by Flack » Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:55 am
The Kevin Hart situation really brought to my attention the current mob mentality. When Hart was asked to host the Oscars, people dug back into his old tweets and comedy specials and said some of his old jokes were offensive. Based on that contrived backlash, the Oscars asked Hart to apologize for his old tweets. The thing is, Hart had already apologized for the old tweets. That didn't matter, and the Oscars asked him to apologize again. When he didn't, they canned him.
There's so much wrapped in this that I don't understand. Let me break it down.
01. I don't understand this whole movement where people try to get comics to apologize for insensitive jokes. Hasn't pretty every stand up comedian except Brian Regan and Seinfeld told an offensive joke by now? It's like follow around a sailor and asking them to apologize for talking like a sailor. It's what they do.
02. I don't understand why we go after some comedians but not others. When Eddie Murphy was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor award in 2015, where were the protests about his stand up specials? Or those leather pants?
03. I don't understand why people who are offended get to demand if and how people should apologize and/or atone for things they said. ("Apologize for those tweets." "I already did." "Well... do it again.")
04. Frankly, I don't understand why people who are offended have any power at all. When I was a kid, if someone called you fat, people just told you to "suck it up." I'm sure that went for anyone else who heard racist or homophobic insults. If I demanded an apology from the mean kids on the bus, they would have kicked my ass. I believe people have the right to say "I'm offended," but I don't get how they can follow it with "so you better...". I don't understand how random people have been empowered to take action after being offended.
05. I think the term/phrase "offended" is greatly overused. Unless it made you cry or see red, were you really offended? (If so, "suck it up.") Seriously though, how can people honestly say 9-year-old tweet from a celebrity they never met affected their life? I couldn't care less if Kevin Hart likes overweight Irish guys.
06. I think a good litmus test if you think you're offended is to say, "how can I contact this person or company personally and let them know I was offended." I don't mean sending a random tweet out into the twitterverse. I mean, how can you call Kevin Hart or Eddie Murphy or Bill Cosby or Michael (bring a Ouija Board) Jackson and say, "that hurt me personally." You can't. They're not talking directly to you, or about you. Even better, be prepared to tell them what you, not some rabid mob, plans to do about it. "Based on the fact that you may have drugged a woman 40-50 years ago for sex, I will no longer watch my Fat Albert DVDs." News flash -- Bill Cosby is legally blind and in jail. The fact that you're fake-offended by his sex life isn't the worst thing he's dealing with.
07. I don't understand why people are offended because other people are offended. "That's insensitive to people without legs." Well, use yours and walk on out of that conversation. People get so excited about potentially being offended that they look for things that might offend other people and jump on that bandwagon. Get a hobby, people. My caveat would be defending people who are defenseless -- but to me that's helping/assisting/defending someone, not being offended. People without legs don't need you posting online about how offended you are about jokes.
I think that's it. Time for my 4th cup of coffee.
The Kevin Hart situation really brought to my attention the current mob mentality. When Hart was asked to host the Oscars, people dug back into his old tweets and comedy specials and said some of his old jokes were offensive. Based on that contrived backlash, the Oscars asked Hart to apologize for his old tweets. The thing is, Hart had [i]already[/i] apologized for the old tweets. That didn't matter, and the Oscars asked him to apologize [i]again[/i]. When he didn't, they canned him.
There's so much wrapped in this that I don't understand. Let me break it down.
01. I don't understand this whole movement where people try to get comics to apologize for insensitive jokes. Hasn't pretty every stand up comedian except Brian Regan and Seinfeld told an offensive joke by now? It's like follow around a sailor and asking them to apologize for talking like a sailor. It's what they do.
02. I don't understand why we go after some comedians but not others. When Eddie Murphy was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor award in 2015, where were the protests about his stand up specials? Or those leather pants?
03. I don't understand why people who are offended get to demand if and how people should apologize and/or atone for things they said. ("Apologize for those tweets." "I already did." "Well... do it again.")
04. Frankly, I don't understand why people who are offended have any power at all. When I was a kid, if someone called you fat, people just told you to "suck it up." I'm sure that went for anyone else who heard racist or homophobic insults. If I demanded an apology from the mean kids on the bus, they would have kicked my ass. I believe people have the right to say "I'm offended," but I don't get how they can follow it with "so you better...". I don't understand how random people have been empowered to take action after being offended.
05. I think the term/phrase "offended" is greatly overused. Unless it made you cry or see red, were you really offended? (If so, "suck it up.") Seriously though, how can people honestly say 9-year-old tweet from a celebrity they never met affected their life? I couldn't care less if Kevin Hart likes overweight Irish guys.
06. I think a good litmus test if you think you're offended is to say, "how can I contact this person or company personally and let them know I was offended." I don't mean sending a random tweet out into the twitterverse. I mean, how can you call Kevin Hart or Eddie Murphy or Bill Cosby or Michael (bring a Ouija Board) Jackson and say, "that hurt me personally." You can't. They're not talking directly to you, or about you. Even better, be prepared to tell them what you, not some rabid mob, plans to do about it. "Based on the fact that you may have drugged a woman 40-50 years ago for sex, I will no longer watch my Fat Albert DVDs." News flash -- Bill Cosby is legally blind and in jail. The fact that you're fake-offended by his sex life isn't the worst thing he's dealing with.
07. I don't understand why people are offended because other people are offended. "That's insensitive to people without legs." Well, use yours and walk on out of that conversation. People get so excited about potentially being offended that they look for things that might offend other people and jump on that bandwagon. Get a hobby, people. My caveat would be defending people who are defenseless -- but to me that's helping/assisting/defending someone, not being offended. People without legs don't need you posting online about how offended you are about jokes.
I think that's it. Time for my 4th cup of coffee.