• Security incident: ISF was recently accessed by intruders. Please change your password, and change it anywhere else you used it. Read more

DeGeneres rides on Bolt - then racism outrage

Argumemnon said:
That's disconcerting. I find it infinitely more useful than Facebook to get my (general, movie, music, video game, etc.) news all from the same place.
Click to expand...


Ah, for trivialities, it's not so bad. I just get upset when 'it's all over twitter' seems to hold an enormous amount of weight with journalists and politicians when 'all over twitter' means absolutely bugger all to the 93% of the population who don't give a monkeys who twits what to whom.

When journalists use twitter as a source for a story it just demonstrates how far the fourth estate has fallen.
 
3point14 said:
Ah, for trivialities, it's not so bad. I just get upset when 'it's all over twitter' seems to hold an enormous amount of weight with journalists and politicians when 'all over twitter' means absolutely bugger all to the 93% of the population who don't give a monkeys who twits what to whom.
Click to expand...

It's the same thing with angry letters that publishing houses and movie studios used to get. For some reason they thought that they had to be representative of the entire audience.
 
isissxn said:
I feel like some of these keyboard vigilantes would look under a rock in the woods and declare systemic racism because the rock casts a dark shadow, and the shadow is UNDERNEATH the rock! The universe is racist! We must stand up and fight! With our furious typing skills, of course. Yeah, take that! I'm more moral than you! As long as my heart has blood, it's not bleeding enough.
Click to expand...


You say that in jest, yet sometimes it seems reality is proceeding in such a ridiculous direction in terms of just how broadly terms like 'racist' and 'sexist' are being applied. And the thing to note here much of this isn't just coming from commenters on Twitter or Facebook, it is also being published by well-known (and supposedly reputable) media web sites.

Case in point: just the other day, an article from The Atlantic declared that constellations are sexist. Yes, it is apparently a real article and not a joke/parody/satire. (This is in addition to, in recent years, air conditioning, grilling, the way men sit, the word 'too', a four-year-old, eggplant emoji, among other things, all being labeled sexist.)
 
William Parcher said:
Maybe you don't know that the image also had a caption written by DeGeneres. She said this is how she wants to do her daily errands.

The joke is that Ellen is lazy but still must run errands around her town. So she does it by riding on somebody's back. But she doesn't pick just anyone to ride on. She picks the fastest human on earth.

I guess the only way to make it immune to claims of racism is to instead pick the fastest white human on earth. Oh wait, that's racist too because it discriminates against blacks.
Click to expand...

My point isn't whether it's racist or not, but merely that it's not particularly funny, nor, as per the message I was answering to, equivalent to the joke about someone rich being driven by Morgan Freeman. One has the "oh, like in Driving Miss Daisy" resolution, the other does not. They're not equivalent at all, unless Bolt won one of those beach competitions about running while carrying your girlfriend piggyback.

It's like saying that I want a Ferrari to drive to work. Unless it's part of a bigger joke, it's not even a joke. It's just a wish.

Saying that I could only do all the stuff I need to on monday if Quicksilver carried me, well, it's probably not all that funny when we're in the middle of talking humour theory, but at least has a resolution if you've seen the movie. It's that 'oh, like in the movie'.

In simpler terms, at least it has a punchline. Maybe not a good one, but at least it HAS one. Is all I'm saying :p
 
Last edited:
Mumbles said:
I mean...it is racist...

But it's also funny, so...
Click to expand...

I don't think it's racist - it's not just because he won the 100m, it's also because he is cool with it, like Michal Johnson, and unlike, say, Carl Lewis or Linford Christie, for example.


Rincewind said:
And Bolt retweeted it - so he's not bothered!
Click to expand...

It strikes me as being quite affectionate. There are many athletes for whom that wouldn't work, but it does for Usain Bolt because he is exuberant, not because he is black.
 
jimbob said:
It strikes me as being quite affectionate.
Click to expand...

That's where it sits with me for the moment.

He seemed complimented and I didn't see a racial component to the original quip... fair beans all 'round.

Yes, the Phelps joke was better construction... doesn't make Ellen racist.

Just... not a terribly great comedienne (in this instance)
... exactly as I've always seen her.
 
"exactly as I've always seen her" just about sums it up. I can't even figure out why her talking for an hour about being gay counts as comedy.

