be happy because he is disabled. Who is she to judge them? Because she looked at one photograph out of context?
It is rather disgusting that they would make such a big deal out of a fat joke but simply ignore such vile treatment of the disabled at the hands of “fellow feminist” Marcotte. It is sickening.
I mean, you put up a picture of a man holding a big sandwich. I didn’t even realize it was photoshopped, I thought he was actually holding the sandwich. It certainly didn’t look out of place, I am sure he has eaten sandwiches twice that size as an appetizer before. The one of him holding the giant celery in his hands is what really made me laugh.
But assuming a fat man likes to eat is an entirely different thing that assuming a bride and groom are living a miserably tragic existence because of the fact the groom has become disabled. That is sick, disgusting and a spit in the face to all disabled people, especially disabled soldiers and veterans.
And just to answer this:
She puts up a picture of a man and a woman on their wedding day, the happiest day of their lives, and assumes that it is a tragedy because the man has been disabled.
No, she didn’t. You didn’t read her post. She said that him being sent to a pointless war in which he was wounded was the tragedy. The picture is meant to show that he, the soldier, is a human being (I know, empathy wells are drying up everywhere it seems, but maybe we can haul up another bucket or two, yeah?), and yet the wingers have treated him and his fellow soldiers like trash. You know about the travesty that is the VA and Walter Reed, correct? That was the point.
I’m still waiting for the day that Sadly, No! makes fun of a Native American. Then of course my opinion will have to do a 180.
Are you saying you’ll eat Crow? Or would you Sioux? I Hopi not…
Putting up the picture treats him like trash. How is a wedding a tragedy? It is the happiest day of their lives, it is not a tragedy to take a snapshot of to use to make your own political points. She is denying them the right to their happiness by implying that his disability must make it a tragedy. How does she know what was going through their minds that day? Other pictures have been released of the pair on their special day and they seemed happy to me, but because he was disabled in Iraq it means that it must be a tragic day for them, right?
That was exactly what Marcotte was saying.
Then she shows the picture. Which means that this pair, because he is disabled, MUST BE SUFFERING ON THEIR WEDDING DAY according to Marcotte. They are not allowed to have happiness on that day, because Amanda Marcotte says they are suffering because he is disabled. That is robbing both of them of their humanity, turning them into puppets to be used at will by bloggers like her.
“I don’t think fat jokes were responsible for the 2000 election.”
I’m not so sure. Is Antonin Scalia a fat joke?
The question answers itself.
Yo, RubDMC!!
Dude, I cannot fucking believe that the denizens of feministe take this shit seriously. Brad you are absolutely correct, this entire thing is just effing absurd. Its a frikkin joke for crying out loud!
Isn’t it kinda like saying, “I hate those dirty, brown, smelly Muslim terrorists” and it being ok, because they are the enemy and they hate and kill anyone who isn’t a dirty, brown, smelly Muslim terrorist?
In that case, would it be ok to call them dirty and brown and smelly, not to mention to use Muslim as if it in itself is an offensive characteristic???
And maybe photoshop some Muslim guy fucking a camel??
Well, I don’t presume to speak for Amanda, nor do I presume to speak for the wounded vet, but what I saw was a beautiful couple, forced to cope with the consequences of a bunch of selfish, egomaniacal fools who forced that soldier to be placed in a position where his life was interrupted and his body maimed. The fact of the disability is not what is stressed, but the direct cause.
At least, that is they way the entire post and thread reads to me. We have another winger who tries to make it out that, because we lefties fucking curse too goddamn much, we are the morally defunct side of the blogosphere. Bah, it’s the same from all sides. We call you morally reprobate for mocking teh Fat, you call us torture apologists who just love a good Abu Ghraib, the Repugs call us a bunch of potty mouth bigots, and more people die and are maimed because the wankosphere is busy searching for more lube.
Very tiring. My last post on this horseshit, I swear.
more people die and are maimed because the wankosphere is busy searching for more lube
Shite, should read:
“more people die and are maimed while the wankosphere is busy searching for more lube”
“It would have been funny even if ab Hughsit didn’t have a little avoirdupoids.”
Exactly. Giant sandwich? Funny!
That should have been the civil and decent end of it.
I have a very simple rule on this.
If jokes about personal appearance are made at the expense of people I like, they (the jokes) are douchebaggy.
If, on the other hand, they are made at the expense of despicable fucktards who are lucky JUST to be ranked on for their weight/skin/bizarrely prominent Adam’s Apple//ineluctable fugliness problems, then who gives a damn?
I believe that if we could all adopt this simple rule, we would be able to resolve many of the problems that divide us, and would find that It’s a Small World, After All.
Actually, I think the left blogosphere doesn’t make enough fat jokes.
To get a wee bit personal here: I am a chronically depressed person. I take medication for my depression.
Oh dear. Jeff Godlstein just got an erection.
And we know that no good has ever come of that…
This whole effin’ thing is ridiculous. I never imagined how bizzarre people at feministe would act. Jeez I guess there really are people who are just total ideologoues.
“My last post on this horseshit, I swear.”
I wish I could believe that.
