This states many of my thoughts better than I do. - https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/dave-chappelle-the-closer/620364/
On Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 9:15 AM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote: > Chappelle is a comic genius. This special confirms he is also an asshole. > Such things have been known to co-occur before. > > I have always felt that the rules of social discourse are flexible and > especially expanded for comics. But they are not completely suspended. The > funnier a comic’s rule breaking jokes are, the more leeway we give them, > not because funny justifies everything, but because if a rule breaking joke > is actually funny it validates the claim that it is actually a joke and not > just an attempt to attack somebody. But even funny has its limits. > > The limits are not set by “offensiveness”, but by harm. Chappelle claims > to be able to say whatever the hell he wants because he is that funny, > regardless of how great the harm he is doing. It is not clear to me if he > doesn’t understand, or does not care, about that harm. > > Comics are most in their lane when they make fun of people and > institutions that are more powerful than they are. When they start picking > on people that are weaker or more vulnerable than they are, they move in > the direction of becoming bullies. Chappelle is one of the wealthiest, most > powerful entertainers in the culture, but has managed to convince himself > that he is being bullied by the transgender community because they have > complained about his material in the past. Despite the violent crime rate > against trans people (especially the Murder rate of trans women of color), > despite the suicide rate, Chappelle has decided that he is the injured > party, and rather than listen, rather than figure out how to craft edgy > jokes involving that community that do less harm, he decided to double > down, and blast those who had the nerve to criticize him to hell. > Regardless of how funny the jokes, the abuse of power by one of the > strongest against one of the weakest in society is despicable. > > I am re-watching Seinfeld currently, and recently came across an episode > from like season 3 or 4 in which his closing monologue is a series of jokes > about what losers people who attempt but fail suicide are. Whatever one > thinks of those jokes, if he told them today and received criticism, and > then decided to do a Netflix special dedicated to 90 minutes of jokes > attacking depressed and suicidal people, I think we would have to conclude > that Jerry Seinfeld is an asshole. Same with Chappelle. > > I appreciate that Netflix does not censor content. They are in business > with Chappelle and this is what he decided to do and they let him. If I ran > Netflix I would slap a disclaimer on it, warning people about what they > would encounter, and noting that while they are giving Chappelle a platform > to perform his art, they strongly disagree with how he chose to do it. > > On Mon, 18 Oct 2021 at 9:12 PM Steve Timko <steveti...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> We have had no discussion of Dave Chappelle's The Closer on Netflix. It >> has taken up a good chunk of my Twitter feed. Most of the comments are >> critical. The same with news articles. >> Most of the criticism focuses on its treatment of the LGBT+ crowd. Some >> say it is just not funny. >> Well, I am going out on a branch here. I liked it. Those who say it is >> not funny are flat wrong. Dave Chappelle is too talented for it to not be >> funny. Patton Oswalt was on Kevin Hart's podcast and said when he made his >> comedy club debut at age 19 that a 14-year-old Chappelle made his debut and >> his phenomenal talent already showed. >> https://www.instagram.com/p/CUvxvpxJLFo/ >> Chappelle’s delivery and precision is too great. Plus he lays out an >> argument why he gets to make politically incorrect jokes. I don’t buy all >> of it, but there is some merit. >> Dave Chappelle can make these jokes while, say, Joe Rogan can’t. >> On the other hand, trans people in particular are still being picked on >> and oppressed. Maybecane haven’t made enough progress that anyone can make >> these jokes. >> Chappelle’s criticism of feminists largely mirrors what Betty Friedan >> said in the 1980s. They represent the special interests of upper middle >> class white women and of lesbians. But not women as a whole, especially >> working class women. >> I laughed a lot watching The Closer. But I also recognize I am in the >> minority defending it. Some criticize Netflix for not pulling it. A >> Netflix employee was fired for revealing to Bloomberg News Netflix paid $24 >> million for it. Almost as much as it paid for the entire season of The >> Squid Game. Maybe there are financial reasons Netflix won’t pull it. Or >> maybe the Netflix boss, a comedy nerd, is right. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAH5J8ywgLyrqjySf3SaDq7bJ4odj%3DAkCDmmEkuikEODKqsHUXw%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAH5J8ywgLyrqjySf3SaDq7bJ4odj%3DAkCDmmEkuikEODKqsHUXw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > Sent from Gmail Mobile > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYKvWnM4s2u%2B7hmMJuUfaqC_ai17n2Vtr9U%2BMAWv8Ws5nQ%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYKvWnM4s2u%2B7hmMJuUfaqC_ai17n2Vtr9U%2BMAWv8Ws5nQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. 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