There seems to be this profoundly USA phenomenon of just about anything counting as funny if it's anywhere between political whinge and political rah-rah-rah cheerleading. So as long as it's overtly about being gay, or atheist, or theist for that matter, or democrat, or whatever, you can whine for an hour and it'll somehow be hilarious.

I don't know if it's because the USA has just two parties (so it would be less of a profitable move to pigeonhole yourself as a comedian cheerleader for 5% of the population that are die-hards of a particular party in a country with more parties), or Americans just get enough anti-depressants and/or drugs that they'll laugh at anything whatsoever. Doesn't seem to do much for me, though.
 
HansMustermann said:
"exactly as I've always seen her" just about sums it up. I can't even figure out why her talking for an hour about being gay counts as comedy.

There seems to be this profoundly USA phenomenon of just about anything counting as funny if it's anywhere between political whinge and political rah-rah-rah cheerleading. So as long as it's overtly about being gay, or atheist, or theist for that matter, or democrat, or whatever, you can whine for an hour and it'll somehow be hilarious.

I don't know if it's because the USA has just two parties (so it would be less of a profitable move to pigeonhole yourself as a comedian cheerleader for 5% of the population that are die-hards of a particular party in a country with more parties), or Americans just get enough anti-depressants and/or drugs that they'll laugh at anything whatsoever. Doesn't seem to do much for me, though.
Click to expand...
I have occasionally seen her show and it is not an hour of talking about being gay. It is a fairly typical daytime talk show with celebrity interviews, children with adult level talents, and other little novelties like that. Just light entertainment. Having pictures of her photoshopped into unlikely or impossible situations is a thing she seems to do a lot.
 
Well, I was talking about trying to watch some of of her stand-up shows. To be honest, though, I didn't actually make it an hour into it. More like five minutes. Because, you know, ADHD and watching someone talk on the off chance that they actually start being funny later don't quite mix ;)

The talk show, I wouldn't know. I guess I'm not the target demographic for that.
 
If you've watched her unbearably bland show for even a few minutes, then you know this is her idea of very funny and clever.
 
isissxn said:
I think the appropariate reaction would be not giving a ****, because seriously, who cares about Twitter? Are we that bored? Do these people not have jobs or real-life concerns? Or is this their version of Valium, a way to hide from the real-life problems and concerns they should be facing? Who cares about any of this crap?

I feel like some of these keyboard vigilantes would look under a rock in the woods and declare systemic racism because the rock casts a dark shadow, and the shadow is UNDERNEATH the rock! The universe is racist! We must stand up and fight! With our furious typing skills, of course. Yeah, take that! I'm more moral than you! As long as my heart has blood, it's not bleeding enough.

I can't take it anymore. Racism is very real, but this hair-splitting, childish internet nonsense is not the way to combat it. It's the way to make people throw up their hands and start ignoring everything they hear about the issue. That's not great, but it's true.
Click to expand...

smartcooky said:
Yes,, sadly, racism is real in our society

However, even more sadly, calling this sort of thing racist trivializes the suffering and the oppression felt by victims of real racism. It takes away focus from dealing with real racism, and "spends" the energies of those who deal with it on unnecessary issues.
Click to expand...

I agree completely with the above. I think we need to stop using the term SJW and start calling it SBE, Socially Blind Extremists
 
jimbob said:
I don't think it's racist - it's not just because he won the 100m, it's also because he is cool with it, like Michal Johnson, and unlike, say, Carl Lewis or Linford Christie, for example.




It strikes me as being quite affectionate. There are many athletes for whom that wouldn't work, but it does for Usain Bolt because he is exuberant, not because he is black.
Click to expand...

It's definitely affectionate as well. But Chris Rock joked about how America was so racist in the past that white people would literally climb onto black people and ride them around. I immediately thought of that when I saw the picture - not at all upsetting. No big deal, not worth getting angry about.
 
Modified said:
If you've watched her unbearably bland show for even a few minutes, then you know this is her idea of very funny and clever.
Click to expand...

She's a product of her time, which was twenty years ago. People expecting "edgy" from Ellen are looking in the wrong place. She's only one generation removed from TV dinner jokes, and two from Borscht Belt "take my wife" jokes. She's grandmothers' choice of lesbian comedians, and it shows.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

ISF - Join now!

Every member here is approved by hand. No bots, no spam, just people who care about evidence and honest debate.

Membership is free!

Create your free account

Back
Top Bottom