Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

 Not really sure where to start today. It's still hotter than blazes outside & the world keeps turning. So let's go. I will say I'm going to be mocking people who think "it's just jokes" is a reasonable defense for anything, so if that upsets you, you might want to move along.



 One of the things we must remember is that I checked out of society about 15 years ago. While I do pay attention to politics, pop culture not so much. I don't really listen to newer music or read newer books. I don't watch television at all & it's something to get me in a movie theater. I hate theaters, they're always too cold & too loud, so someone has to ask me to go with them.

 As for "bingeable" media, I've watched & enjoyed a couple, like Dead Wood & The Wire, & whatever YouTube jangle-keys might last a week or two. I do play computer games, but for the most part, I really don't keep up with what's hot to play or what's causing a stir in the "community". I don't keep "hep", is what I'm saying. I'm not making judgement of quality, mind you, I just don't care.

 Furthermore, I don't care if comedians can't tell racially tinged jokes without catching hell anymore. I don't care they have to work a little harder to get a laugh that doesn't use someone as a punching bag. I don't care that they're a load of female/black/gay/so forth comics that are telling jokes & building a reputation on jokes that not only could straight white dudes (like me) couldn't get away with "if roles were reversed", but also makes them slightly uncomfortable. I really don't care that some nerd who gets paid to play video games loses a sweet gig because he dropped an N-bomb.

 In short, I don't have a problem with "cancel culture" or "call-out culture" or what have you, just like "political correctness" didn't bother. I really, really don't see the problem with having to put at least the smallest bit of effort into not being an asshole. I don't think people are "too sensitive" these days so much as they're tired of being the only butts of the joke & society telling them that's their lot. It doesn't bother me that comedians have to work harder to be funny without being offensive & have no sympathy for the ones that can't.

 And I don't think this attitude is "destroying comedy". Number one, having to put in the effort to not be "politically incorrect" & actually funny makes for better comedians. Number two, & this is the one that I think hangs everyone up, we have plenty of people to be funny that we don't need just bougie dudes to do it anymore.

 Dave Chappelle stirred up some shit lately with his new Netflix special with people who forget one of his regular characters was a crack head just being a crack head. I haven't seen it - remember, I don't care - but I enjoyed his Comedy Central show like everyone else & what stand up I've seen. He's not owed your laughs & people who want to make it easy for him, in re: "cancel culture", are doing him a disservice, I think.

 Call it whatever you like - the Patriarchy or white dude culture or whatever - but the fact of the matter is we, as a society, are used to "humor" being one way & are unable to wrap our heads around society changing. You see women & people of color kvetching about "cancel culture", sure, but it's the same concept: we want to keep things like they are, nobody wants to "push the envelope", especially when it cuts into the bottom line. I don't remember who said it, but it's true: "The only color Hollywood cares about is green." If it wasn't going to make them money, trust me, they wouldn't be bucking at all.

 All of this is stirred up partly because some dude named Shane Gillis lost a gig with Saturday Night Live when podcasts he did under his own name showed up with him using racial slurs. And he wasn't telling jokes with them, either; he was just saying racial slurs. Just like sitting there & saying them to be recorded for posterity, & this was on a day SNL had it's FIRST EVER Asian-American cast remember. So we lost yet another doughy white guy who thinks "edgy" actually means "douchebag" except he still has a fat touring schedule & is playing a big show sometime this weekend.

 Louis C.K. is doing Vegas. Bill Burr & David Chappelle have specials on Netflix. People still ask Sarah Silverman what she thinks of thing. PewDiePie is still pulling down at least five zeroes for playing video games. "Cancel culture" does not exist. There is little to no real danger for being a obnoxious prick in public that one can't come back from. Paula Dean still makes a shit-ton of money & is "making a comeback". Calm down, honkies, you're just going to have to work harder. Cut your crying & make me laugh. Do that & I might give a shit about stand up again.

 Anyhow. That's all fairly sloppily lashed together & beyond the basic summed up in the previous sentence, not something I'm will to fight over. That is one of the nice things about dropping out of society, that sort of shit just flies over my head. I see it on Twitter & immediately think, "Ah, yes, I really don't give a damn". Another consequence of everyone having a megaphone is I see every half-bright dingbat's opinion on the matter &, right or wrong, they're generally such a whiny little shit that they're killing their argument.

 Let's see, let's wrap this up. Oh, this is nice. The Trump Administration, who've never read The Jungle, are about to arrange things so that the pork industry will have the sole responsibility of inspecting their own product with no outside input. I'm sure that's going to go over well. May have to give up my bacon.

 Trump's EPA is also set to revoke California's authority to set vehicle standards. The hooting jackass is also "exploring" ways to use the cops to "crackdown" on California's homeless problems. Now, of course, Trump - like any good Republican - hates & loathes the Golden State, & both these are mainly attempts to use the federal government as a cudgel against a single state for political purposes. And of course, hoi palloi are all for it. This is what they formed the whole "Tea Party" thing, recall, which makes one wonder just what really was their problem with President Obama.

 I don't know who's responsible for it, but several years back live recordings from the 1983 US Festival were released, in particular Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings. They're... interesting if nothing else. Willie's all over the place, more so than usual, & Waylon sounds so coked up I'm amazed he didn't just disappear into a pool of sweat. Hank Williams, Jr. also played it, but I don't see where he has a recording. Ahh, the '80s.

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