Support NeoGAF

[Neuromancer]

Rape is not a funny word in any context.

Blazing Saddles would like to have a word alone with you.

 

[freddy]

Rape is obviously more serious than many topics than can be joked about, but I'd rather people crafting jokes say whatever they want without worrying about offending a minority of people. If the majority of their audience is offended, then they can apologize for real and/or change their approach in the future. If I am personally offended, I can avoid that comic in the future if I want to. Comedians need to be able to experiment and push people's buttons and boundaries. And I believe this argument applies regardless of whether or not one thinks Penny Arcade is good comedy.

Ok that's interesting. Why do comedians need to push peoples buttons and boundaries? I can understand how by making light of some situations such as homosexuality and racism it can help break down boundaries and show us how ridiculous certain situations can be but how exactly is making a crude joke about rape doing anything for anyone or leading to any personal growth for the comedian?

 

[Risette]

Pretty much.

I don't get it

 

[Dresden]

Rape is not a funny word in any context.

Kids and their ignorance.

WHAT dire Offence from am'rous Causes springs,
What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things,
I sing -- This Verse to C---, Muse! is due;
This, ev'n Belinda may vouchfafe to view:
Slight is the Subject, but not so the Praise,
If She inspire, and He approve my Lays.
Say what strange Motive, Goddess! cou'd compel
A well-bred Lord t'assault a gentle Belle?
Oh say what stranger Cause, yet unexplor'd,
Cou'd make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?
And dwells such Rage in softest Bosoms then?
And lodge such daring Souls in Little Men?

 

[SapientWolf]

Ok that's interesting. Why do comedians need to push peoples buttons and boundaries? I can understand how by making light of some situations such as homosexuality and racism it can help break down boundaries and show us how ridiculous certain situations can be but how exactly is making a crude joke about rape doing anything for anyone or leading to any personal growth for the comedian?

For the lulz?

 

[Flavius]

I don't get it

 

[freddy]

For the lulz?

Gas chamber jokes are funny too?

 

[Instro]

Gas chamber jokes are funny too?

They can be.

 

[Dresden]

Gas chamber jokes are funny too?

straying close to godwin there

 

[Flavius]

Gas chamber jokes are funny too?

Sure.

Why not?

 

[SapientWolf]

Gas chamber jokes are funny too?

Maybe. It depends on the delivery.

 

[iconoclast]

A lot of people are easily offended.

 

[freddy]

I just think it's interesting In that the there's always a minority that would be offended by any joke yet there's also minority that wouldn't be offended by ANY jokes.

I remember a topic the other day about a guy telling a Blazing Saddles joke in the company of two black women and the tone of the thread was there are certain things you shouldn't say in certain company and that the joke was a no no.

Know your audience indeed.

 

[Nishastra]

I'm amazed by the number of people who don't seem to understand the original comic at all and just attack it for having "rape" in it. So here's an attempt to explain, not that it'll do any good:

It's a joke about MMOs, where it's not uncommon to be given a quest to gather 10 things or, say, rescue 5 people. But there's dozens of people around to be rescued, infinite numbers of them if you consider respawning. However, once you've got those 5, you usually can't rescue any more even if you wanted to.

No matter what horrible things are being done to them, you will just walk away, because you have to. And that is the joke. Even when the guy comes begging the hero to rescue him, he just walks away. The joke is not "haha, they get raped!"

 

[Flavius]

I just think it's interesting In that the there's always a minority that would be offended by any joke yet there's also minority that wouldn't be offended by ANY jokes.

I remember a topic the other day about a guy telling a Blazing Saddles joke in the company of two black women and the tone of the thread was there are certain things you shouldn't say in certain company and that the joke was a no no.

Know your audience indeed.

I can use a hammer to nail two pieces of wood together, or bash your gonads to jelly.

Why are you so confused?

 

[thetrin]

Is it any surprise, though, that the people who are offended probably don't even get the joke?

 

[TheSeks]

I'm amazed by the number of people who don't seem to understand the original comic at all and just attack it for having "rape" in it. So here's an attempt to explain, not that it'll do any good:

It's a joke about MMOs, where it's not uncommon to be given a quest to gather 10 things or, say, rescue 5 people. But there's dozens of people around to be rescued, infinite numbers of them if you consider respawning. However, once you've got those 5, you usually can't rescue any more even if you wanted to.

No matter what horrible things are being done to them, you will just walk away, because you have to. And that is the joke. Even when the guy comes begging the hero to rescue him, he just walks away. The joke is not "haha, they get raped!"

... Still wouldn't be funny. It's a pretty horrible Penny-Arcade comic, but that's been par for the course for a while now.

The appology wasn't that great either.

Spoiler

And no, I am not mad/offended/whatever you want to call it

.

The Tiger Woods comic in this thread got a chuckle out of me, however. Mostly because it pokes fun at the ridiculous "sex addict" excuse celebrities use.

 

[opticalmace]

I came in expecting to see Amir0x's drawing.

 

[charlequin]

Why do comedians need to push peoples buttons and boundaries?

the tone of the thread was there are certain things you shouldn't say in certain company

Shockingly enough, the things that are appropriate to say in the context of persons whom you do not know well and whose boundaries and trigger conditions you can't possibly know about are different from those which are appropriate for a comedian to use in the context of their own site on which they have built a longstanding reputation for offensive and off-color material.

 

[Jerk]

Shockingly enough, the things that are appropriate to say in the context of persons whom you do not know well and whose boundaries and trigger conditions you can't possibly know about are different from those which are appropriate for a comedian to use in the context of their own site on which they have built a longstanding reputation for offensive and off-color material.

Its so long...

