Ok, so first off, yes popular subject oft discussed. Yes its a ongoing debate, and yes there are alot of threads surrounding this subject. If you are sick of it then very well, I don't blame you. But I do remind you that you don't have to be on this particular thread. Plenty of other ones on the website, and the internet in general. Also, would those in this thread please keep things courteous? Lets try to maintain a spirited debate without a flame-war. Thank you, moving on.
So, the recent E3 Microsoft "rape joke" controversy made me think of something. Now I don't personally believe it was a reference to rape, but for the sake of argument lets assume it was a intentional rape reference rather than poorly chosen words. There is already a thread debating which one it was, if memory serves. But it made me question why rape in particular is treated with such sensitivity.
Now before I continue I feel the need to first establish something, lest I be misunderstood. Yes, rape is a abhorrent crime and a awful thing to happen to anyone. It should be severely punished and never viewed as a act of moral acceptability. Everyone got that? Good.
Why is rape such a massive controversy when it comes to jokes? I mean, yes it is a awful crime, but just look at how people treat equally brutal and horrible crimes. Murder, brutal assault, torture, arson all these are horrible crimes, yet they are all less controversial than rape. To give a example of a joke being fairly light-hearted about horrible crimes. Demetri Martin is a comedian I like. He once had a bit, I can't remember where it was from and its been awhile so I might not remember the whole thing precisely, where he joked that he had the super-power of being invisible to bartenders. He ends the joke by pantomiming stabbing the bartender and saying something to the effect of "Oh! Didn't see that coming, did you?" There was hardly controversy about this. But come on, stabbing a person with a knife is just as awful as being raped, and both can lead to physical injury and mental trauma. To switch examples, I imagine being held down and brutalized would have similar mental effects to rape (feelings of disempowerment, mental trauma, shame at being unable to prevent it, etc) but it is far less controversial to make a joke about that then rape. I mean, the Microsoft conference thing was during a fighting game. How is a game where two people attempt to harm, brutalize, and eventually humiliate each other any less awful than rape? Of course its fictional, but so are jokes. You could argue that rape jokes might lead to psychological trauma for victims of sexual assault, but I imagine many video-games could have bad effects on those who have suffered gang violence. Yet one is controversial and the other isn't. To use another example, the Tomb Raider controversy was already pretty dead by the time the game was released, but I seem to remember the fact that Laura is merely strangled to death instead of raped if you fail the QTE having a quelling effect on the whole thing. How is that better?
This whole thing is very confusing for me, and from a objective point of view makes little sense, so Escapists, what is your opinion on the whole thing?
So, the recent E3 Microsoft "rape joke" controversy made me think of something. Now I don't personally believe it was a reference to rape, but for the sake of argument lets assume it was a intentional rape reference rather than poorly chosen words. There is already a thread debating which one it was, if memory serves. But it made me question why rape in particular is treated with such sensitivity.
Now before I continue I feel the need to first establish something, lest I be misunderstood. Yes, rape is a abhorrent crime and a awful thing to happen to anyone. It should be severely punished and never viewed as a act of moral acceptability. Everyone got that? Good.
Why is rape such a massive controversy when it comes to jokes? I mean, yes it is a awful crime, but just look at how people treat equally brutal and horrible crimes. Murder, brutal assault, torture, arson all these are horrible crimes, yet they are all less controversial than rape. To give a example of a joke being fairly light-hearted about horrible crimes. Demetri Martin is a comedian I like. He once had a bit, I can't remember where it was from and its been awhile so I might not remember the whole thing precisely, where he joked that he had the super-power of being invisible to bartenders. He ends the joke by pantomiming stabbing the bartender and saying something to the effect of "Oh! Didn't see that coming, did you?" There was hardly controversy about this. But come on, stabbing a person with a knife is just as awful as being raped, and both can lead to physical injury and mental trauma. To switch examples, I imagine being held down and brutalized would have similar mental effects to rape (feelings of disempowerment, mental trauma, shame at being unable to prevent it, etc) but it is far less controversial to make a joke about that then rape. I mean, the Microsoft conference thing was during a fighting game. How is a game where two people attempt to harm, brutalize, and eventually humiliate each other any less awful than rape? Of course its fictional, but so are jokes. You could argue that rape jokes might lead to psychological trauma for victims of sexual assault, but I imagine many video-games could have bad effects on those who have suffered gang violence. Yet one is controversial and the other isn't. To use another example, the Tomb Raider controversy was already pretty dead by the time the game was released, but I seem to remember the fact that Laura is merely strangled to death instead of raped if you fail the QTE having a quelling effect on the whole thing. How is that better?
This whole thing is very confusing for me, and from a objective point of view makes little sense, so Escapists, what is your opinion on the whole thing?