A lot of you weighed in on the Daniel Tosh rape joke convo yesterday (catch up on the story here) and while I haven’t had a chance to respond to most of the comments I’ve read them all and I love that we have so many different takes on the story. As I said in the original post I watch Daniel Tosh and he stopped shocking me a while ago. All of his jokes are in bad taste; that’s his thing and he seeks to offend which may or may not be funny to a lot of people. But, given the reaction, I wondered if he had crossed some line in this case. People have been using the term “rape culture” and some consider his joke to be an example of our society’s dismissive attitude towards women and violence against them. Now that we’ve voiced our opinions, let’s hear from the wonderful world of twitter, inside.
Jim Norton and a host of other comedians have come to Tosh‘s defense, while others have shut him doooown:
Going to a Daniel Tosh show and complaining about his humor is like going to a Metallica concert and complaining it’s too loud.
— Jeff Leins (@NewsinFilm) July 11, 2012
To which a follower replied:
@NewsinFilm Metallica doesn’t sing about rape & actually has talent. Dumb comparison.
— KayKay (@kaykaymour) July 11, 2012
People should be vocally supporting @DanielTosh. Why is ok for an actor to play a rapist, but not for a comic to joke about it?
— Jim Norton (@JimNorton) July 11, 2012
Wow, @danieltosh had to apologize to a self-aggrandizing, idiotic blogger.Hope I never have to do that (again).
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) July 11, 2012
Silver lining to the @danieltosh mess: The Laugh Factory’s been forced to change its name to The Your Feelings Factory.
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) July 11, 2012
To which a follower replied:
@pattonoswalt @danieltosh “just a joke” doesn’t fly. Consult your neighborhood sociologist.Rape culture is a real thing women live with.
— naeelah (@gildedbat) July 11, 2012
If you journey through this life easily offended by other peoples words I think it’s best for everyone if you just kill yourself.
— Dane Cook (@danecook) July 11, 2012
Daniel Tosh can’t make a rape joke but Eminem can have hit songs about it?PS. AIDS jokes are funnier @DanielTosh
— Stevie Ryan (@StevieRyan) July 11, 2012
To which a follower replied:
@StevieRyan May you be raped by a gay man with aids
— Larry Dean Lane (@LarryDeanLane) July 12, 2012
((You see how this is getting out of control, right?))
To all the idiots! I completely support Daniel Tosh being a comic in a comedy club! Even if it means rape jokes! @danieltosh
— opie radio (@OpieRadio) July 11, 2012
Now here’s an interesting fact: comedian Louis C.K. (the best!) tweeted a simple message of support to Tosh yesterday (“@danieltosh your show makes me laugh every time I watch it. And you have pretty eyes.“). But today I couldn’t find it. I wonder why the Louie star decided to remove it. Hmmm.
And @OpieRadio also shared this George Carlin video:
“I believe you can joke about anything; it all depends on how you construct the joke.”
But the most interesting conversation about this issue (IMO) can be found in the comments section right here at PITNB. A few readers who identified as rape survivors (and I hope they won’t mind me bringing them up here) offered up completely different views on the matter. One said that she was unbothered and, in fact, would be more offended if someone told her that she shouldn’t or couldn’t laugh at such a joke. She chose to exert her agency by embracing the possible humor in it (even while acknowledging that another person had the right to be offended). And, indeed a couple of other individuals said that– as survivors– they were horrified by Tosh‘s joke.
I feel that we all have the right to react as we choose. I wouldn’t dare tell someone to ‘get over’ a joke about anything, if it real offended them. What I do disagree with is the comparison between this and jokes about race. People have said that if Tosh used the word “nigger” no one would have come to his defense. But in that case, I think it depends on the context. If he was spitting a Nicki Minaj verse, I bet half the people would have come to his defense, as they’re doing now. And then the other half would call in Al Sharpton (shouts-out). If he used it out of the context of a rap song, it might have been a different isse. But the word “nigger” is not akin to the word “rape.” I’m NOT saying either is worse or more powerful, I’m speaking of the historical context and connotation. As Oprah once told Jay-Z: “When I hear the N-word, I still think about every black man who was lynched–and the N-word was the last thing he heard. So we’ll just have to disagree about this.” The word “rape” does not have that historical context. And if Tosh made a crass “black people” joke (which I PROMISE you he did that night), Tosh fans would not have been surprised and offended parties would have sounded like they’d never been to a Tosh so, or any comedy show. Most comedians make fun of other cultures (and their own), on some level. I think.
Ok, that’s my three cents. What’s yours? Were these comedians right to come to Tosh‘s defense or is some of this further evidence of an American rape culture?
Oh, one more thing! Somebody on twitter mentioned Nirvana‘s Rape Me song. Not sure where they were going with it, but I’m thrown it into the mix here. Kbye.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pinkisthenewblog/~3/515x4OnSQ60/
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