 

[freddy]

Shockingly enough, the things that are appropriate to say in the context of persons whom you do not know well and whose boundaries and trigger conditions you can't possibly know about are different from those which are appropriate for a comedian to use in the context of their own site on which they have built a longstanding reputation for offensive and off-color material.

Shockingly enough, their audience seems to have grown.

 

[thetrin]

Gas chamber jokes are funny too?

Are you saying they can't be?

Shockingly enough their audience seems to have grown.

Why should they have to change for their audience? That is the very definition of selling out.

 

[Haunted]

I'm happy that people complained about that strip, because the apology strip is fucking hilarious.

Nah, I wish they'd have done a gaming related comic. :/

 

[MattKeil]

Shockingly enough, their audience seems to have grown.

And the audience can now shrink if their delicate sensibilities have been offended. The Family Circus is right down the street there.

 

[freddy]

Are you saying they can't be?

To me yes they can be funny, but to a survivor?

Why should they have to change for their audience? That is the very definition of selling out.

I'm not saying they should at all, I find it hard to believe that people even wrote in over something so trivial or that there were enough complaints to warrant a response.

 

[UraMallas]

Gas chamber jokes are funny too?

Why did Hitler commit suicide?

Spoiler

He got his gas bill.

 

[Haunted]

Ok that's interesting. Why do comedians need to push peoples buttons and boundaries? I can understand how by making light of some situations such as homosexuality and racism it can help break down boundaries and show us how ridiculous certain situations can be but how exactly is making a crude joke about rape doing anything for anyone or leading to any personal growth for the comedian?

Gas chamber jokes are funny too?

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

Rape is not a funny word in any context.

I respectfully disagree.

 

[Forgotten_Taco]

What about the word 'pillage'?

I forget...can 'pillage' still be a funny word?

I've got some fucking gassers that I want to try out with you guys, but I don't know if I should bust out the thesaurus or not.

What about 'penetration'?

Let's find out... I'm going to pillage the shit out of her anus. I think it works, good call.

 

[firehawk12]

Kids and their ignorance.

WHAT dire Offence from am'rous Causes springs,
What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things,
I sing -- This Verse to C---, Muse! is due;
This, ev'n Belinda may vouchfafe to view:
Slight is the Subject, but not so the Praise,
If She inspire, and He approve my Lays.
Say what strange Motive, Goddess! cou'd compel
A well-bred Lord t'assault a gentle Belle?
Oh say what stranger Cause, yet unexplor'd,
Cou'd make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?
And dwells such Rage in softest Bosoms then?
And lodge such daring Souls in Little Men?

Excuse, but that's the "Unfortunate Forced Removal of the Lock", you insensitive dolt!

 

[Burai]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nyCIqJP_4s

 

[Giolon]

Rape is not a funny word in any context.

I thought it was pretty funny in Tentacle Grape Soda.

 

[Neuromancer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nyCIqJP_4s

:lol

 

[-DarKaoZ-]

Rape is old shit, the new word is "Surprise sex", that is why people got offended.

:lol

 

[thetrin]

To me yes they can be funny, but to a survivor?

I'm sure I speak for comedians everywhere when I say "who cares?"

 

[LowParry]

What about the word 'pillage'?

I forget...can 'pillage' still be a funny word?

I've got some fucking gassers that I want to try out with you guys, but I don't know if I should bust out the thesaurus or not.

What about 'penetration'?

Ravaged maybe? Poking?

 

[cosmicblizzard]

Gas chamber jokes are funny too?

Am I a bad Jew for finding some funny?

 

[EmCeeGramr]

PENNY ARCADE HAS CROSSED THE LINE

oh whoops nvm

 

[charlequin]

Its so long...

You know it, baby.

 

[mbnmac]

Bah, can't find a decent version without posting the whole damn comic but insert;
VG cats 135, 'rape is never funny!'

 

[Xater]

PENNY ARCADE HAS CROSSED THE LINE

Well looks like it was quite easy to find a nice bunch of rape joke comics. You could also add like every Fruit Fucker comic they ever did.

 

[Big-ass Ramp]

Has it been on Fox News or Nancy Grace yet? No? Then it's not a rape controversy.

 

[Hellsing321]

I don't see how anyone can argue that rape jokes are never funny. I mean, isn't the latest internet sensation Antoine Dodson and his auto-tuned masterpiece about attempted rape?

 

[Lambtron]

Rape is old shit, the new word is "Surprise sex", that is why people got offended.

:lol

Oh yeah this is really fucking funny.

The original comic would've been just as funny (read not at all) with some random over the top phrase. Their apology comic pisses me off though. An apology laden with snark is hardly an apology.

 

[LCfiner]

Oh yeah this is really fucking funny.

The original comic would've been just as funny (read not at all) with some random over the top phrase. Their apology comic pisses me off though. An apology laden with snark is hardly an apology.

it’s not really meant to be an apology. they don’t want to apologize. Gabe wrote a post making it very clear they’re not sorry for the joke. If you actually thought the apology comic was meant as an apology, then you don’t get it. there’s no reason to be mad at it.

 

[wenis]

Oh yeah this is really fucking funny.

The original comic would've been just as funny (read not at all) with some random over the top phrase. Their apology comic pisses me off though. An apology laden with snark is hardly an apology.

 

[RurouniZel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcFryjunIjw

 

[Flavius]

Oh yeah this is really fucking funny.

The original comic would've been just as funny (read not at all) with some random over the top phrase. Their apology comic pisses me off though. An apology laden with snark is hardly an apology.

wut-wut...in the...wait, wut???

 

[LowParry]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcFryjunIjw

Ya know, I was just thinking on that. Miss you George!

 

[mavs]

What is this, Wolves With Dicks Awareness Month?