Where's the line (688 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.73 on 14 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Uberfuck (View user info) at 2004-07-19 17:54:52 EDT
A recent post (http://www.ubersite.com/m/38527) asked Ubersite users to send in the most offensive jokes they knew. Many users did, myself included, and some of these jokes were really funny. Most were quite tasteless. There was racism, violence against women, pedophilia and more.
As I read some of the submissions today, I started to think about where the line is. You know the line, the one you shouldn't cross. Dead baby jokes aren't very funny to parents, especially those who lost a child. Violence against women jokes are funny, except to women who gets abused. Michael Jackson jokes are fucking hilarious, but pedophillia is a serious problem. You get the idea.
I'm not one to judge. I have always taken the "if you don't like what you see, then change the channel" approach to censorship. But there are some obvious lines. Like child pornography. Anyone not considered a legal being (i.e. a minor) cannot be expected to make a decision whether or not to pose for a pornographic picture, so we have laws preventing it and punishing those that take advantage of them. Not too many people cry censorship over this.
But a joke doesn't overtly hurt anyone. We will either laugh or be disgusted, but no one gets hurt making the joke. Or do they? Will a joke about hitting a girl promote violence about women? Will a funny story about Michael Jackson circulating around the Internet drive some sick fuck to pedophilia in the same way a picture would?
Speech is frequently censored. Walk around Times Square with a suitcase yelling "Praise to Allah, I have a bomb" and you will likely get tackled or shot by police within a couple minutes. So if we can prevent speech that is a threat, can we prevent a joke that could potentially be?
Anyway, since my hypocracy knows no bounds, I thought I would end this off with a completely tasteless joke bound to offend you all:
Q: How do you get a one-armed Ubersite poster out of a tree
A: Wave to him
User Reviews
Submitted by Quint (user info) at 2007-11-23 16:43:38 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
What's the best part about stabbing a baby?
The erection.
Submitted by Vermin (user info) at 2004-07-20 02:22:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That post generated some good shit. For me, there is no line when it comes to fiction. I cannot think of anything I have seen on the internet that was made up that offended me. I saw that Nick Berg video though, and I will never make the mistake of watching one of those again. Knowing something is real as opposed to some jerk just making it up to get a reaction makes all the difference for me.
What I don't get is that not a single women could see the subtle irony in my wife beating post. (Read it. It's a fucking masterpiece http://www.ubersite.com/m/36473)
And Slapshot99 your joke was awesome, but it was more along the lines of atrociously disgusting as opposed to offensive, so that's why it rated 3rd. I will be telling that one to my friends though.
Submitted by Ferretnose (user info) at 2004-07-20 01:31:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Sometimes, it seems as if there's a contest for the most creative way to combine rape, scat, dead babies, and murder in order to insult a stranger or get a laugh. I wish jokes about raping and murdering children had remained taboo. It does get kind of stale, then after awhile I feel almost numb from seeing the same fucking words repeated over and over until they lose all meaning. No, I don't have to read them, and I do skip over them, but just knowing that so many people take some of these subjects lightly is distressing.
I've been wanting to say something about this subject for a while, but I wanted to avoid being skewered by the other Uberers. But tonight I just don't care. I only apologize for the length of this comment.
How imaginative does one have to be to come up with a blanket statement (such as, "I raped your mother with a <insert random object> and then I <insert random act of violence or scatalogical theme> your baby sister then murdered your <insert family pet>.")Something like this would be offensive to even a lowlife if he/she were to take it seriously. Just because we don't,is it okay?
People think that they are not personally affected by this sort of imagery as long as they don't take it seriously. Okay, maybe telling/laughing at baby raping jokes won't cause someone to go out and do it. But the very idea of such cruelty, real or imagined, can have a negative effect on your psyche. I used to get a kick out of OGRISH, till I realized how sick it was that I should enjoy viewing painful and often shameful deaths as much as others enjoy porn. Also that I was becoming numb to it. I like life, and I enjoy the shadow and mystery of death. Being a violence voyeur takes the joy out of both.
The fact is, seeing a dead child laying in the gutter as people pass nonchalantly by (saw a pic of this) should make a person cringe and cry with pity and horror. What we say here is sometimes just as callous as the people that passed by. I'm as guilty as any. We're spoiled, because we don't have to walk out of our front door every day and be face to face with atrocity. So we look at it just like we would some foreign oddity.
I leave off with a quote. I'm not trying to appear all snotty and philosophical, but this really fits:
"when you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you." - Friederich Nietzsche
Regards,
Ferretnose
Submitted by Slapshot99 (user info) at 2004-07-19 23:35:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Zoidberg (user info) at 2004-07-19 20:36:33 (#)
Ranking: 0
How do you get a baby out of a blender?
DORITOS!
====================================================================================================
DUDE........all the tendy parties now use SCOOPS....DUH
Submitted by Zoidberg (user info) at 2004-07-19 20:36:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
How do you get a baby out of a blender?
DORITOS!
Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2004-07-19 19:53:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by sunjunkie04 (user info) at 2004-07-19 18:02:42 (#)
Ranking: -2
-2 for 2 posts in one day.
__
Live free or die
Submitted by sunjunkie04 (View user info) at 2004-06-28 22:47:44
Next time you see protesters......
Submitted by sunjunkie04 (View user info) at 2004-06-28 19:06:39
__
So that was a joke, right? 9808...
Submitted by Chris_Atler (user info) at 2004-07-19 19:35:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Violence against women jokes are funny, except to women who gets abused."
I do not think those jokes are funny...
Chris
Submitted by Envenom (user info) at 2004-07-19 18:28:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Don't really care to answer that question, as there is no *good* answer, but I don't think this should be negative, so have a +1.
Submitted by Slapshot99 (user info) at 2004-07-19 18:18:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
And my joke was better than just 3rd place ...DAMMIT
Submitted by Slapshot99 (user info) at 2004-07-19 18:17:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Well feeling alittle bittersweet here about that post (coming in Third..<Olympic Bronze Medal pose>)...I think the real problem is that jokes about this stuff desensitizes all of us to the horrible reality of the subject. I mean think about it...?...How badly does it bug you now knowing someone else might lose their head because of the Iraq ordeal? I for one am sadly getting "tired" upon hearing another group has captured another poor soul and is going to make a horrific example of him through murder. The shock value of all that effort is now gone..sadly, i'm bored with it all now...I feel the same things happen with these types of off color jokes...somehow it seems to make it easier for us to accept evil, vile things and ideas...more and more.... thus staining our souls
Submitted by lojope (user info) at 2004-07-19 18:12:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I didn't read that post because I do take offense to jokes about violence towards women and children, all that stuff. SO I think it's somewhat up to the reader to censer for themselves. I know where my lines are, but they might not be the same as someone else's.
Submitted by Uberfuck (user info) at 2004-07-19 18:06:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
This one could illustrate my point:
http://www.ubersite.com/m/38818
Someone's going to have a dirty response that, in the author's mind will definitely cross the line.
Submitted by Siren (user info) at 2004-07-19 18:03:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I feel some -2's coming on.
Submitted by sunjunkie04 (user info) at 2004-07-19 18:02:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
-2 for 2 posts in one day.