[ SECRET POST #2551 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2551 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


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02.
[Resident Evil movies]


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03. http://i43.tinypic.com/bg9zlf.gif
[moving .gif]


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[ ----- SPOILERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]













04. [SPOILERS for something but idk what]



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05. [SPOILERS for Frozen]



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06. [SPOILERS for Bioshock Infinite]



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[ ----- TRIGGERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]















07. [WARNING for rape]

[Martin Freeman]


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08. [WARNING for rape]



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09. [WARNING for domestic abuse]















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #363.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

(frozen comment)

[kallanda_lee]

I'm okay with rape jokes about kids when no actual kids were raped, yes.

If you're going to draw the line for what you can and can't joke about you'll just end up with a very sanitized world.

Jokes about cancer? Nope, somebody's dad might have died of cancer. Jokes about abortion? Nope, some might have just aborted a much-wanted fetus because of birth defects. Jokes about mental illness? Nope, some of your audience might have actually been institutionalized at some point.

And the list goes on.

I do not want to live in a world where everything is taboo to joke about because it might offend someone's sensitivities.

(frozen comment)

[(Anonymous)]

I feel like if you're trying to make jokes about cancer, mental illness, rape etc. you are just trying to go for "shock value" or to be edgy and those kind of jokes are always eye roll worthy and not actually funny.
Of course you can make jokes about those kind of topics in witty insightful ways but I have a feeling that's not what you're defending here.

(frozen comment)

[(Anonymous)]

Since you're defending Martin Freeman's joke

(frozen comment)

[kallanda_lee]

I never said I particularly found it funny. It's just that the internet seems to think that making a rape joke is like the worst, most irredeemable thing one can do.

(frozen comment)

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think anyone thinks that making rape jokes are the worst most irredeemable thing you can do (except for a small radical minority on tumblr or whatever). That doesn't mean that rape jokes are completely a-okay however.

(frozen comment)

[liveoddly]

I think the real issue here, though, is about a. power dynamics, b. context and c. audience.

Power dynamics, because (in the Freeman case, since that's what we're talking about) the joker is the class of person most likely to perpetrate the act. I'm not saying all date-rapists are men or that all men are date-rapists, because that's not true, but given who he is and the position he fills in society, Freeman is more likely to be a rapist than a rape victim. Does that mean he is a rapist? No. Does it even mean he hasn't been raped? No. Does it mean that he's most likely coming at it from a position of ignorance and cultural power, given the fact that the social focus on rape is on male rapists and female victims? Yes. Yes, it does. Immediately, that makes it a dodgier joke to be making.

Context: there was nothing leading up to that joke. When I watched the video, my first thought wasn't even "Why would he say that?" but "why would he say that NOW?" He was asked which race he'd date, not what he'd do if Galadriel said no or whatever. Not that it would make it okay, but at least it would make sense.

Audience matters too. A comedian can get away with more, because the people in their audience know what to expect. Close friends, people you know, that's also different - you know what subjects are sore spots, and you can avoid them. But sticking a joke like that in a public, international setting where there's no reason to expect it is super dodgy. It was always going to be pretty inevitable that there will be rape victims in the audience, and when the audience is that wide and indiscriminate, some of them will be the ones who are triggered by that kind of joke.

With that in mind, it was at the very least an extremely poorly-thought-through joke which was always going to shoot him in the foot. Even if you want to make the argument that there's a place for jokes like that (which I would argue against; comedians like Dave Allen and Ross Noble do fine without them and are fucking hilarious), this blatantly wasn't it.

(frozen comment)

[(Anonymous)]

thank you

plus, really, jokes are a form of political power depending on the context. trivializing or making something an issue. If rape victims are the butt of your joke, it's just... lazy. lazy, distasteful and probably not funny.

(frozen comment)

[(Anonymous)]

yes

(frozen comment)

[mechanosapience]

All of this. Thank you.

(frozen comment)

[nan]

This is a beautiful comment.