The last several days have made me think. Is obesity a disease like alcoholism or paedophilia, a lifestyle choice like homosexuality and feminism , or is second-hand fat just a problem like second-hand smoke, easily solved by government intervention? In the last 24 hours i have given this some serious thought, and, if you will indulge me, I will clarify my conclusions.
First, perhaps I should introduce myself. Since 1989 I have been wheelchair bound. My son and I innocently stumbled into the gangland robbery of a convenience store in south LA. My spine was severed by a shotgun blast and much of my intestine was lost. My son, a cheerful, curious and intelligent boy of ten caught a weird piece of shrapnel that passed behind his eyeball and sliced though his brain to the back of his skull. He spent the next two years in a semi-vegetative state before passing on. My wife, a strong woman who never had a bad word to say about anyone, couldn’t handle it, at first never leaving the house, then never leaving the bedroom. No amount of therapy helped. Six years ago this April she locked herself in the bathroom with a bottle of Tylenol and ended her suffering. I miss them both so much.
But I’ve never been a person who complains about my plight, my life has offered up its misfortunes, but i know from experience that other people have it worse. No wheelchair access? Some people can’t afford wheelchairs. I can no longer do the job I loved, but I found another job, raising funds to build and staff schools in underprivileged impoverished countries. I thought I had found peace.
But the internet works in mysterious ways, the arguments of the last several days and the counsel of an internet forum friend have made me rethink my life. For years I have used mockery and sarcasm as a crutch to hide my own pain. I have mocked people online because of their hairstyles, their taste in music, their faith. I have mocked people for their political beliefs, I have even found wicked humour in calling others ‘cobag’ even though I long for those precious quiet moments on the toilet with a magazine. I’ve disbelieved usenet posters and blog commenters when they described their medical problems, their autistic children, the sweet moment of lucidity when the acid and the napalm strike and the lack of oxygen converge.
I am sorry. I apologize. And i mean that, not like, ‘Im sorry if you were offended’, or ‘Im sorry if you didnt get the joke, it was just, after all, a joke i dont really hate Catholics or Jews or Muslims or rednecks with mullets who seek dates on Hannidate’ , I really am sorry and I pray for forgiveness.
My hope is that we can all learn from this, as i have, and continue the struggle to make ours a better world.
#
JackGoff said,
March 2, 2007 at 7:17
more people die and are maimed because the wankosphere is busy searching for more lube
Shite, should read:
“more people die and are maimed while the wankosphere is busy searching for more lube�
No Jack, you were right the first time.
Dude… tell the fat jokes. If they are funny. You can never possibly avoid offending people who make Offensitivity a lifestyle. Your joke was awesome. If you drive off every single person who can’t deal with a fat joke … small loss (insert fat joke here).
i had some point to make, but…fucking….whatever. just whatever.
fat jokes are funny. holocaust jokes are funny. jokes about how white people and black people are different are funny.
holocaust denial isn’t funny. 600 pound americans who can’t get out of their house without a forklift aren’t funny. using the term “nigger” if you are an angry white guy isn’t funny. richard pryor says it and it’s funny.
comedy is complicated. i deal with it for a living. in my opinion, that fuckwit genocidal apologist needs to be ridiculed, and weight was an excellent choice. a rich vein of comedy. and sorry, fat people of the world, but the level of plight (if indeed one accepts there is any at all) simply doesn’t measure up to the comedy.
oh, jokes about irish people and liquor, funny. jews killing jesus jokes–almost always funny. and fuck any religious asshole who doesn’t like it.
comedy. it’s fucking comedy.
there’s a real bottom line here–comedy that attacks the powerful and supports the powerless is always better for you in a cod liver oil kind of way, but isn’t always funnier. and dafydd represents, is a synedoche for, power. the right runs our country. people whose beliefs are very close to that of dafydd run our country. so fuck them if they can’t take a joke.
The nuns won
On the face of it, you might not think so, because I’m one of those fanatical atheists that only a Catholic grade school education can produce. But they really did win, because my gold standard ethical discriminator is whether a given action will make the Baby Jesus cry. Yes, fat jokes don’t make the Baby Jesus cry nearly as much as genocide, but you didn’t need any fancy ethical testing apparatus to know that genocide is wrong. And the bad that we do, like the food that we eat, all goes to the same place, so even the small stuff adds up.
So, lay off the fat jokes.
And please don’t tell me to lay off the Catholic jokes. The Baby Jesus smiles a special smile when you fuck with the Pope.
First, perhaps I should introduce myself. Since 1989 I have been wheelchair bound. My son and I innocently stumbled into the gangland robbery of a convenience store in south LA. My spine was severed by a shotgun blast and much of my intestine was lost. My son, a cheerful, curious and intelligent boy of ten caught a weird piece of shrapnel that passed behind his eyeball and sliced though his brain to the back of his skull. He spent the next two years in a semi-vegetative state before passing on. My wife, a strong woman who never had a bad word to say about anyone, couldn’t handle it, at first never leaving the house, then never leaving the bedroom. No amount of therapy helped. Six years ago this April she locked herself in the bathroom with a bottle of Tylenol and ended her suffering. I miss them both so much.
if this were true i’d be weeping and sending his paypal my hard-earned cash. it’s not and I laughed my ass off.
i also find this lou and andy sketch funny, which must mean i’m insensitive to people in wheelchairs who are bald, fat and can’t read.
