[News] Daniel Tosh is an ass.

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I hope you meet BananaHands in a dark alley when you're all alone.

then go and have a beer together
I hope he brings fresh banana hands. The black squishy ones are only good for banana bread, and while I love banana bread it's really too time consuming.
 
RAPE APOLOGIST!
Hey, you said rape and then didn't say "is the worst thing in the world ever" which is the only thing, legally, you can say after the word rape (which is the worst thing ever in the world). Way to apologize also rape culture which is the worst thing to ever happen ever.

Wouldn't it be funny if like, a plane crashed on you for that like right now? Oh man I'm totally encuraging people to 9-11 you. Im a monster. There is no other explination.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
There is a manifest difference difference between George Carlin joking about "Did you ever try to get somebody out of leather pants that didn't want them to come off?" and targeting someone to plant the image of their own violent sexual assault in their mind and the mind of everyone in the room.

Litmus test? Tell me how funny you find the following phrase?

"Wouldn't it be funny if 5 guys beat and raped your daughter/neice/sister/wife on her way home from school today?"

Wouldn't that just be hilarious? Wouldn't their shattered life, defiled body, broken soul just be slap-on-the-knee, poke-out-your-eye, kick-in-the-crotch hilarious? Wouldn't you love to be there like Nelson on the simpsons to point your finger and give the high pitched laugh when she screams out for help and nobody listens? At the health problems from the savage beating and kicking, the pooling blood, the specter of disease that might not be caught on a test for years? Shouldn't they just make a sitcom called "8 simple rules for raping my teenage daughter?" Isn't the stigma that never goes away just a never-ending source of amusement? Cause the concept of emotional damage, self-loathing, and fear that will rule her for the rest of her life, you'll just love to chuckle about that for years, won't you, daddy?
 
offending people has bercome the goal.
You make a compelling point, but it turns out that to some people that's funny. That is merely another type of humor for them. Off-ending people. They believe its funny to annoy and upset others. To tip and trip them up, make them feel uncomfortable, and cause them to question their assumptions and beliefs.

To some degree it's a bit like sarcasm. Some people will never find it funny, and can't possibly understand why others would find it funny.

But the reality is that people view things from fundamentally different perspectives. Something that would offend me might not offend you. If you don't find it offensive, you might find it funny because you know me to some degree, and therefore it becomes an inside joke.

Well known inside jokes that are offensive to some might include racist jokes like certain ethnicities/races preferring fried chicken, or other ethnicities/races being known as penny pinchers.

So then the question is not whether being offensive is the objective and thus the "bad" type of comedy, but whether the intended audience accepts it as a joke at the expense of those that would become offended.

If we got rid of all the jokes in the world which can only occur at the expense of another human, I think we'd eliminate most jokes. It's often when we identify our own foibles and poke fun at them that some humor occurs. I particularly enjoy self deprecating comedians, but that doesn't mean I don't laugh at the jokes at the expense of law enforcement, TSA workers, and programmers.

It's not funny that he suggested rape as the answer to her heckling.

It's funny that with one single sequence of words he was able to completely shut her down and get her to high tail it out of there.

He didn't threaten her. He didn't punch her. He didn't do anything but use his words.

And people laughed not because they were all imagining her getting raped. They laughed because she started a fight and lost so completely that she fled. She didn't flee in fear, she fled due to complete humiliation.

And once she found a safe spot away from him behind the Internet and the specter of rape culture, she renewed her attack and said he was a bad comedian for humiliating her so badly she couldn't keep her resolve and she fled with her tail between her legs.

She's not trying to stop rape culture, she's trying to get back at the guy that humiliated her in front of a few hundred people so badly that they laughed at her on the way out the door.
 
Wouldn't it be funny if like, a plane crashed on you for that like right now? Oh man I'm totally encuraging people to 9-11 you. Im a monster. There is no other explination.
Come on man. Don't be obtuse. You know this is different than saying that on a stage in a position of power with a group of (likely men) laughing along with the "joke".
 
You make a compelling point, but it turns out that to some people that's funny. That is merely another type of humor for them. Off-ending people. They believe its funny to annoy and upset others. To tip and trip them up, make them feel uncomfortable, and cause them to question their assumptions and beliefs.

To some degree it's a bit like sarcasm. Some people will never find it funny, and can't possibly understand why others would find it funny.

But the reality is that people view things from fundamentally different perspectives. Something that would offend me might not offend you. If you don't find it offensive, you might find it funny because you know me to some degree, and therefore it becomes an inside joke.

