Letters to the Editor
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Satire is tricky.
Satire is a great weapon when wielded against the powerful. When wielded against the weak or oppressed, e.g, rape victims, it needs to be done with an undercurrent of empathy, not to mention fine wit. This idiotic sketch did neither.
Times change, too. That Blazing Saddles bit *might* have been funny back when rape was actually often dismissed as not a big deal, but today the joke falls flat. My 90-something Uncle still lets slip the occasional rape joke which was probably new in the Rat Pack days; the jokes aren't funny at all.
This is what the Rightwing tends to get wrong. Creeps like Rush Limbaugh specialize in mocking the weak, the poor, the oppressed. Theirs is the humor of sadists and the morally bankrupt. By contrast, the skit in question is the humor of the mentally dull.
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@durian
Whether or not you think these decades-old jokes are funny is beside the point. For all we know, you're a humorless prig. The question raised by this column was, is the subject off-limits? And personally, I find that question offensive. Although, for all you know, I'm one of the many wingnut trolls who haunt Salon's message boards.
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@lerpa
Thanks for telling us what the column was about and also for setting limits on how letter writers can respond.
I believe in free speech, so nothing is off limits. However, there is a difference between having the freedom to do something, and doing it, regardless of how destructive that something is. For example, a person is free to walk around town making fun of, people with disabilities, but should he? And if he does, he should be willing to face the consequences, which will probably include but not be limited to being told he's an asshole.
Lastly, I'm not a humorless prig. I find you funny.
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HATE these stupid video blogs.
I am deaf. A large and growing proportion of your readership is either deaf or hard of hearing. THAT PROPORTION WILL GROW AS THE POPULATION AGES. Any of you bean counters getting any of this?
Why is Salon using new technology to DEPRIVE its handicapped readers of content?
Each and every new video blog without a transcript is a slap in my face. Multiply me by thousands.
Stupid, stupid, thoughtless, short-sighted, mean-spirited, and stupid.
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@durian
Us? Are you using the royal we again? Oh, I get it, you're speaking for the community in response to a comment I directed at you. That's a really neat trick. Now that I've dispensed with the quid pro quo sarcasm, let me ask you: do you really think this skit is "destructive?" Destructive?! This is a madcap skit. People are beaten up and run over for little or no reason. Is that joke destructive towards victims of hit-and-run drivers? And does their offense give them moral authority over the entire topic?
I agree that the skit isn't funny, but that's mainly a function of its execution, not its subject matter. To ask what's off-limits in comedy is to not understand the whole damned genre. Comedy explores uncomfortable subjects. That's what makes it, like, funny.
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You know what isn't funny?
Lack of access for deaf readers. I expect more from a section that writes about sexism. Why is audism acceptable?
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Hard of caring
Thank you to those who point out the slight to the deaf audience that a video blog without transcript entails. This one is supposed to be on the subject of insensitivity to boot, and simultaneously IS insensitive to a substantial minority group. I personally would like to have transcripts too, to avoid wasting 2 min on something like this when I can read it in 20 seconds. I hope everyone else joins me in posting comments on this and other sites whenever possible to change this practice.
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Freedom of expression
I am also uncomfortable with making any words or thoughts off-limits. I'm glad to learn the names of those who produced this piece of garbage, I'll know to never look at or read anything they've done. Ever.
I think the worst thing we can do is prevent people from saying who they are and what they believe. How else will we know them? I would rather have a man who believes rape can be funny identify himself, either by producing this stuff or laughing at it - so that I know where he's coming from and the content of this character. Or lack thereof.
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Another problem with video blogs
If I want to quote something insightful instead of copy/paste I have to transcribe by hand. Not fun.
Please provide text transcripts.
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No need at all to vblog, please stop
What precisely is the value added in vblogging? Aside from the hottness of the vblogger, nothing at all. So it doesn't seem all that feminist to me. But then I'm an old fogie.
Please drop it.
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Yes, why the vblog?
I joke that we are this close to having the top 3 worthless cable news stations just have a bimbo-fied beauty and Wolf Blitzer sitting by a giant monitor with You Tube videos shot by John Q. Citizens all over the world blsting all day and that will be their news...oh, and one John Q. from the left and one from the right of course because none of those stations can do their own honest muckraking.
I'm annoyed that Salon seems bent on doing this too. Please, let's keep the written word and all of the mystique of the writers therein intact.
I've taken to turning the sound off on my computer at work because at least once a day I inadvertantly click on a video on CNN.com when all I wanted to do was read an aricle in silence-- just me and the words-- whilst on my coffee break.
Is this asking too much?
Someone mentioned the hotness of the vbloggers too. If you're a woman vblogger, damn straight. You have to look good. With the pornification of Fox News et al, the standard is becoming harder to attain not to mention younger. I bet dear Tracy did a bit of sprucing and glamming before her closeup. I sure would have. Oh, how this changes the world and not for the better.
Salon, you don't have to give into the hype.
I see no need for your vblogs. They are distracting and not particularly interesting. Now if you had a discussion that really got bubbling--if you held a SALON-- say between some of your finest journalists/columnists like Andrew O'Hehir and Garrison Keillor, perhaps, then maybe I would tune in. A kind of "My Dinner With Andre" thing.
Get back to me!