All these many comments later, and no one has mentioned Marshall Mcluhan who famously said: “Every joke has an underlying grievance.”
Meaning – there’s something seriously unfunny at the core of everything that makes us laugh. Otherwise, why would we laugh?
That explains everything for me, and I hope it does for you, too.
Now, where is that pitcher full of Bloody Mary’s?
600 pound americans who can’t get out of their house without a forklift aren’t funny
um…i’m sorry but i do find this statement amusing. which makes me sick, i know.
http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/14770
Fat jokes?
http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/14770
You know, the whole stupid thing has been worth it, just because of that video.
Oh wow, yeah.
That’s effing amazing, Some Guy.
Almost makes me glad my mother has performed in professional gilbert and sullivan productions all my life, meaning i was forced to be around it a lot as a kid, cause made that damn near cathartic.
Almost.
*cause it….
see what fat jokes do?
they make the preview button feel bad and hide and cry
and don’t tell me the dates are all messed up
advanced beings like preview buttons don’t adhere to our primitive notions of temporal flow
why do you think it’s called the preview button?
Crap, this is my last chance to offer up nothing constructive whatsoever. Since I’m too lazy to read through all fifty million comments here, there, and everywhere, I may be saying something that’s already been said.
Re: The fat joke . . .
How many of those fine progressives that complained do you think are going to lead the charge against Al Franken for writing that very offensive book ‘Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot?’
My guess? Zero.
If it’s worth anything, my take on the Daffyd pic was that you were poking fun at him for being fat, not poking fun at him for being fat.
Lesley said,
March 2, 2007 at 8:24
if this were true i’d be weeping and sending his paypal my hard-earned cash. it’s not and I laughed my ass off.
I wish you luck with your affliction, Lesley, be you girl or boy. But fear not, many have survived with less. And, although you may not speak the funny, you do often have a point. I too fear for American’s health, altho they notice not their expanding girth, much as the student does not recognize his growing knowledge or the hippy does not recognize his growing beard, it is for us, rare travelers in that unusual land, to point out how similar they are in appearance to that scene in that King Kong movie when the brontosorouses tumble over each other, for they do not see it in themselves.
But let us mock no longer, for we must not goof upon the chubby or the thin, the feminist with her douchbag, the homosexual with his television show, the heterosexual with his majority. Mock yee neither the brown of skin or the slightly tan, the re-arming Japanese and/or the scary fundamendalist Islam fellas. Give the poor guy with the colostomy bag a break, help a cripple up some stairs and drop a nickel into the beggars cup, you know you can spare it.
Much must we weep the loss of the preview button, for without its chubby little grey bit we often cannot prevail and thus look stupideth.
Yeah I called you fat. Look at me, I’m skinny!
#
FlipYrWhig said,
March 2, 2007 at 4:17
Spotted at Feministe:
While some wingnuts will go into hysterics over the threat that Islam poses to “Western values� while simultaneously supporting religiously-motivated sexist, homophobic, regressive legislation, at least bed-wetter Dinesh D’Souza is consistent
Why does Dinesh D’Souza have to be a “bed-wetter�? Shouldn’t he really get ridiculed for being wrong? Why does opposing D’Souza have to involve belittling, even treating as disgusting, a bodily function that can be a genuine health issue? This degrades the discourse, and, ultimately, is a key reason why the left loses elections.
——————————————
Now, I’m not saying Brad and HTML should build an entire post over their angst that such a mean spirited comment could be made by the folks at Feministe…but I would certainly understand their need to draw attention to this flagrant attack against all bedwetters and point out how this takes away focus from the legitimate arguments with our RW ideologues.
Anyone have a spare petard?
Does no one want to talk about Art Frahm?
Meh. Fat jokes don’t offend me. Morons who belt out the ol’ “you wouldn’t BE fat if you’d just stop gorging yourself and exercised JUST A LITTLE BIT” line with such certainty and authority offend me.
As I think I amply explained in my one post in “that” thread, individuals like Lesley wouldn’t BE stupid if they’d just stop regurgitating what they hear from stand-up comics and read up on the subject JUST A LITTLE BIT. (Oh God, please don’t let the irony escape them when they read this.)
Anyway–I seriously think Brad and HTML should come down off their cross, dab their sniffles with a hankie, and suck it up. I don’t think anyone involved has done half as much defensive bawling as you guys. (Not that I’m about to go look again, mind you…)
CS Lewis Jr. said,
March 2, 2007 at 9:51
Does no one want to talk about Art Frahm?
Peace be with you friend. A simple reading of the comments would show that no one actually reads the comments. Hey, it just the way things work, no one cares about your nostalgic version of upskirt Norman Rockwellesque America. People have long since moved on to their double deep dish triple cheese pan fried pizza.
hey i’m not the only one who advocates fewer calories and exercise for the genuinely gluttonous. but i am the only one getting absolute shit for it.
still not apologizing.