Well known inside jokes that are offensive to some might include racist jokes like certain ethnicities/races preferring fried chicken, or other ethnicities/races being known as penny pinchers.

So then the question is not whether being offensive is the objective and thus the "bad" type of comedy, but whether the intended audience accepts it as a joke at the expense of those that would become offended.

If we got rid of all the jokes in the world which can only occur at the expense of another human, I think we'd eliminate most jokes. It's often when we identify our own foibles and poke fun at them that some humor occurs. I particularly enjoy self deprecating comedians, but that doesn't mean I don't laugh at the jokes at the expense of law enforcement, TSA workers, and programmers.

It's not funny that he suggested rape as the answer to her heckling.

It's funny that with one single sequence of words he was able to completely shut her down and get her to high tail it out of there.

He didn't threaten her. He didn't punch her. He didn't do anything but use his words.

And people laughed not because they were all imagining her getting raped. They laughed because she started a fight and lost so completely that she fled. She didn't flee in fear, she fled due to complete humiliation.

And once she found a safe spot away from him behind the Internet and the specter of rape culture, she renewed her attack and said he was a bad comedian for humiliating her so badly she couldn't keep her resolve and she fled with her tail between her legs.

She's not trying to stop rape culture, she's trying to get back at the guy that humiliated her in front of a few hundred people so badly that they laughed at her on the way out the door.

Hmm, yes, but there are big differences there. I'm not saying you're not right or anything, I'm trying to explain where the difference is, for me. And, for the record, it's not because I think rape "is just offensive and not funny" while racism is "funny and people need to lighten up". I'm not talking about personal things....

My point is more: if it was a black woman, and Tosh had told her "oh, go back to the chains and go pick some cotton for me, you half-ape", that wouldn't have been especially funny, either. A similar joke with people you know may be appropriate (yo nigga, want some more chicken wings? hurr hurr), and may still offend some bystander, of course, but that's not the offense I mean.
See, the humour here is a bit what you said yourself: this is funny because she's humiliated. That's humour at the level of bullying and thinking it's funny to hang the nerd up the flagpole by his underwear. That's not humour, that's humiliating/degrading someone. A comedian whose schtick it is to bully and humiliate people isn't a very good comedian. He's an ass, and a bully.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I'm not going to even bother reply with what I was about to say because you nailed it. Nobody in this thread is laughing about rape. Seriously. Words only have as much power to hurt you as you allow them to have.
And so by that logic, anyone can say anything to you they want, and not only can they not be held accountable, but you don't even have the right to have an emotional response?
 
And so by that logic, anyone can say anything to you they want, and not only can they not be held accountable, but you don't even have the right to have an emotional response?
Really?
Is this the best you can come up with?
The hell, I'm getting the Gas Light type of content here today.
Booooo
 
How about "Wouldn't it be funny if Tosh got raped by 5 huge guys? Like right when everyone thinks this whole thing has blown over?"
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Really?
Is this the best you can come up with?
The hell, I'm getting the Gas Light type of content here today.
Booooo
I'm not trying to attack her, I'm following the thread of her logic to illustrate it's absurdity. Everybody knows I'm perfectly capable of using words to hurt people, I don't have to flex elocutive nuts every single post.
 
But you can sometimes know very well which words will hurt another person. Just because you know this logically doesn't mean you wouldn't be hurt if people started calling you ___.
She singled herself out and invited him to hurt her. He had a lot of options and chose one that he felt would hurt her. That was the whole point of him responding to her heckling. "this is my show. I'm in control. I am shutting you down and making sure I stay in control"

Does it really matter exactly what hurt he used to reassert his control over the stage?

When you are being paid to do a 30 minute job, and someone comes on site and disrupts your work do you let them eat up 20 minutes of your job throwing small barbs around, or do you shut them down immediately by choosing your most effective weapon and using it first?

Yes, she singled herself out, and attempted to wrest control of the audience away from him. He intentionally hurt her in order to complete his job of delivering his comedy to the audience who is paying to see him, not her. He used a very volatile subject in order to shut her down. If it were a man standing up he would have chosen a different weapon, so we know he customized it for her in at least some small way. It worked, and he was able to get back to business immediately rather than diddling around with her.
 
I'm not trying to attack her, I'm following the thread of her logic to illustrate it's absurdity. Everybody knows I'm perfectly capable of using words to hurt people, I don't have to flex elocutive nuts every single post.
I'm not here to be served sloppy lazy as fuck Gasbandit posts, you should be ashamed of yourself and your third rate ranting today.
 
If that's bullying, then we should simply pull out the standard answer, "Yes, but she started it"

You don't pick a fight you aren't prepared to follow through on.
 
