WGDF

[MiskWisk]

Oh goody, these guys are back. I can't wait for the rage. Now if you will all excuse me...

Spoiler: I'm just going to wait out the coming storm

Good news is I've wireless for it now![/img]

 

[Thaluikhain]

Picking on the insecurities of people who belong to the majority is about as safe as you can play it, since pissing those people off is easy and no one's going to care except those being negatively portrayed.

Very strongly disagree with this. Comedians attacking minorities is par for the course, it only gets called "daring" and "edgy" by those insecure members of the majority who thinks they are being oppressed.

If you want to safely pick on a group, you pick on a relatively powerless minority that everyone else is picking on. Picking on the majority is very much not the way to go about it. Hell, as mentioned, quite a number of people got angry enough to get themselves banned in the fallout from the last one. Nobody got that angry when they made fun of gender neutral pronouns, because people who care about that sort of thing are a minority most people at best don't care about, or at worst are actively hostile to.

I don't even mind the idea of the drunken octopus punching in every direction, but that's not really what they do. What they do is they punch in very specific directions. I've seen good, funny comedy done that picked on people because the comic would pick on everyone. If no one is safe from the bite of the comic, everyone can laugh. If the comic seems to have it out for only certain people though, it makes the comic look like a vicious troll.

That only works if you hold all those people to be morally equal, though. If you hold any sort of opinion, you are going to think that some groups are more deserving of ridicule than others.

But then, yeah, you comedy becomes a polemic if you aren't careful.

I think one mentioned "punching in every direction, like a drunken octopus" or something as a response to a concern about their attack on gender neutral names.

Ah yes, "punching in every direction... like a starfish. A starfish made of fists."

Oh, that was it, yeah.

 

[Erttheking]

Oh boy, this is gonna be fun.

Though it does remind about what annoyed me the first time around. People are more scared of accusations of racism slash sexism than actual racism slash sexism.

 

[Mr Fixit]

So, we're going for an attempt at breaking the record for most number of bans in a single thread?

What is the current record anyway? And what thread currently holds that record?

I can only imagine that it was indeed the previous WGDF comic. Seriously, I think the Grey made that comic just to troll the mods and make them have to work harder. =P

Soooooooooooooooooo many bans. I'm surprised the mods didn't just up and lock the comment section like they do for regular threads that seem specifically designed to get people banned. =3

Because I'm bored out of my head I actually went through the last one & counted the bans, only 6. I guess I could have missed some though. There were a few suspensions & too many warnings to count, but only 6 out right bans.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Oh boy, this is gonna be fun.

Though it does remind about what annoyed me the first time around. People are more scared of accusations of racism slash sexism than actual racism slash sexism.

Very much this.

OTOH, though, I can sort of understand it. Racism can be subtle, but calling people out on it is not. OTOOH, racism can be very unsubtle and still not be seen be people not wanting to see it.

 

[1Life0Continues]

Out of curiosity, do you often find humor in people being emotionally upset and angry? I mean that as an honest question as I find it fascinating.

What I find humorous is often considered by others to be insensitive. I like dead baby jokes, and I find people offing themselves in idiotic ways intensely funny. I also tend to laugh at people who are part of a majority group with nothing to be offended about getting offended by a comic that was designed specifically to offend insecure people.

So yes, in this case, I derive a LARGE amount of humour from it. Because assholes who treat others with disdain getting upset when someone else does it to them is intensely satisfying. I don't apologise.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate your candor. I find off-color humor to be funny at times as well. If you'll indulge me further, what makes you think someone's status as belonging to a majority group means they have nothing to be offended about? It seems to me that offense stems from an emotional reaction to something based on personal experience. To suggest that they have nothing to be offended about because they belong to a majority group seems to assume that you know what their personal experiences are based on what majority group they belong to. That seems really illogical to me. More specifically, that seems like it might be really racist/sexist. I don't mean that as an accusation towards you, I'm just trying to work my way through what your thoughts on this are.

You also suggest that people who were offended by the previous comic were "assholes who treat others with disdain." I'm curious as to how you know the people in that thread who were upset were themselves "assholes who treat others with disdain." It seems pretty presumptive, so I'm curious as to how you arrived at that conclusion.

Okay, first things first: I don't know you (or anyone really) very well, and thus don't know how you normally are here, however I have to confess I take your writing style to be...condescending, at best. It's a tonal thing that automatically raises my hackles, as it feels as if you are using turns of phrase designed to draw attention to the fact you feel yourself intellectually or morally superior to me. If this is indeed what you are going for, stop it. I don't like it, and I will not engage with you if you continue this way.

Secondly, your "interrogation" also feels designed to entrap me into admitting that I am horrible human being to others. I'll save you the trouble and admit outright: I am. I have a very small tolerance for people that changes frequently. This intolerance is not motivated by anything other than the attitude and actions of others. Willful ignorance of issues, a reluctance to admit fault or error even when shown why they are wrong, or splitting hairs or relying on semantics to justify a disgusting attitude or action are just some of the things that get me offside. I find many people to be idiots if they do these things, and I cannot abide idiots.