Michele Malkin is a duck.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/148/405439181_bc0ccd60c5.jpg
I laughed so hard at the original Daffy ap Hugh picture, it made my belly fat jiggle. Only joined the pigwrestling in the postings when someone tried the “All fat people are lazy, greedy, and ignorant! Time for our ten-minute hate!” routine, because there’s a difference between personal invective and lazy stereotyping — especially lazy stereotyping disguised as Correct Thought. My dad (survivor of many a bar fight) referred to it as the ‘You People’ Barrier: it’s okay to call some third party a fat pig, you might even get away with pointing out that your new drinking buddy is a fat pig, but if you find yourself starting a sentence like “What is it with you fat people… ?” or “The trouble with all you fat people is… ” you have crossed the YP Barrier. And crossing the YPB leads to fistfights, scarring, and running up a tab for breakages that could better be spent on more beer (or drugs, or calories, or hookers — whatever your preferred indulgence).
Of course, most of what passes for political blogging consists of crossing the YPB, but one wants to use enough forethought to ensure that most of one’s barbs are aimed at the enemy, not one’s fellow combatants on the side of Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Although since progressives have a lot in common with cats, any gathering of either species, no matter how well-fed and sun-drowsy, will be punctuated with the occasional 30-second bout of cacophony and ninja moves contingent upon some territorial violation invisible to the casual observer. The worst result of such spats is usually nothing more than a furious bout of displacement self-grooming, anyway…
Hey, that’s what I tried to do. I made a brief, snarky comment, and then I didn’t expect to ever think about it again. Next thing I know, there’s three threads going on over here and a 500+ post thread on Feministe. 😛
Love ya, Anne Laurie.
Bad grammar will destroy us! !!!!!!!!!!
I think my arse is bleeding again………….
This whole mess reminds me of the Bloom County strip wherein Otis, Opus, and random strangers are at a bus stop, yelling about being offended by one another’s being offended.
For the record, being a fat boycat, I’m only offended by the fact that you people don’t spend enough time on topics of interest to your feline readership, whatever their weight. *Disdainful sniff*
Hehe. Glad you guys liked it. That was pretty much the effect I was hoping for.
Bloom County FTW. Though I don’t remember an “Otis”…. was he one of the crazy Old Persons?
As a fat, left-handed, clinically depressed person (really!–also I’m bald and short) I really can’t understand the pov of those who are offended by fat jokes. If a fat joke (or depression joke, or baldy joke, or short joke) offends you then it must mean you feel some shame at being fat (or etc). I’m not ashamed at being fat. I’ll tell you the fat jokes myself.
I’m so fat that when a beeper goes off people think I’m backing up!
And if others think I should be ashamed to be fat–well they should just be ashamed to be judgemental assholes. Maybe we just need more judgemental asshole jokes.
Maybe we just need more judgmental asshole jokes.
The sad irony is that you are saying this at Sadly, No!, the General Motors of judgmental asshole joke manufacturing.
fewer calories and exercise for the genuinely gluttonous
I really had no idea that there were wannabee gluttons. Faux gluttons, if you will. But if there are, then we certainly must find a way to distinguish these undeserving gluttons from the genuinely gluttonous.
I’m appalled by all the time people spent on this when they could have just sat in the dark, quietly masturbating, without exposing to all the world why they…uhm….should have just sat in the dark, quietly masturbating.
Myself included.
Liposuction is a funny word!
You know the sandwich doesn’t much add to the fact that he’s just a fat, ugly asshole. I think the only logical conclusion is that Daffy is He Who Cannot be Photographed and you will have to create some sort of geometrical representation of him to substitute for his image.
Christ, why won’t this die? Seriously, a day or two is one thing. We don’t need this to be another “cunt” battle or another “Penis’s are Funk filled bratwurst” battle. This is why the left always self-destructs. Certain segments of the party always try and enforce an ideological or tactical purity that just isn’t reachable. We criticize feminists for caring more about fat jokes than torture. Feminists accuse PETA of caring more about animal rights than human rights. Free Trader’s accuse Fair Traders of protectionism. Can we just be done with it? Can’t we just accept that we all have different priorities? We have too many priorities in common to be tearing each other to pieces over our differences. We all want to end the war. That’s the big issue, and we virtually all agree on it. We can fight to the death when the right has been properly vanquished to permanent minority status.
My two cents (and I may be overvaluing); it should have been enough to say “make your fat jokes, but be aware you may be offending some people”.
I made an comment some time ago about a post that had “stuttering midget” in the title. My point was not to express offense (which was, like, 1.5 on a scale of 0 to 10), or demand an apology, or even say “don’t use titles like that”. It was meant simply as a gentle reminder that some usages can propagate the notion that disabilities are a joke. As long as everyone is aware of that…
I leave it to the reader (the one who gives a toss) to speculate as to whether I’m a stutterer, a midget, or both.
RobG: I don’t actually give a toss, but if forced to decide I’d go for your being a midget with a stutter. What do I win?
Have you guys heard the new Buggles song “Fat Jokes Killed teh Internets’ Snark”?
Jeebus. Fat jokes are bad, yeah. As someone with a couple (dozen) extra pounds on my frame, I’d apppreciate it if you’d stop making them. I don’t like them, and I’m sure there would be a point at which I’d quit reading S,N! if you oor your co-bloggers kept making them. But they’re not as bad as gay, racist and / or misogynist jokes. And they certainly aren’t responsible for any election results, in this or any parallel universe.
Jeebus.
