Cancel Culture

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:lol: nice one
 
Anthony Jeselnik is a full on, unapologetic offense comic… he has 3 specials on Netflix.

Generally whenever people bring up “cancelling” in a comedy context, it almost always just means “some really shit jokes got criticised”

I guess you could say that guy that got hired and then unhired by SNL for making (bad) racist Asian jokes was a potential example?… But then is “not being hired by the most famous sketch show in the world” really being cancelled? Cos if so, it’s a low bar.

Even in that guy's case, I'd be pretty confident the SNL controversy ultimately left him better off and selling quite a few live tickets. Being "the guy who was cancelled by SNL" is more of a career boost than just being some guy nobody knows. He was on the Joe Rogan podcast just a couple of weeks ago for example, exposure which sure as shit wouldn't have happened if he had never had that experience with SNL.
 
It's wild to me that a person as rich and scrutinised as Trump doesn't have any PR reps, social media manager etc...clearly writes his own stuff.

Almost makes me appreciate his deranged ramblings a bit. I'd love to know why he chooses to capitalise completely random words.
 
Thoughts on this Maher segment? He mentions cancel culture, starting at 0:40.

 

Snickers uses the catchphrase 'you're not you when you're hungry'. They've had many commercials where one person is kind of going off on one as one person and then once they start eating the candybar return to normal. I can see why they are getting flak for this particular scenario, although it is from Mexico and who knows, maybe the transgender person is somewhat recognizable in that market as the "not you" people in the example below are.

 
Snickers uses the catchphrase 'you're not you when you're hungry'. They've had many commercials where one person is kind of going off on one as one person and then once they start eating the candybar return to normal. I can see why they are getting flak for this particular scenario, although it is from Mexico and who knows, maybe the transgender person is somewhat recognizable in that market as the "not you" people in the example below are.



It’s from Spain. The flamboyant camp bloke with the long hair is apparently a well known influencer. Incredibly bad taste considering there was a recent high profile case in Spain of a young gay man beaten to death because of his sexuality.
 
It’s from Spain. The flamboyant camp bloke with the long hair is apparently a well known influencer. Incredibly bad taste considering there was a recent high profile case in Spain of a young gay man beaten to death because of his sexuality.

Thanks for clarifying. Yeah, based on that information it's in very poor taste.

I guess the question is would it be poorly received if that incident wasn't in the back of people's minds? I think Snickers utilize well known people to try and avoid criticism. It's arguable that the Betty White ad I posted is both sexist and ageist but because it's Betty White, everyone gets the joke. If it were some random old lady people might perceive it differently.
 
It’s from Spain. The flamboyant camp bloke with the long hair is apparently a well known influencer. Incredibly bad taste considering there was a recent high profile case in Spain of a young gay man beaten to death because of his sexuality.
What do the Spanish themselves say?
 
Thanks for clarifying. Yeah, based on that information it's in very poor taste.

I guess the question is would it be poorly received if that incident wasn't in the back of people's minds? I think Snickers utilize well known people to try and avoid criticism. It's arguable that the Betty White ad I posted is both sexist and ageist but because it's Betty White, everyone gets the joke. If it were some random old lady people might perceive it differently.

Yeah it’s a tricky one. If they’d done it the other way round (flamboyant gay man transforms into monosyllabic grumpy shmuck before a snack gets him back to his usual outgoing self) then nobody would have a problem with it.
 
This seems a little excessive. Public apology from the publisher and author, who has had to promise to rewrite her memoir about teaching after being dragged over the coals on Twitter for “racist and ableist tropes” :

including the use of racial tropes such as “chocolate-coloured skin” and “almond-shaped eyes”, and references to one student as “African Jonathon” and another being “so small and square and Afghan with his big nose and premature moustache”.

the inclusion of ableist descriptions, in which Clanchy, a poet and teacher, refers to two autistic children as “unselfconsciously odd” and “jarring company”, and writes “probably, more than an hour a week” in their company “would irritate me, too, but for that hour I like them very much”.
 
This seems a little excessive. Public apology from the publisher and author, who has had to promise to rewrite her memoir about teaching after being dragged over the coals on Twitter for “racist and ableist tropes” :
Struggling to see what's excessive about that? She used offensive phrases, was rightly criticised and decided to update it, so as not to offend people. Seems pretty fair to me.
 
This seems a little excessive. Public apology from the publisher and author, who has had to promise to rewrite her memoir about teaching after being dragged over the coals on Twitter for “racist and ableist tropes” :
Almond shaped and chocolate coloured is racist now too? Seems descriptive more than anything? And in the case of almond shaped, I think it's a compliment?

I somehow doubt anyone would really care about this outside of the Internet. Though I have no empirical data to back this up.
 
Struggling to see what's excessive about that? She used offensive phrases, was rightly criticised and decided to update it, so as not to offend people. Seems pretty fair to me.

I guess we disagree on the definition of “offensive phrases”. Assuming the quotes in the Guardian article are the absolutely worst things she wrote anyway.
 
