Week 34-3: Tosh-é.0

[the_day_setup]

I had posted an entry on this same topic on Friday. A few hours later, I took it down. It was far too long and, as such, was too prone to being partially read / partially misread-- an idea I did not like, given a rather sensitive topic.

porn_this_way got in touch with me, and had apparently read what I'd written before I'd removed it. The resulting fun back-

Comments

[notodette]

I much enjoyed Jezebel's article on the appropriate way to make a rape joke. I also thought while the author overstepped here and there, her basic premise on which she tore Tosh down was solid and correct

[the_day_setup]

I really have no idea if Tosh's joke sucked or not; maybe more info has come out, but last I checked it was basically one person's Tumblr account against the world. That's one thing that really bothers me about this. You had a huge crowd of people who were willing to jump all over Tosh, demand his firing from Tosh.0, etc., on the basis of one layperson's word. At the time when all this happened, it could have been an angry Tosh ex who had never actually been in the club or heard any of this stuff, but there were so many people willing to jump in and "fight the good fight" on the basis of those words

[the_day_setup]

None of your arguments, nor the position of someone like you, are lost on me at all. My original version of this was, like I said, more than twice as long, and dealt with these sorts of points in detail. I realized that as long as those points took to make satisfactorily, they stood less and less chance of *really* being read and properly understood-- or being taken seriously coming from a white middle-class male, no matter how cogent and sound I might have made those arguments. So I took a totally different tack in the rewrite and left all this alone

[the_day_setup]

I was thinking about your retort #1 before you ever brought it up. When I say "publicly" of course I'm talking about making such statements in the face of the media. Heck, Geraldo even took it on the chin (thankfully!) for the T. Martin hoodie-related comments, simply because parallels between that and the "asking for it" nonsense were so easy to draw. I admittedly don't hang out with rapist dudebros, but I'm sure you're right-- I'm sure stuff like that still gets said privately among total douchebags. Would it ever hold up in court? I sure as hell hope not in this day and age.

And you're also right, maybe "dehumanized" is too strong a term. But there *is* definitely a large segment of the audience that loves to see a heckler positively destroyed, and not in a "classy" way. It seems to be a bit of an expectation in the standup-lovin' crowd.

I was watching the legendary Bill Hicks shutdown of a female heckler a couple days ago and thinking that Tosh's shutdown was actually totally "classy" by comparison.

[myrna_bird]

I don't know these comedians so I'm not familiar with their jokes or styles.

[beldarzfixon]

I love how you slam those who overthought this whole event by overthinking it -- in a good way.

I watch and enjoy Tosh.0 but I could care less for Tosh as a person -- maybe it's all a well-crafted persona and he's not a full-time asshole in person, but I'm not likely to find that out anytime soon. Still, if you watch him long enough, you get his style, and that heckler putdown was totally in his style. I'm sure he's said things like that and much worse at other shows, to people who didn't run home to tattle on Tumblr.

Hopefully I've commented long enough for the 15th minute to pass on this story -- as it will. =)

As for your take on it -- well done!

[kathrynrose]

Between the GR discussion a few days ago, and the similar entry by PTW this week, I've spent more time thinking and talking about this guy than I wish I ever had, and I know it's one of those subjects people are all going to disagree about, even though there's some value in just hearing the spectrum of opinions

[the_day_setup]

I have always wanted to try standup too, but I know I'm not fast-witted enough. Having good material in advance is not good enough, anything can happen on a stage

[kathrynrose]

I too have thought about the issue of what would have happened if he'd had some loonies who would have approached her, and I think he would have put an end to that, along with the other sane segments of the audience.

I've thought the same thing, though if it had happened five minutes after the show in the parking lot...

I had not gotten the read that Tosh was soliciting anyone for anything, from the heckler's writeup of affairs or elsewhere. Maybe I misread things or haven't got the whole story.

I doubt any of us have the whole story. Two of the articles I read mentioned the audience participation. One included the perspective of Tosh and his apology afterward, and the other was quoting the comedy club owner.

For me, what sticks in my craw about this whole event is that you did have so many folks willing to take to the socialnetz with eTorches on the basis on one Tumblr post told from one perspective. Well, that's just the internet. It's like I said in my Polemic piece. The internet doesn't research. It reacts. It repeats