In a story out of Springfield Elementary School in Des Moines, IA, 9-year-old Max Hannagan, who was suspended for verbally harassing his fellow third graders, has now claimed he was just “pushing boundaries” with his comedy.
“Did I caw Jimmy a loser? Yes,” Max told reporters while rocking ba
One thing that bugs me: when Jon Stewart was accused of making fun of trans people, he had the grace and class to apologize. e.g. he made a joke one time about a “tranny prostitute”, and he indicated that he was sorry, and realizes now that it was wrong - people should never “punch down”.
The thing with Chappelle is that as a black man, it is not clear that has ever “punched down”? Even so, he probably should have risen to the occasion and just apologized. I think he’s correct in what he’s saying, though profits off of saying it offensively so does that. Which still advances the cause of getting the issues discussed more broadly in society, but also rankles a bit - a role that he seems okay with, and might even be necessary, though not one that we should ever aspire to ourselves. He at least is smart enough to handle walking that line, and deal with whatever consequences may come.
Also, oddly enough, whether it’s due to Chappelle’s challenges or whatever, I hear some of the same talk coming from actual LGBTQ comedians? e.g., there is a difference b/t “sex” and “gender” - like if a big dude walks up to you, with a beard and a deep voice, and says that they are a woman, obviously they must be referring to the latter rather than former, but it’s not always so easy to tell otherwise.
Though Chappelle is saying that from the “outside”, while there are other dicussions happening from the “inside”, so he still gets razed b/c he shouldn’t be the one saying it, even if they are identical words. Context matters. Also, he says it in an insensitive manner, b/c that too is his style of reaching out to poor, less educated people.
And all of this is complicated still further by the actions of the other side - e.g. there was some controversy about how employees of Netflix tried to force their way into director-level meetings about the subject, and they were fired. Was that b/c they were trans? Not… entirely, or even mostly - they were fired b/c they were acting entitled and ignoring the standards of professional behavior. Though there was a huge outcry b/c how dare Netflix fire people “for being trans”. (Also relevant, their being trans themselves gave them sympathy, which lead to why they acted the way that they did, feeling personally impacted).
Remember though, “cancelling” isn’t simply choosing not to go to a show anymore - that’s your personal choice, and it does not rise to “cancelling” until something like a gang of bikers blocks all the roadways leading into the show. The show people paid money for the venue, did the advertising, rented the space, got the permits, travelled, using their gasoline, and on and on it goes - and some of the audience members likewise wanted to come, but something in-between the seller and the buyer blocked them, “cancelling” the show, setting themselves up as the moral authority to show-block the will of all of the other parties. i.e., they acted as Karens, exactly in the same manner as those states that are trying to block medical care to trans people, but on the other side. Whenever you set yourself up to be the moral authority of a subject, different expectations begin to be applied to a “leader” rather than a mere participant.
Here’s an interesting article on it: https://www.npr.org/2021/11/06/1050313989/netflix-dave-chappelle-cancel-culture-trans-employees:
So… there are problems and imperfect steps taken by all sides of this matter. And it does not help that trans people seem like they could care less about issues faced by black people - they just want theirs, and that’s all. It would help if we all could push just for “civil rights” and have that be inclusive of ALL, but b/c of the extremely low numbers, plus the extreme severity of the issues faced by black people, if that were to happen then trans people would not have gotten a fraction of the attention that has been awarded there in the past (if effort was put in according to that principle “to each according to their need”). Again, words may hurt people’s feelings but… you know what I am going to say don’t you… BREONNA TAYLOR WAS SLEEPING!!! Those are not at the same level at all.
It’s not like there’s a hierarchy of which group is worse off than the other. Chappelle is a multi-milliionaire with Netflix specials. Money = power, and he’s got a lot of money. So he has a lot more power than the people he’s attacking. That’s punching down. If a trans person was as wealthy and well established as Dave Chappelle and started talking shit about black people, it would be also be punching down. Money has a big part to play in this, as it does in most aspects of our society.
It’s generally accepted that it’s fine for members of a group to talk about their own group. Within reason, of course. Nobody is upset if Dave Chappelle makes commentary on the black community.
I dunno. Probably just ask. Generally if you’re respectful to others you’re not going to have problems when there’s confusion.
Yup. That’s how it works on lots of things. If I say “there are a lot of problems with the US” do those words have different meaning if it’s an American saying it vs. if a non-American says it? If it’s an American saying it, it’s an invitation to discuss the problems of the country with a peer. If a non-Amercan says it, It comes off as a little judgemental doesn’t it?
Yeah ultimately companies are all about making money. I always laugh when people say things like Disney is woke. Or Hasbro is woke for how they market Potato heads. Or the Dr. Seuss Company is woke for pulling some books. There’s actually something these companies have in common. They all make products directed at young people. They’ve done market research and they decide things based on what will make them money.
Disney fired Gina Corano so that Millenials would feel comfortable watching the next season of Mandorian with their kids. It was important for those kids to see what Mando’s new spaceship looked like so they would want that toy for Christmas. Because that’s what Disney really cares about: money.
It may shock you to learn that there are actually black trans people.
Agree completely. But consider that those that are against this may be taking a divide and conquer approach. Pit various minority groups against one another so people can’t unite in a common cause for rights for everyone. Trans people are always the group that people using this approach go after first. Like I say, they’re a very small group, not a lot of people have trans friends, people feel confused and uncomfortable about trans people. So it’s easy to isolate them and take away their rights. But people that are all about taking away people’s rights usually don’t stop with just trans people.
If we want people to unite for the common interest of civil rights for everyone, then is Dave Chappelle helping in that cause?
The answer to that depends: is he correct? Even so, it does not help that he was being crass. Bc of the latter, even if trans people themselves end up coming to the same endpoint, they seem unlikely to thank him? Then again, he was not advocating for trans people, he was advocating for black, at which point it seems helpful how he pointed out what the the prioritization should be: danger to life first, then secondary concerns.
The Kremlin doesn’t pay you enough.