Now, on to address your questions. Belonging to a socially or cultural majority creates a social or cultural immunity (or privilege). As such, as a whole, this privilege is immutable, and for the most part is how the other sections of humanity see the individual. Now, as individuals we all have experiences that shape who we are, however by virtue of belonging to the majority, we are generally shielded from those experiences that are experienced by others outside of our privilege. So while there may be many white straight guys that have experienced racial or sexual problems, they are STILL not as bad as if they did not belong to that majority. By attempting to point out that they are just as vilified, they in fact denigrate the ACTUAL experiences of those who have suffered even more due to their not belonging to that majority. So I find their offense on the whole to be pathetic. Is this fair? No. But then, neither is what happens to the other side, yet we don't seem to say much about that do we? Because they aren't part of our majority.

Also, you seem to be under the impression that I spoke to each of those who had a problem with the original WGDF comic when I used the phrase "assholes who treat others with disdain." I was not. The comic just highlighted the problem people. I was using a generalisation about the privileged group members that find they can't bear when people outside of the majority are seen as equals, and must defend their stance by citing issues they have experienced as if they are somehow justified in this action because hey, the outsiders do it. These are people who frequently think that there should be a white history month, or a straight pride parade. They do it out of disdain for the attention garnered by the outsider group, and it's a pathetic attitude and action to engage in. These people are idiots. And while I have no doubt that many of them were in the initial thread, I was not specifically targeting them, more their attitude as a whole.

Finally, I take this opportunity to say that I will not be responding further to this conversation. Because I'm not going to argue these points with you or anyone else. So far on this site I have seen people flat out refuse to admit there is a problem in the gaming industry and the world at large with topics such a sexism, racism and transgender issues, and whenever salient points are brought to bear on the conversation (by people who aren't me), these people resort to 'yes, but' or anecdotal evidence or various other excuses, indicating that they are not likely to admit fault or error. Thus, they are idiots in my view, and as I said at the outset, I don't tolerate idiots.

 

[zerragonoss]

So I am guessing your going for the whole hurricane effect here. First you see the storm on the horizon, than you spend two or three strips inside, and just when you think it was over because their was a strip about something else, you get plunged back in. Afterwards everything is broken, but also soaked clean. With this you create a complex meta commentary on how internet rage is just another unchecked force of nature we must simply survive.

 

[RA92]

Decided it was time to try and break your record for the most replies and biggest shit stirring thread since the MovieBob's original Expendables review thread?

So, we're going for an attempt at breaking the record for most number of bans in a single thread?

What is the current record anyway? And what thread currently holds that record?

I can only imagine that it was indeed the previous WGDF comic.

Don't forget Jimquisition's Adblock thread. That one was chock full of warnings and bans too. Heaps of them.

I can't comment on ban-counts, but MovieBob's (rather unphrophetic) <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/2911-PC-Gaming-Is-Dead-Long-Live-PC-Gaming>PC Gaming is Dead video racked up considerably more comments.

OT: Time to cleanse the forums again!

 

[Imre Csete]

Now, if only they'd make yet another Neon Genesis Evangelion comic after hyping us for White Guy Defense Force...

The forums would crash.

 

[lacktheknack]

Dude. I don't think my body is ready for this.

The entire internet waits with bated breath.

 

[BX3]

Escapist - "No... NOOO! I killed you! I saw you die!"

WGDFRed - "*chuckles*... gentlemen.... You can't kill an idea."

 

[Gorrath]

Picking on the insecurities of people who belong to the majority is about as safe as you can play it, since pissing those people off is easy and no one's going to care except those being negatively portrayed.

Very strongly disagree with this. Comedians attacking minorities is par for the course, it only gets called "daring" and "edgy" by those insecure members of the majority who thinks they are being oppressed.

If you want to safely pick on a group, you pick on a relatively powerless minority that everyone else is picking on. Picking on the majority is very much not the way to go about it. Hell, as mentioned, quite a number of people got angry enough to get themselves banned in the fallout from the last one. Nobody got that angry when they made fun of gender neutral pronouns, because people who care about that sort of thing are a minority most people at best don't care about, or at worst are actively hostile to.

I'm not sure how you reconcile this with what's in common media though. Commercials often portray men as dumb creatures who only manage to get through the day because of their wise wives and the only people that seem to take issue with this are MRAs. The Colbert Report makes fun of some combination of white/male/rich/stupid people constantly and only Fox News (and their ilk) seem to think it's a problem, but one out of context joke that offended some Asian people caused a media shitstorm.

Lots of people got angry about the last WGDF for sure, but that anger was totally impotent, all it got the people who were angry was ridiculed/banned. It's perfectly safe to pick on them because there is no consequence for the content creator. Sure, jokes making fun of white people might piss some white people off, but it's not going to cause every media outlet in the country, the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center to jump on a ban wagon. Impotent rage is completely non-threatening. (Just to be clear, I understand totally that there are other details of this issue that are extremely important. I am merely discussing the ramifications of race/sex targeted jokes, not ignoring the reasons why there is a difference.So please be aware that I'm not blind to why our society is like this.)