HE WAS ASKING THE AUDIENCE FOR INPUT!

Some guy suggested rape as the theme for upcoming bit, the woman said it is not funny. Then Tosh threatened her.
 
Surely you are not asserting that the ends always justifies the means, regardless of disproportionate response.
No, but I wasn't about to write a treatise on the subject either. Yes, there are shades of gray. Some are saying that this is too dark, and others are saying that it's lighter than it seems.

Who is right?
 
I've had way, way worse things said to me in my life than "Wouldn't it be funny if five guys raped you?" When I was in junior high and the first part of high school, I had literally no friends and was bullied almost to the point where I committed suicide -- and we're talking shit I could have gotten kids arrested for, if I wasn't so afraid of further physical retaliation -- and then I spent five years with a guy who made the list of epithets even longer. I get it. And that's why I can say now -- after overcoming all that shit and building up my self-esteem from zero -- words only have as much power to hurt you as you allow them to have. It's really that easy.

If someone walked up to me in the street and called me a fatass or a slut or told me they hope I get raped, I'm not saying it would have no effect on me or that it wouldn't mess up my day, but I'm at a point in my life now where I'd think "wow, that person is a fucking asshole" and move on instead of internalizing it and letting it devastate me -- and I'm way happier for that mindset. Tosh is an an ass, as the thread title says, but he's made a living out of being an ass. If he had picked her out randomly and said "hey, see that woman back there? Wow, I hope she gets raped," I'd probably have a different reaction to this thread, but he didn't. She wanted the spotlight on her when she decided to yell at him in the middle of his show, and she got more than she bargained for. Sucks for her that she was completely humiliated, and I'm not saying that Tosh wasn't a complete dick to her in how he handled it, but context is everything. She's not a victim here.
 
Then Tosh threatened her.
Are you using the legal definition of threaten, the dictionary definition of threaten, or your own version of threaten?

Did he threaten her or did she perceive a threat in his words, or both according to your chosen definition?

Was there real motive, means and opportunity such that the threat was plausible, possible, likely, or a certainty?

I don't think anyone can argue that the environment - a comedy show - suggested that the stage performance was intended to be anything other than humor, and in fact your assertion that he asked for ideas, and then immediately used that idea suggests, if anything, only points towards this merely being part of his act.

But without video I don't think anyone not present can really make the claim you make, which is that Daniel Tosh threatened this audience member with gang rape.[DOUBLEPOST=1342130606][/DOUBLEPOST]
EDIT: Nope, not getting into this argument.
You've chosen a much better path than I have, that's for sure. I feel like I'm defending an idiot who probably could have handled a bully in his audience better, but can't exactly be faulted for bullying them right back.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I've had way, way worse things said to me in my life than "Wouldn't it be funny if five guys raped you?" When I was in junior high and the first part of high school, I had literally no friends and was bullied almost to the point where I committed suicide -- and we're talking shit I could have gotten kids arrested for, if I wasn't so afraid of further physical retaliation -- and then I spent five years with a guy who made the list of epithets even longer. I get it. And that's why I can say now -- after overcoming all that shit and building up my self-esteem from zero -- words only have as much power to hurt you as you allow them to have. It's really that easy.
Do you hold all women to your standard? That they need experience the levels of psychological pain and humiliation that nearly drove you to end your life, and shrug it off because you did? Does your suffering dictate that all must share the experience with grace and serenity?
 
You know, I've spent too much time thinking about this, when I should have just summed it up as, "when two bullies fight, everyone wins."
 
...what are y'all even arguing about at this point?

Everyone seems to agree that Tosh is a complete ass and went for the nuclear option in shutting down his heckler, which makes him an even bigger ass than everyone previously suspected.

Everyone seems to agree that, at least on some level, hecklers at comedy shows should know that heckling at comedy shows is a rude, assholish thing to do in general, and should likely realize that comedians insult their hecklers because that's how they handle that sort of thing.

No one appears to be calling for anyone to be arrested.

No one was there or seems to have a video of of the whole thing.

The only thing that you guys seems to be arguing about is who is more right about life in general and are hauling out the cat .gifs as part of the assault.
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Carry on, then.
 
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Do you hold all women to your standard? That they need experience the levels of psychological pain and humiliation that nearly drove you to end your life, and shrug it off because you did? Does your suffering dictate that all must share the experience with grace and serenity?
Nope. People can react to things however they damn well choose. That's my entire point -- you have control over your reaction to things, for good or for ill.

But I also don't go out looking for trouble and heckle shock comedians in the middle of their shows.
 
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