tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983714963510766982.post5490072233954523520..comments2022-02-27T01:56:50.178-04:00Comments on The Pnakotic Manuscripts: The Onion: Humor in ShacklesJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02312740064923045194noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983714963510766982.post-67309776307163173962009-02-24T14:54:00.000-04:002009-02-24T14:54:00.000-04:00No, it's absolutely not. Nor is it OK to give som...No, it's absolutely not. Nor is it OK to give someone a pass just because their group happens to be a minority in their present geographic and historical circumstances. Hateful prejudice in general is superstitious and intellectually lazy, no mater who's doing it.<BR/><BR/>I think the question of whether slavery began with race or class is kind of a chicken-or-egg question, since both are modern inventions. Their older hominid forms, in-group status and tribalism, undoubtedly both played a part in the evolution of the modern institution of slavery. Unfortunately, we can't just do away with the formation of in-groups without abandoning culture, friendship and community in general. I think we have to recognize that the impulse to dehumanize or exploit others is to some extent innate and inseparable from what's best in all of us, and be on guard against it at all times.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02312740064923045194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983714963510766982.post-32199843427258360922009-02-24T11:02:00.000-04:002009-02-24T11:02:00.000-04:00Is giving someone a pass because they are of the s...Is giving someone a pass because they are of the same ethnicity ok? Is it really ok? Didn't the egyptians enslave their own race long before it became a race issue? Wasn't it initially a class issue?HedgeWitchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05431378487140176137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983714963510766982.post-75977068889427147452008-10-14T14:37:00.000-03:002008-10-14T14:37:00.000-03:00Meisner says:Wonder Showzen is marginally funny at...Meisner says:<BR/>Wonder Showzen is marginally funny at times. I found the Beat Kids segment with the boy dressed as Hitler asking randoms what the problem with youths of today amusing, in the fact the majority of the people he spoke to either took no offense to him being dressed as Hitler, or they didn't care. <BR/>Asking the (I assume) Texas businessman who's hat exemplified more oppression, the German military cap or the cowboy hat an interesting touch.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983714963510766982.post-53679202112769495932008-10-10T08:35:00.000-03:002008-10-10T08:35:00.000-03:00I agree with everything you said there, but I stil...I agree with everything you said there, but I still think the show is great. Wonder Showzen can be incredibly obnoxious, the Patience episode in particular. I give them a pass on the quasi-racism only because one of the two main guys behind the show is black. Pretty much the same reason I give Sarah Silverman a pass on her nazi/holocaust jokes because she's Jewish. And you're right that the show isn't so much a critique as it is an opportunity to push buttons, but I don't see anything wrong with that. Shows like Wonder Showzen and Robot Chicken get their humor from shock-satire not smart-satire. They take familiar situations and archetypes and simply distort and pervert them. With the death of comedic institutions like George Carlin and Richard Pryor, we no longer have sources or smart-satire or social-improvement-satire. Plus, puppets are hilarious.Quammyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03140725955293431910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983714963510766982.post-58069703218516136912008-10-09T20:55:00.000-03:002008-10-09T20:55:00.000-03:00Sometimes it's pretty funny, but other times it is...Sometimes it's pretty funny, but other times it isn't even satirical or "edgy", it's just obnoxious and quasi-racist. Like the sketch about the pizza shop that the one guy likes going to because there aren't any black people there--no one actually thinks like that. It might be "ironic," but it's not even critiquing anything, let alone suggesting something better. It's just pushing people's buttons.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02312740064923045194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983714963510766982.post-11961346373471744252008-10-09T12:19:00.000-03:002008-10-09T12:19:00.000-03:00What's your beef with Wonder Showzen?What's your beef with Wonder Showzen?Quammyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03140725955293431910noreply@blogger.com