Almond shaped and chocolate coloured is racist now too? Seems descriptive more than anything? And in the case of almond shaped, I think it's a compliment?

I somehow doubt anyone would really care about this outside of the Internet. Though I have no empirical data to back this up.

Yeah, it seems extreme. Almond eyes racist? I've never heard that nor even imagined that. However, I have heard comments about descriptive skin tones because some lit professors have said that in older novels the assumption was the default skin tone was white so usually it was only people of color's skin tone depicted in vivid, sensory terms. White skin was never described so the "chocolate" descriptors signified the other.

And the autistic part, I see that more as an uncomfortable, honest confession. I don't see that as "ablest trope". In fact, I think its probably better in the long term if people felt free to confess their actual feelings and admit to uncomfortable truths.It's like admitting you are an alcoholic first before truly being able to accept help.
 
I guess we disagree on the definition of “offensive phrases”. Assuming the quotes in the Guardian article are the absolutely worst things she wrote anyway.


The racial comments don’t offend me but I will say that as a 30 year old black man who grew up in a mostly white area, being constantly differentiated by your skin colour (or continent of origin in this case) gets very exhausting. I’m not being patronising, and in truth, it’s not something I can except non minorities to understand, but from my own experience, it’s something that made me very self conscious to the fact that I was different from my peers growing up, so it’s something that I think teachers at the very least, should avoid where possible.

I can also see why stating that someone is
“so small and square and Afghan with his big nose and premature moustache” is offensive.

Referring to autistic children as “unselfconsciously odd” and “jarring company” is pretty ridiculous though, it’s already difficult enough for people with these conditions without renowned authors perpetuating that sort of stigma.
Without seeing the full context they were written it, those comments look pretty offensive in isolation.
 
Hardly a revelation to suggest autistic people can be difficult to be around. It's in the definition of the disorder.
Exactly. One of my mates is only a bit on the spectrum, but can be an absolute headache to be around at times.

So can I with my adhd brain though.
 
The racial comments don’t offend me but I will say that as a 30 year old black man who grew up in a mostly white area, being constantly differentiated by your skin colour (or continent of origin in this case) gets very exhausting. I’m not being patronising, and in truth, it’s not something I can except non minorities to understand, but from my own experience, it’s something that made me very self conscious to the fact that I was different from my peers growing up, so it’s something that I think teachers at the very least, should avoid where possible.

I can also see why stating that someone is
“so small and square and Afghan with his big nose and premature moustache” is offensive.

Referring to autistic children as “unselfconsciously odd” and “jarring company” is pretty ridiculous though, it’s already difficult enough for people with these conditions without renowned authors perpetuating that sort of stigma.
Without seeing the full context they were written it, those comments look pretty offensive in isolation.

If she was referring to every single kid on the autism spectrum that way I can see what you mean but if she was only referring to those two specific kids she had in class then I don't think it's fair to call it an "ablest trope" or offensive. I have a few friends that have worked as autistic kid helpers in schools and some of the kids do things like punching the helper randomly (and they are 10-12 so it can actually hurt or even cause damage) or do things like inappropriately grab body parts like breasts or even in one case I heard about, try to shove their hand down the helpers pants. I certainly think it's fair to call some individuals "jarring company". I don't feel like a disability should automatically make someone immune from criticism. Like all people, some are difficult (or more) individuals, ya know?
 
Almond shaped and chocolate coloured is racist now too? Seems descriptive more than anything? And in the case of almond shaped, I think it's a compliment?

I somehow doubt anyone would really care about this outside of the Internet. Though I have no empirical data to back this up.

Almond shaped eyes should be complimentary but describing someone as chocolate is usually not appropriate. While not necessarily negative it tends to be overtly sexual which leads it into racist territory because historically blacks were seen as more promiscuous than whites.

The "jarring company" bit seems very unkind and selfish. People should be careful about how they describe this.
 
The racial comments don’t offend me but I will say that as a 30 year old black man who grew up in a mostly white area, being constantly differentiated by your skin colour (or continent of origin in this case) gets very exhausting. I’m not being patronising, and in truth, it’s not something I can except non minorities to understand, but from my own experience, it’s something that made me very self conscious to the fact that I was different from my peers growing up, so it’s something that I think teachers at the very least, should avoid where possible.

I can also see why stating that someone is
“so small and square and Afghan with his big nose and premature moustache” is offensive.

Referring to autistic children as “unselfconsciously odd” and “jarring company” is pretty ridiculous though, it’s already difficult enough for people with these conditions without renowned authors perpetuating that sort of stigma.
Without seeing the full context they were written it, those comments look pretty offensive in isolation.

I see where you’re coming from but I just find it unfair to tell people who are literally painting pictures using words alone that it’s offensive to allude to the colour of someone’s skin.

I’d need to see the autistic comments (and all the other allegedly offensive content) in context but I think they’re reasonable descriptions. Which could only come from someone who is used to spending time with people on the spectrum. They’re potentially unkind but she takes the edge off by saying how much she enjoys their company.

