While, overall, I think political correctness is a good thing, there are times I think the PC-police go too far, especially when it comes to comedy. I find it odd that while a man (Donald Trump) can get elected president after being caught talking about grabbing women by the pus*y, a comedian (Kathy Griffin) can be seen as losing her career after telling an un-PC joke. I'm not saying her joke was morally right or anything of the sort, but I think there is a double-standard in place, and it's quite sad that we often times hold jokesters more accountable for their actions than we do leaders of this country. Having said all that, I think the PC-police have gone a little far in recent days with regard to jokes told by Chelsea Handler and Marilyn Manson.
I'll start with Manson. In an interview with NME, the shock rocker described the band members of Kiss as "four gay dudes in Halloween costumes." The man was obviously joking. Like Kiss, he is known to wear make-up on stage, dress up in an assortment of costumes, and has even presented himself in an androgynous fashion. So when Marilyn Manson says the members of Kiss are "four gay dudes in Halloween costumes," he's basically poking fun of himself. Also, there were no negative connotations with the word "gay" in the joke. If he had said, "Kiss looks like four gay dudes in Halloween costumes, and that's awful. Being gay is reprehensible, looking gay is disgusting, and these guys are going to burn in hell one day," that'd be an extremely homophobic statement. That wasn't the case, however, and I think we have to worry much more about legislators attempting to regress the rights of the LGBT community than a shock rocker jokingly saying other shock rockers are "four gay dudes in Halloween costumes."
The backlash surrounding Chelsea Handler's joke I found to be even more ridiculous. The criticisms came after Handler posted this tweet:
"Melania to host a discussion on opioid abuse. She says unless you have to have sex with Donald Trump, you have no excuse to be on drugs."
Granted, a lot of people feel First Families should be off limits when it comes to comedy. When it comes to jokes like this, though, they seem to often miss the point - the joke isn't on First Lady Melania Trump; it's on the president. Ms. Handler wasn't criticizing the First Lady. She was in essence saying Donald Trump is so nasty, it would be understandable for a woman to want to be under the influence of a substance in order to sleep with him. So while First Lady Melania Trump's name may have been used in the joke, she was merely the set-up; her husband was the punchline. This reminds me of an article The Onion released a few months ago, where the headline was something like, "Barron Trump Hides Face Out Of Embarrassment Ten Seconds Into His Father's Speech." There was some backlash regarding this post, as many clamored to "leave the boy out of this! He's off limits!" Once again, like Melania in the before-mentioned tweet, Barron was simply the set-up; Donald Trump was (and still is) the joke. If anything, the article was playing a sympathetic angle to the boy. To many, I guess ignoring is better than sympathizing. Given the gun violence problem in this country and our typical reaction to it, I can't say I'm surprised...
http://www.metalinjection.net/latest-news/drama/marilyn-manson-calls-kiss-four-gay-dudes-in-halloween-costumes
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/chelsea-handlers-vulgar-melania-trump-tweet-sparks-outrage/news-story/00a9fbb17af22e99c9745975a406bacb
I'll start with Manson. In an interview with NME, the shock rocker described the band members of Kiss as "four gay dudes in Halloween costumes." The man was obviously joking. Like Kiss, he is known to wear make-up on stage, dress up in an assortment of costumes, and has even presented himself in an androgynous fashion. So when Marilyn Manson says the members of Kiss are "four gay dudes in Halloween costumes," he's basically poking fun of himself. Also, there were no negative connotations with the word "gay" in the joke. If he had said, "Kiss looks like four gay dudes in Halloween costumes, and that's awful. Being gay is reprehensible, looking gay is disgusting, and these guys are going to burn in hell one day," that'd be an extremely homophobic statement. That wasn't the case, however, and I think we have to worry much more about legislators attempting to regress the rights of the LGBT community than a shock rocker jokingly saying other shock rockers are "four gay dudes in Halloween costumes."
The backlash surrounding Chelsea Handler's joke I found to be even more ridiculous. The criticisms came after Handler posted this tweet:
"Melania to host a discussion on opioid abuse. She says unless you have to have sex with Donald Trump, you have no excuse to be on drugs."
Granted, a lot of people feel First Families should be off limits when it comes to comedy. When it comes to jokes like this, though, they seem to often miss the point - the joke isn't on First Lady Melania Trump; it's on the president. Ms. Handler wasn't criticizing the First Lady. She was in essence saying Donald Trump is so nasty, it would be understandable for a woman to want to be under the influence of a substance in order to sleep with him. So while First Lady Melania Trump's name may have been used in the joke, she was merely the set-up; her husband was the punchline. This reminds me of an article The Onion released a few months ago, where the headline was something like, "Barron Trump Hides Face Out Of Embarrassment Ten Seconds Into His Father's Speech." There was some backlash regarding this post, as many clamored to "leave the boy out of this! He's off limits!" Once again, like Melania in the before-mentioned tweet, Barron was simply the set-up; Donald Trump was (and still is) the joke. If anything, the article was playing a sympathetic angle to the boy. To many, I guess ignoring is better than sympathizing. Given the gun violence problem in this country and our typical reaction to it, I can't say I'm surprised...
http://www.metalinjection.net/latest-news/drama/marilyn-manson-calls-kiss-four-gay-dudes-in-halloween-costumes
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/chelsea-handlers-vulgar-melania-trump-tweet-sparks-outrage/news-story/00a9fbb17af22e99c9745975a406bacb
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