Penny Arcade Shitstorm
Just recently this week, Penny Arcade decided to toss in a rape joke, nothing new. Except this time people took issue with the literal usage (not a figurative gamer style usage of "I raped that guy at PVP", but a literal sexual assault meaning). The next day, we have an 'apology' comic, along with these two lovely tidbits from the authors:
Tycho: Reaction to Wednesday's comic fell, conveniently for my purpose, into two camps: those who found a phrase like "raped by dickwolves" a stunning return to form, and those who felt that we were somehow advocating the actual rape of human beings. It sounds as though we've already satisfied the first camp, but an effort should certainly be made to assuage the latter.
Gabe: What surprised me most about some of the reactions to our Dickwolf joke was not that people were offended. But that this was the comic that offended them. In each case the emails I got started with something like “I’ve been a long time fan” or “Been reading the comic for years...” and then they go into how this particular comic really bothered them.
I just don’t understand that. Did the comics about bestiality, suicide, murder, pedophilia, and torture not bother them? Or how about the fruit fucker? I mean, we have a character who is a literal rapist. What comic strip have they been reading all these years?
For the most part I think that people are perfectly happy to laugh at offensive jokes until the joke offends them. Then it’s not funny anymore. There is no way we can know what each and every person who reads the comic has decided to find offensive.
In the end I just disagree with these people about what’s funny and that’s perfectly okay.
My own thoughts on the matter- while I would normally be inclined to just roll my eyes in disgust at the played out joke (on a terribly un-funny strip, IMO), the reaction to the offense- in my eyes, "I'm sorry you feel that way", a belittling of the offense people felt -was rude. Perhaps even more than rude, but as a lot of people I quite care for have told me they agree with Gabe, I'm having a bit of self-doubt. Up at 5 am because it's bothering me, knot in my stomach self doubt.
What say you, Inclusive Geeks?
Tycho: Reaction to Wednesday's comic fell, conveniently for my purpose, into two camps: those who found a phrase like "raped by dickwolves" a stunning return to form, and those who felt that we were somehow advocating the actual rape of human beings. It sounds as though we've already satisfied the first camp, but an effort should certainly be made to assuage the latter.
Gabe: What surprised me most about some of the reactions to our Dickwolf joke was not that people were offended. But that this was the comic that offended them. In each case the emails I got started with something like “I’ve been a long time fan” or “Been reading the comic for years...” and then they go into how this particular comic really bothered them.
I just don’t understand that. Did the comics about bestiality, suicide, murder, pedophilia, and torture not bother them? Or how about the fruit fucker? I mean, we have a character who is a literal rapist. What comic strip have they been reading all these years?
For the most part I think that people are perfectly happy to laugh at offensive jokes until the joke offends them. Then it’s not funny anymore. There is no way we can know what each and every person who reads the comic has decided to find offensive.
In the end I just disagree with these people about what’s funny and that’s perfectly okay.
My own thoughts on the matter- while I would normally be inclined to just roll my eyes in disgust at the played out joke (on a terribly un-funny strip, IMO), the reaction to the offense- in my eyes, "I'm sorry you feel that way", a belittling of the offense people felt -was rude. Perhaps even more than rude, but as a lot of people I quite care for have told me they agree with Gabe, I'm having a bit of self-doubt. Up at 5 am because it's bothering me, knot in my stomach self doubt.
What say you, Inclusive Geeks?