I hear you on depression, Brad. The problem is, I’d think you should know that this –
The problem is that it’s not just about offense. It’s about power and privilege, all the way down from the very large scale to the little scale. You’ve seized on the fact that fatness is something you have the power to mock, and that’s only because fat people are at a social disadvantage. This pattern repeats itself in the previous, larger-scale fractal iteration that is society.
– isn’t a ridiculous comment. I’m not even on medication for depression, but even I get a ton of shit for being quiet, introverted and reluctant to talk just to fill the silence. It’s clear that the people giving me shit for it can’t really be so stupid as to think that irritating someone who they’ve already recognized as being prone to gloom and doom is going to help him/her at all. They just know that qualities like those I mentioned are widely considered to be undesirable in society at large. No one ever had to specifically tell them to seek out quiet, shy, or sad people and attack them, they just picked up on it from the cultural atmosphere, I guess. They know instinctively that it’s okay to attack people like that because, hey, they’re losers! They need to lighten up and start babbling about inane trivia!
I’m not even tying this in to the whole debate over fatness, necessarily, since everything’s been said and said again. I’m just suggesting that you ought to rethink what that comment is saying.
Sweet Jesus. Still with the fat joke controversy?
It’s a bloody parody site. No matter how funny it’s always been — why else would you read it? — you are bound to get pissed off about something sooner or later. Let it go or spare your more important sensibilities and stop reading sites like this one and WhiteHouse.org.
It’s also interesting that, fresh off the Edwards blogger imbroglio — which was all about humor that caused offense, or at least outcries of offense — we’ve seen this thing, in which a lot of the last round’s offensive-humor defenders have been, well, offended.
It was actually during the defense of Ms. Marcotte that I abandoned Feministe. One of their bloggers put up a post mocking a conservatarian’s “humorous” tirade about Ms. Marcotte’s pottymouth, and she compared her reaction to the mix of humor and pity inspired by a three-legged dog. The poster was taken to task in the comments for ableism. Because nothing screams contempt for disabled people like joking about a three-legged dog. One commenter even equated it to making jokes about rape. The poster eventually apologized and rewrote the post, thanks to the relentless shrieking from this year’s Academy Award nominees for Sanctimony. Is it irony, that all this was occurring in the context of everyone patting themselves on the back for (rightly) standing up for Ms. Marcotte? I can never keep the definition straight. Though I know that Alanis screwed it up completely.
Although since progressives have a lot in common with cats, any gathering of either species, no matter how well-fed and sun-drowsy, will be punctuated with the occasional 30-second bout of cacophony and ninja moves contingent upon some territorial violation invisible to the casual observer.
Anne Laurie, funniest thing I’ve read in days. Thanks.
What do I win?
R of P; keeping your toss is it’s own reward.
This would never have happened if you’d photoshopped a head of celery holding a giant sandwich. With the statue of liberty looking on and weeping. Thart’s comedy.
You know what? I need to lose about 60 pounds, and I think the sandwich picture was hilarious.
A day late and a dollar short, etc.
Re: black hole image
My God! It’s the long-lost U.S.S.* Cygnus!
*ultra-sized sub
Then I went over to the Feministe thread, where I read about how my fat joke helped contribute to getting Bush elected, and I just wanted to die.
Look, you’re a smart guy. You get this. The criticism isn’t that your fat joke was responsible for getting Bush elected, it’s that jokes similar to your fat joke were.
CSLewis-
I wanna talk about Art Frahm.
Is Lilek’s place the only repository of his celery-obsessed work?
Really had no idea that there were wannabee gluttons. Faux gluttons, if you will. But if there are, then we certainly must find a way to distinguish these undeserving gluttons from the genuinely gluttonous.
I submit the professional eater as a faux glutton.
Why eat 50+ hot dogs in one minute if you aren’t really, really hungry?
You know, I’ve seen it around a lot. The Bowl-Mor bowling alley in NY had a Frahm-inspired ad awhile back.
…It’s no longer on the Web, but the Google cache has this thumbnail.
As a recurringly fat guy myself, i say if someone like Dafydd ab Hugh wants to make cracks about someone else’s combat experience (i.e. if the pot wishes to call the fucking kettle “black”) , when his has only come from playing DOOM and then writing shitty books about it, then he’s fair game.
capisce?
“Keep this in perspective, please.”
NONONONONO!
(holds breath)
MMMMMMM!
(turns blue and passes out)
Thud!
More pie please!
To really sell it tho it helps to make Vroom and gear-grinding noises.
but otherwise Ya, beep beep
Some Guy — Bloom County certainly had its moments. Otis was the head of The Moral Majority — he was also the one that was usually seen at the bus stop, putting his hand on the knee of random young ladies.
billy pilgrim said,
I wanna talk about Art Frahm.
Is Lilek’s place the only repository of his celery-obsessed work?
[weeping softly] Thank God….thank God [breaks down]
Ahem. Yes, unfortunately every time I want to share the crunchy, panty-dropping wonders of this titan’s ouevre, I have to link to freakin’ Lileks. Lileks is one of those frustrating people whose non-political offerings tickle me but whose political writing makes me cringe.