I don't even mind the idea of the drunken octopus punching in every direction, but that's not really what they do. What they do is they punch in very specific directions. I've seen good, funny comedy done that picked on people because the comic would pick on everyone. If no one is safe from the bite of the comic, everyone can laugh. If the comic seems to have it out for only certain people though, it makes the comic look like a vicious troll.

That only works if you hold all those people to be morally equal, though. If you hold any sort of opinion, you are going to think that some groups are more deserving of ridicule than others.

But then, yeah, you comedy becomes a polemic if you aren't careful.

Sure, but those groups might be more or less deserving of ridicule based on what the group believes. The comic who makes fun of a group like the KKK is under no obligation to also make fun of the Black Panthers in order to avoid being a bad comic or labeled a racist. But if you see a trend where the comic is say, targeting "white guys" all the time this does not come off as "Punching in all directions" it comes off as "here's a target we can pick on because it'll only piss off white guys, and who the hell cares if you piss off white guys other than the white guys?" All groups are not morally equal in thought and belief, but groups like race and sex are amoral, so choosing just one sex/race and being vicious to them at the exclusion of others tends to make one look, as you say, polemic at least.

Picking on the insecurities of individuals and then hiding behind "but they're white and so shouldn't be offended," seems to fly in the face of logic to me. Not that you have said that, but it does seem to be implied rather a lot (by people who are not you.) I often like having these talks with you by the way, you seem rather reasonable. I appreciate your willingness to avoid platitudes and discuss things in a way that gets at the meat of the subject. Thanks for being an amiable person.

 

[Deathfish15]

My guess will be that this has to do with Donald Sterling, who's still fighting to own the Clippers and still trying to fight that he's not a racist, even while making still racist remarks during interviews where he's defending himself. I'd really like to see what the WGDF says about this old, senile bigot and his views.


Forget the popcorn, I'll have the ricecakes standing by...

 

[mysecondlife]

Hoo boy, if this gets even a quarter of the hilarious reactions that last time did, it should be fun.

So I was in the previous WGDF comic to see how the shitstorm went down and I come across your comment

Oh man, that was beautiful.

Totally needs to be a poster so I can stick it up somewhere.

The "Zimmerman mode activate!" was absolutely golden.

Better your make your poster, friend.

 

[Gorrath]

snip

I respect that you no longer wish to continue our conversation and again thank you for the responses you did give. I would like to clarify however that I do not presume myself your better, I do not think I am intellectually superior to you and I do not intend to imply anything like that. I'm not sure which turns of phrase you are referring to so I don't know that I can help clarify any meaning. I guess I can only offer my assurance that I always speak presuming that myself and the person I am conversing with have the best of intentions, for whatever that assurance is worth. I have no interest in trying to entrap anyone into anything. My interest is in dialogue and improving my understanding of other people and their world view while also expressing my own, that's all. Again I appreciate the time you put into your responses. Thank you.

 

[Ticklefist]

Can't wait for white dudes on the internet to be compared to Elliott Rodger.

 

[VoltySquirrel]

My guess will be that this has to do with Donald Sterling, who's still fighting to own the Clippers and still trying to fight that he's not a racist, even while making still racist remarks during interviews where he's defending himself. I'd really like to see what the WGDF says about this old, senile bigot and his views.


Forget the popcorn, I'll have the ricecakes standing by...

Nah, this is almost certainly about the UCSB shooting, specifically with regards to the #YesAllWomen hashtag being highjacked by MRAs who later went on to make the #YesAllPeople and #YesAllMen hashtag.

 

[deathbydeath]

The only things I've been this hyped for in recent memory are Transistor and Guardians of the Galaxy. The original WGDF is one of my favorite things on this site, and I cannot wait for this.

Spoiler: Image

Please tell me this is not in response to the shooting...

This makes it even more exciting. This please, Grey and Cory. I need more people making fun of this poor sap.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

Oh sweet, merciful Christ it begins anew. Everyone get below ground! And bring popcorn. 'S gonna be gooood! Unless the thread just sort of stays like this, with everyone taking seats and waiting for the fireworks, only for nothing to happen since the actors are in the audience.

 

[Basement Cat]

Ohh no! Please no!
Not again!

I never finished repairing the damage to my banhammer from last time!

Wellll....

I was intrigued by everyone's "Dis gonna be good!" attitude and actually sped through the original WGDF thread. The bloodshed wasn't as bad as I expected:

Bans: 7
Warnings: 39 (many to the same handful of repeat offenders)
Suspensions: 4 (again--mostly repeat offenders within the same thread)

This article obviously isn't inflammatory--I didn't have a clue what it referred to without others linking the original comic. I'd be surprised if Grey and Carter manage to provide as much fuel for flaming as last time. Moreover, I doubt Grey enjoyed taking part in the "discussions" on the last thread.

Hehehe.

I wonder if this one can rack up universe breaking amounts of flames, like last time.

We know the score to break, now.

Try not to get yourself a Warning this time around, bro. ^_^

EDIT: Yes, I recognize that you all are talking about the future article. Just thought I'd mention it.