The whole thing smacks of a very small number of people finding offence where none was intended, kicking off a social media pile-on, which ends up with more and more attempts to dig out every last remotely problematic sentence and make sure the author/publisher gets absolutely crucified over not very much at all.
 
Almond shaped eyes should be complimentary but describing someone as chocolate is usually not appropriate. While not necessarily negative it tends to be overtly sexual which leads it into racist territory because historically blacks were seen as more promiscuous than whites.

The "jarring company" bit seems very unkind and selfish. People should be careful about how they describe this.
I understand the reasoning, but in this case it seems like a literary flourish more than anything.

Same as the part on autism. Without context calling an autistic person jarring company is quite rude, but as someone else mentioned this sounds more like a confession.

Personally I can always get behind the reasoning of these things, but do think parts of it are going beyond reason. Literature should be viewed in it's context. Always within reason of course, mind.
 
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I understand the reasoning, but in this case it seems like a literary flourish more than anything.

Same as the part on autism. Without context calling an autistic person jarring company is quite rude, but as someone else mentioned this sounds more like a confession.

Personally I can always get behind the reasoning of these things, but do think parts of it are going beyond reason.

Chocolate is a sensual food. Applied to describe someone's skin it also sensualizes them. With the historical context it's pretty clear this shouldn't be acceptable.

Like I said the autism description is unkind at worst and you'd expect someone with any writing ability to be able to express the notion she does, which is probably quite matter of fact, more eloquently.
 
It's a bit worrying, she essentially described me and she is seemingly hungry. :nervous:
 
Chocolate is a sensual food. Applied to describe someone's skin it also sensualizes them. With the historical context it's pretty clear this shouldn't be acceptable.

Like I said the autism description is unkind at worst and you'd expect someone with any writing ability to be able to express the notion she does, which is probably quite matter of fact, more eloquently.
I understand the reasoning. Also don't disagree with the bit on eloquence. I just don't think a massive online pile on is justified in this instance.
 
I understand the reasoning. Also don't disagree with the bit on eloquence. I just don't think a massive online pile on is justified in this instance.

A massive pile on, no, probably not. This seems like a scenario where an older person is using terms they are familiar and comfortable with but are maybe no longer appropriate. And while a pile on certainly seems to have happened, I think the following is a good result:

Initially, in a since-deleted tweet, Clanchy, 55, who is originally from Scotland, said she had been wrongfully accused of racism by reviewers on Goodreads. She later falsely claimed the quotes were “all made up”, then that the descriptions had been taken out of context.

Writers such as Philip Pullman and Amanda Craig came to Clanchy’s defence, while authors of colour, including Chimene Suleyman, Monisha Rajesh and Sunny Singh, criticised her response and the award-winning merit of the book, and went on to receive racist abuse from social media users.

Suleyman, a co-author of The Good Immigrant USA anthology, tweeted that she was particularly concerned by “the publishing team that didn’t spot it, the awards that celebrated it, and the white authors defending it and invalidating people of colour who are upset by it”.

Clanchy later apologised for “overreacting” to critical reader reviews and pledged to rewrite the book, calling the whole experience “humbling”. She wrote on Twitter: “I know I got many things wrong, and welcome the chance to write better, more lovingly.”

In a second statement addressing public anger at its initial lack of response and apology, Picador said: “We realise our response was too slow. We vigorously condemn the despicable online bullying of many of those who have spoken out. This has no place in our community.”

The publisher added that it apologised “profoundly for the hurt we have caused”.

We can hope the author has learned a few things and that those who expressed genuine concern that this kind of language and use was published have some satisfaction.
 
A massive pile on, no, probably not. This seems like a scenario where an older person is using terms they are familiar and comfortable with but are maybe no longer appropriate. And while a pile on certainly seems to have happened, I think the following is a good result:



We can hope the author has learned a few things and that those who expressed genuine concern that this kind of language and use was published have some satisfaction.
Yeah for sure. I think the most important thing is that people in general talk to each other about these things and try to understand why things can be hurtful and respect it.
 
She can write what she wants but when she chooses to publish, then know she is open to criticism. And some of the passages from the book I've seen are really crap.

It seems to have been written as an Informative and communicative memoir rather than a Romantic fiction, so over and above any literary criticism it's worth highlighting that that type of language is being freely published by a big publishing house, in that space. Drawing attention to it doesn't seem particularly censorial.

The report in the Graun suggest she acted like an arsehole (lying, attacking, doubling down, the usual shit) on social media and then apologised for that, rather than for the work itself.

I didn't see anyone calling for a rewrite (though there might have been some) so that seems to be her own decision. And the original is still available in all good book stores or what these days we call Amazon.

And you can support both freedom of creative expression and be critical of that which has been expressed. I support Tarantino's freedom to continue to use racially offensive language in his films, at the same time as supporting and largely agreeing with Spike Lee's continued criticism of the regularity with which Tarantino uses the language.