If I had the Photoshop skills, I would make a picture of Daffyd ab Hugh holding a giant head of celery while his underwear falls down. I am confident this would lead to mass hysteria, the complete implosion of the American Left, and, within about 1,000 combative blog posts, Ragnarok.
Perhaps it is fortunate that the project is outside my technical competence.
So even though SN! spent hours defending its perfectly legitimate position yesterday in that dreary feministe blog, you’ve decided to bow to your PC overlords and remove the genocidal subject from the photo. The blubbery fat-headed maniac who held the sandwich/celery can no longer be insulted in pictures. Sad. Sad. Sad.
To avoid this fight in the future, SadlyNo should become pornographers and pay Ampersand a couple hundred bucks to link to them. Everyone would win, and the rest of us would be spared 500-comment threads of self-righteous indignation.
I really had no idea that there were wannabee gluttons. Faux gluttons, if you will. But if there are, then we certainly must find a way to distinguish these undeserving gluttons from the genuinely gluttonous.
neither did i until i encountered the readers of sadlyno.
“Gluttony” comes more flavors than just “Fat” Lesley.
Brad- just be yourself. Snark away. It’s what we come here for. Don’t let the prigs brow beat you into being as sensitive as a open wound to everyone with a persecution complex.
Seriously, if that giant sandwich doesn’t reappear in daffyd’s hands then the terrorists have won!
I’m not even on medication for depression, but even I get a ton of shit for being quiet, introverted and reluctant to talk just to fill the silence.
a ton of shit. a ton.
i’m trying to picture this and having a difficult time. who does this? are they people you work with? family members? strangers? is it one person? a crowd?
It should be pointed out that putting racism, sexism, homophobia and fat jokes on the same continuum, as some people have done over the past few days, is extremely offensive. Those who have done so can get bent.
Seriously, how do these people live? I work with folks- as in plural, more than 4- who think we should nuke the entire middle east. When you point out that that amounts to genocide, they shrug it off and reply “so? It’s us or them.� Had I shown them that Washington Post article about the kid who died for lack of dental care, I would have received worse comments than tbogg put up.
Fucking fat jokes? Really? Do ya’ll faint when some one farts?
I noticed a /b/tard on the feministe thread; I hope they raid the place and flood it with goatse jokes. That would probably be the funniest possible conclusion, and after all this, we deserve some comic relief.
speaking of how downright rude and insensitive people can be…
an acquaintance of mine on the verge of death a few years ago because of behaviours (but i won’t get into that) turned her life around. in the process she lost a lot of weight. People noticed the amazing changes in her (too numerous to mention) and paid her compliments. This pissed her off to no end. She hated the attention. She didn’t want compliments. She began to despise the people who paid them to her. I wanted to understand what this was about and asked her (because I’d been complimenting her, too). I compliment my friends. Until she’d growled about it, I didn’t know this could be taken another way. She said she just didn’t like the attention. “I’ve changed. So what. Leave me alone.” She didn’t want people making a big deal out of her catharsis. I can (sort of) understand that. I respect it.
A few months down the road she returned to her old ways, regained all the weight and went back to how she’d been. Nobody’s complimenting her though (mostly because they’re afraid to blink sideways at her) and that makes her happy.
Sometimes (not most of the time, perhaps) there’s no rhyme or reason. The people who complimented her, praised her, stroked (or thought they were) her ego, aren’t bad people. They meant well. Some of them love her. We know better now.
“Gluttony� comes more flavors than just “Fat� Lesley.
it certainly does, and Lee Raymond is a perfect example. He deserves more than a celery/sam shot.
But never, EVER, mock his goiter. It isn’t part of the oil profits, the earth raping, the valdez spill, or his $400 million pension.
Welcome new member!
It should be pointed out that putting racism, sexism, homophobia and fat jokes on the same continuum, as some people have done over the past few days, is extremely offensive.
Quick, go over to Feministe and register outrage. I would be quite interested to see how quickly they leap to defend your right to never be offended.
I agree with you that fat people (including me), especially fat Americans, trying to claim co-victimhood with the descendants of slaves is jaw-droppingly self-regarding. But they had already decided that I was an overentitled sexist fuck* (apparently without conscious irony), so I thought that argument was best left to others.
—–
* I called Ann Coulter a cunt. This is apparently beyond the pale and shows that I hate women. I am not entirely convinced that Feministe is not a parody site.
I think this whole brouhaha has a positive side. I thought that maybe, what with the fall of the USSR and such, that the art of Thought Correction Meetings and the role of Party Theoretician (or whatever–it’s been long) might have been lost. That Feministe thread is a good reminder of what happens when ideology overtakes your humanity, and how humorless Correctness is always a loser. It’s just like the fundies–it’s never enough to acknowledge they may have a point, you have to agree it’s the only acceptable point. Rock on, Sad Noes.
This whole mess has been truly pathetic on Feministe’s part. It really isn’t enough for you to say “hmm, you have a point, maybe I’ll lay off the fat jokes, but here’s why I think it’s acceptable here.” Only bowing, scraping, and screaming apologies as you flagellate yourself is good enough.
Keep doing what you do, and don’t mind the humorless. OH MY GOD I CALLED A FEMINIST HUMORLESS QUICK SOMEONE WHIP ME TILL I’M SOOOOORRY!!
