» Portlandia: The White Subcultural Equivalent of a Minstrel Show | Screen News | Boise Weekly
Or “Stop Making Fun of Me!”
I am fucking tired of “offended” standing in place of “you hurt my feelings.” Save your offense for discrimination and active hate campaigns and other things that actually keep us from evolving as a species. Things like this article aren’t even reverse-offensive, they are just highlights of both sensitivity and insensitivity.
If you don’t like seeing weirdos get made fun of, I suggest you stuff consuming comedy. People are weird. All people. Putting things “off-limits” makes an air of regulation that leads to well-intended ignoramuses to cry foul when nothing has happened.
I even like when people play with and subvert stereotypes. For a timely example, Eddie Brill saying most female comics lack the authenticity of a male comic is a pretty ignorant stereotype. It seems pretty specific to Mr. Brill, but it’s a general assumption he’s made after years and years of his own experience and lack of interest in changing his mind. However, the great Authentic Female Comic takes this specific stereotype of Mr. Brill’s and plays with it. It turns the sexism into a joke, using the stereotypes of sexism as context and the jargon of stand-ups as color and ignorance as it’s target.
Stereotypes and race are tricky subjects in comedy with good reason. Humans aren’t great at being accepting, equal-thinking beasts. When we do make the change in our collective perception to be right-thinking and kid, we still have a shameful history and painful memories. However, let’s let the collective audience be the guide on what is offensive and what isn’t. If a show has gotten two seasons on television, chances are people have seen it already.
Growing up, I was made fun of a lot (big surprise). Yeah, it sucks to have your feelings hurt. There seems like little alternative when you are a kid. You only have one school, and you have to go there everyday because it’s the law. One thing I did learn, though, as an adult you can decide who you spend time with. That’s a great day when you realize that. If people are being a dick, you can choose not to see them ever again, kinda like TV shows!
January 20, 2012, 5:48pm Permalink
