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Runa216 said:
I am so sick of this 'wokeness is getting out of control' nonsense. Bro, we're just sick of people being aggressively ignorant, bigoted, and hateful without being called out for it. All we want is for people to be held accountable for their nasty behaviour. "Oh no, anything but consequences for my actions" is the entire 'anti-woke' rhetoric summed up. |
rhetoric is just a tool and all sides use it. Weren't you a rhetoric major btw? It seems like your skills with that have always been pretty good.
Secondly, you aren't getting the point here. If we restrict comedy and tone it down, then people are just gong to get their fix for the transgressive in some other way. It may take other forms, and usually resricting communication results in bad things whether its in one's personal relationships, or in a larger sense, a nation's tolerance of free communication. I get, however, that what you want is for us to tone down the offensive communication so that various minorities aren't butthurt after a comedian says something that they don't like. But in stopping this, you'll also lose out on the good things that comedians do as well.
Most of these issues with minorities aren't black and white. There may be some fault on both sides, a nuanced issue. The comedians job is to joke about this uncomfortable situation so that we can better figure out the right place to stand. If we restrict this communication, then we keep this out of our lives. What about when these minority issues aren't b lack and white, when pretty much everybody beleives that the right stance on it should be one way or the other? In that case, what you get is that the comedian might make a joke or tell an anecdote about it, and in so doing, it makes the audience want to do the right thing. They feel more strongly about the issue now in a more positive way.
We will all miss out on minorities giving their sides of things. What if a lesbian wants to talk about how she doesn't like it when straight men eye her up and down? That's relevant, because these people are visible. What about when a straight marine knows that he has to go serve on a navy ship and all the gay navy guys are gonna hit on him? He can't make that joke without implying that being gay is undesireable and this can lead to being offensive, if so then it would presumably be banned because it would be "punching down" as you've mentioned several times in this thread. What if we had a gay comedian talk about how to deal with working around a bunch of straight guys? You miss out on seeing other people's point of view. You miss out on seeing how people view nuanced issues, and so the audience learns something without even realizing it.
Free speech is a wonderful thing, and this would cause some unforseen problems and i can't support it in any way. People ought to be able to talk shit about whoever they want. So-called negative speech has a purpose, even if you can't readily see it. And the people they are speaking of should be able to join together and talk shit right back. Do you know what happens then? Both sides start respecting each other for who they are. You can't force that, and if you do you lose something.
Last edited by shavenferret - on 20 July 2025