The patriarchy long ago designated humorous as a strictly masculine trait, unattainable by the poor benighted females. Jrod’s insensitive assault can only serve to reinforce this notion of the inferiority of the feminine, debasing all wimmyne as it does so. He’s such a cunt.
Shame. Shame!
Lesley-
I didn’t see anywhere that they pledged they wouldn’t ridicule Daffydd in photo form, whether fat related or no.
For instance, all it would take to make the celery photo acceptable would be to show Daff’s underwear falling down, and it would become an homage to Art Frahm. Intertubes Fixed!!
I don’t think I could stomach picking a fight with them right now. Besides, I’m sure they’ve moved on to analyzing Garfield’s cruel treatment of obese animals or something equally important.
[i] I called Ann Coulter a cunt. This is apparently beyond the pale and shows that I hate women. I am not entirely convinced that Feministe is not a parody site. [/i]
I heard tell of the anti-cunt blow up. My 17 year old step daughter uses that word with the frequency other people use “the� or “of�. She used it as an adverb last night. I was impressed.
Visiting feministe is like crash landing on mars.
PS: Ann Coulter IS a cunt. When science comes up with a more fitting word for her, I will use that word. But until then…
The thing about fat joles…. fat people get really hurt when someone points out that they are, in fact, fat, because they live on a tightrope of pretending that they are not fat, and pointing it out forces them to confront the fact that they are committing slow-motion suicide through self-indulgence.
Somehow, the same people who would rush to impose an “intervention” on anyone working on a faster method of suicide are very defensive of the above mentioned method.
What do you like better… hurt feelings or clogged arteries, renal failure and the inability to wipe your own ass? Well, there’s always “toilet tongs”!
Chow down!
You sir, are worse than Hitler.
Leonard Pierce said:
the big sandwich can be no longer than 6 inches.
I think I saw some spam in my inbox that might help increase the size of your sandwich… although referring to the size of the sandwich is at the root of many of our self-image problems.
Now let poor Jillian speak out about how a smaller sandwich just doesn’t “feel satisfying” in her uterus. She’s obviously a hate-filled harpy of the matriarchy, hell-bent on objectifying men based upon the relative sizes of their luncheon meat.
Bad girl! No Miracle Whip for you!
BTW – where’s Dr. Sammich? Shouldn’t he be speaking out somewhere here? We needs us an expert on mid-day repasts.
kingubu:
the General Motors of judgmental asshole joke manufacturing.
What’s good for the General Motors of judgmental asshole joke manufacturing is good for the America that manufactures so goddam many judgmental assholes.
I hear, however, that there are a whole bunch of Japanese judgmental asshole joke manufacturers tooling up out there, and we’d better watch out, because they’re going to make the jokes smaller, better and funnier.
Fat jokes are why the preview button left.
Smaller fat jokes? Feh. Real manly Americans like their fat jokes big and beefy.
Word, Brad. Nice post and follow-up.
u need to play up the “fat chickenhawk” angle more in my opinion. It’s the only thing that keeps the fat joke truly justified.
I hate to say “I told you so” but– oh, wait, no I don’t. Also, the thread at Feministe is about to hit 600. One thing we can all agree on: it’s all Lesley’s fault.
Maybe it’s not all your fault. Maybe the fat people did it.
And I bet you can make David Abs Loos cry of you take his cheetos.
There. I’m insensitive. It’s my fault.
All I can say is it’s threads like this that make me glad I’m a conservative. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to arguing with my fellow conservatives about just what is the best way to go about annihilating the Muslims and I can guarantee you that not one of the seven dirty words will be uttered.
I leave it to the reader (the one who gives a toss) to speculate as to whether I’m a stutterer, a midget, or both.
See, now that just isn’t fair. To use the terms “toss” and “midget” in the same sentence and dare me not to think of dwarf-tossing jokes.
Even so, Rosie O’Donnell still gives fat pig-ugly dykes a bad name.
I thought the pics were pretty damn funny. The captions even moreso.
I weigh 315 pounds myself. I could stand to lose over 100 pounds. You ain’t fat! You ain’t fat! You ain’t nothin’!
“Yo butt is wide
Well mine is too…”
First they made fun of fat people. I said nothing, because I’m not (all that) fat.
Then they made fun of southpaws. I said nothing, because I am right-handed.
Then they made fun of Adolf Coulter’s Adam’s apple. I said nothing, because I am not a trans-sexual Sturmabteilung brownshirt.
Then they made fun of me. You know what? I didn’t give a fuck about that either!
I heard tell of the anti-cunt blow up. My 17 year old step daughter uses that word with the frequency other people use “the� or “of�. She used it as an adverb last night. I was impressed.
“Cuntishly” or “Cuntfully”? Either way, that’s sweet. Don’t tell her she is a self-hating sexist fuck, OK?
They’re up to 634 posts over there. Now they’re arguing over the ideologically permissible boundaries of criticism of the Catholic Church. I am leaning increasingly towards (possibly unintentional but nevertheless jewel-like) “parody site.”
Hey mikey, let’s go somewhere else where we can discuss techniques for building flame-throwers and how it’s only regulated in the state of California.
Whee! (WHOOSH!) AIIIGH!
