View Single Post
Old 02-16-2006, 08:06 AM   #44 (permalink)
Jinn
Lover - Protector - Teacher
 
Jinn's Avatar
 
Location: Seattle, WA
Quote:
I do not consider Dave to be irrisposible [sic], nor do i think he has had a negative impact. Quite the opposite, in fact. He is not perpetuating stereo-types as much as he is demanding they be re-examined.
This is the crux of the argument. There are people who believe that by joking about (usually through the use of) racist or ridiculous jokes/language, you perpetuate that language or behaviors. This argument allows people to deride Chapelle, Eminem, et al.. for being racist/sexist/etc.

However, I personally believe that closer examination reveals that their very USE of the language and slang in a silly or humorous manner lessens their use in a negative manner. I call this satire;

Quote:
Satire is a mode of challenging accepted notions by making them seem ridiculous. It usually occurs only in an age of crisis, when there exists no absolute uniformity but rather two sets of beliefs. Of the two sets of beliefs, one holds sufficient power to suppress open attacks on the established order, but not enough to suppress a veiled attack.
If Chapelle or Eminem stood on a soapbox and told us how ridiculous race-differences were and how we shouldn't beat and mock women, no one would listen. It's a sad part of humanity, but everyone would dismiss it as common knowledge without truly thinking about whether they upheld the principle. However, by offering it in satire, it's ridiculousness is unveiled -- without directly attacking it. While I'm not very familiar with Chappelle, I can offer many citations from Eminem's lyrics which were labelled "racist/sexist/bigoted" by politically correct persons (as above) which were quite the opposite under a satirical examination.

Like I said; some of you believe that even saying the word bitch or nigger perpetuates the word and the connotation of denigrating the two groups. That's fine. I think, however, that by using it in unique ways -- such as the borrowed "nigga" to mean a black compatriot-- it cheapens the use of "nigger". A racist calling you a "nigger" is drastically less offense if you call your friends "niggas" regularly. It forces the bigot/racist/sexist to come up with new ways of insulting you, rather than riling you with the same barbs repeatedly. Similarly, if you say "bitch please" regularly to your friends, an agitator attempting to rile you by saying "bitch please" has a nominal effect. These are poor examples, and I realize it's an unpopular belief (Oprah strongly disagrees with me), but I think this differentiation is the dividing line between people who support satire as a valid literary technique for political change, and those who don't. (And consequently, those who support Chappelle, Eminem, and other provacteurs as artists AND bastions of social change.)

Not to derail, or anything..
__________________
"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel

Last edited by Jinn; 02-16-2006 at 08:11 AM..
Jinn is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360