Rove –
Only if we can discuss the best method for using a flammenwerfer to toast a sammich before we stuff it in some poor woman’s uterus. In a mall.
“Cuntily”? “Cuntally?” I actually want to know. 17 year old girls got the snaps.
The Rude Pundit regularly used to have columns titled, “Why Ann Coulter Is A Cunt, Part (random high number).” He had to do so many that he titles new ones, “Why Ann Coulter Is A Cunt (Part Of An Ongoing Series).”
. . .and you don’t want to know what he calls the ones about the Malkin thing.
. . .and speaking of Ann Coulter, why is it that no one at Feministe seems to get that mocking Ann Coulter for being a closet tranny is wholly appropriate, given that her conservative “allies” believe people like her should be lynched? A person can be a hypocrite and still right; this does not mean hypocrisy should not be mocked.
ManWomanWomynPersonPersunMan, fuck those whiners.GAAAAAH!1!one!!
I was away from here for like, what? A week?
And then… this.
GAAAAHHHHHH!!11!!
[heh – fattiez are teh hilarious!]
[…] UPDATE: Oh yes, there is one idicator that Kelin forgot: — wantonly makes fat jokes […]
a ton of shit. a ton.
i’m trying to picture this and having a difficult time. who does this? are they people you work with? family members? strangers? is it one person? a crowd?
All of the above, except for the crowd, thanks for asking. So what’s with your snotty tone? Was the colloquial metaphor not to your liking or what?
See, now that just isn’t fair. To use the terms “toss� and “midget� in the same sentence and dare me not to think of dwarf-tossing jokes.
Hey, if it’s good enough for Peter Jackson to use in The Two Towers, it’s got to be acceptable.
And as a fat person, I would like to tell my fellow fatties to lighten up.
I waded through about the first hundred of those comments at Feministe. Sheesh. It tears me a bit, because so much of Jill’s and Zuzu’s columns are good essays that expose many instances of the very real short end of the stick women get.
But….
I just can’t dig the “looking to be offended” angle, from men or women. I do find it funny to call Hugh ab Daffodil (whatever his crazy ass Welsh name is) fat. I find it funny because I imagine he’s the kind of guy it would offend – I’m looking to offend HIM, because he is an asshole. I’m fat myself, and people say as much to me, as when I went to the blood bank the other day to make a donation – the guy gave me shit about it. Wasn’t a big deal to me, in fact I just agreed with him, because a)he’s right and b) he’s a friend and it was just an observation. Other than a moment of guilt – GUILT, not offense, GUILT, for not exercising enough – it was no big deal and we went on to talk about Brittney’s shaved head and shaved cooter.
Now, in that last paragraph there are SEVERAL items the Mrs. Grundys of the world (a fair population of which live over at Jill’s place) would find fault with.
1) I called Welsh names crazy-ass. Why I hate the Welsh?
2) I called Hugh an asshole. Why do I hate assholes? (Seriously, why is asshole a bad word? We’d die without ’em)
3) I called Britney Spears public area a “cooter. Why do I hate cooters? (and I don’t hate Britney’s cooter, that’s actually a term of endearment and hoped-for familiarity).
See where this goes? I suppose there can be comedy without any potiential offense, but I can’t see it. As the bar gets lower and lower, eventually you’ll reach a point at which damn near any observation not coldly scientific will CONCEIVEABLY piss off somebody somewhere. So as thought experiment in the abstract, this has no end, other than a world without comedy, or at least any that I can envision.
So let’s dump the damn thought experiment and talk about specifics. If calling somebody fat pisses YOU off, then let’s talk about your part in it – like Brad noted over at Feministe, offense doesn’t live in a vacuum. People ARE too easily offended these days, it is making social interaction more and more of a mine field. All offended folks – get over yourself.
I’m fat, and you can call me fat. Hell, I often say it about myself. Big whoop. That ain’t shit compared to growing up with a mentally retarded little brother. If I can make peace with “retard” – and I have – you can make peace with “fat”.
I await breathlessly the encyclical from feministe telling me how to be a progressive liberal.
Requited, HTML! And thank you, Rob G.
As for the rest of you: Ann Coulter is a dick. A cored, inverted dick, to be sure — but reassignment surgery wasn’t nearly so advanced all those years ago.
And if it worries you when (other) progressives argue… I find that imagining angry-cat noises and ninja moves is a great stress reliever.
I’m really starting to wonder if Feministe and Ampland aren’t made up of Republican plants trying to destroy our political coalition. Seriously, do these people really think that the most important issues of the day are fat jokes and whether someone thinks Chris Rock is funny? And yes, it’s come to the point where I have a hard time of thinking of them as anything but “those people” at this point.
[…] going back and forth through about a thousand comments between the two blogs and what do I find? Read it baby: It was actually during the defense of Ms. Marcotte that I abandoned Feministe. One of their […]
Would it have been less of an uproar if the photo had simply been photoshopped by placing a light saber in his hand or a bong? Or is that offensive to Star Wars fans and stoners?
Medical studies have shown that being overweight is also linked with heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, diabetes, hyperglycemia, hyperurcemia, infertillity, sleep apnea, and gout. Maybe they should advocate that in all honesty the best thing for Dayffud would be to get him to diet and not sing ‘proud to be me’.