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Comment by micromacrofoot | Hacker News Reader

ehhh, I watched it and having a trans friend doesn’t give him a free pass just like the old “I have a black friend” doesn’t

I’ve already seen posts from anti-trans folks praising him, and “i’m team terf” memes. I don’t think the material was funny or provocative enough to warrant the validation it’s creating amongst bigots (even if they’re missing the point).

He seemingly saw this coming and seemed to be preemptively playing defense the entire special.

I’m not going to “cancel” him or whatever, but the whole thing seems lazy on multiple fronts. He intentionally stirred a very divisive pot so people would talk about him, and he tried to set himself up as the smart guy for “seeing” obvious backlash coming.

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> He seemingly saw this coming and seemed to be preemptively playing defense the entire special.

Of course he did, the reaction he received was exactly the punchline he wanted out of the whole special. He basically dared people to try and cancel him, and when they dutifully fell in line and created the uproar he predicted would happen, it underscored his entire point about hurting LGBQT+ feelings generating much more societal outrage than committing violence against black folks.

you think this is “more societal outrage”? it’s just people being upset at dave chapelle

How many news stories have you read about violence and prejudice against black folks in the last 2 weeks compared to stories about this?

There have been over 600 murders in Chicago and over 2700 shootings in 2021 alone, with 75% of those folks being black.

Yet…it’s a national news story for two weeks that Dave Chappelle told some jokes that offended a tiny percentage of people.

That was the point of the whole special.

This is really grasping at straws, there was a massive movement that essentially lasted all last summer to protest against police violence against black people. There have been multiple large demonstrations this year. I've seen nothing even approaching that scale for trans people. Maybe Dave is spending too much time online.

If his stance is "sometimes this (about me) gets more attention than that (about them)" then it's even more absurd. Especially considering that intersectional violence is particularly bad for black trans women.

Roxane Gay had a decent opinion piece in the NY Times if you want an opinion from a black feminist. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/opinion/dave-chappelle-ne...

> I've seen nothing even approaching that scale for trans people.

Perhaps that has to do with the fact that there were 44 reported cases of fatal violence against trans people and 9900 against black people in 2020.

Edit: fixed my stat

not sure why you think it’s a pissing match and you’re moving the goalposts

You got all that from a single statistic? Interesting.

well first you were saying there’s more outrage about trans people, and when presented with a contrary opinion you’re now singing a tune about the proportion of the outrage… come on, that’s not even what this is about

The message of the show was about the ridiculousness of disproportionate outrage and places an exclamation point on his message.

But yeah, two weeks and dozens of national news stories and demands to cancel and remove his show is probably just a few people “mad” at him for comparing trans genitalia to fake hamburger and not a living example of disproportionate outrage at all.

> just like the old “I have a black friend” doesn’t

Yeah, funny how the whole "lived experience" thing is only for one side of the culture war.

Don’t do this. Both sides have to stop with generalizations. And both sides have to stop using their handful of [x] friends to represent a non monolithic community. One’s experience doesn’t justify bigoted actions.

What's bigoted keeps changing and keeps finding or inventing exponentially smaller, to the point of statistical irrelevance, demographics to turn the entire world upside down over

Who can keep up any more? The rules change faster than slang and fashion.

How about "As you would have others do to you, so do to them", no matter who they are?

I try to and I feel a lot of people do

But that's not good enough for people bc now you're expected to walk a linguistic minefield due to all the pedantic asshole on the internet who won't listen in good faith, then accuse you of speaking in bad faith

A good example is this thread. Chappelle was trying to use anecdotes to meet people halfway, and he did it in his language of comedy.

People accuse him of punching down... But comedy that concerns itself with punching up or lunching down is comedy + something else. Its not comedy. Just like atheism+. And so Chappell is coming from a different perspective and no one wants to see and listen to what he's trying to say.

Comedians say all kinds of fucked up shit to each other. That's their language. He extended the olive branch and for that.... There's firings and walkout and internet arguments.

Golden rule can't apply on the global stage when there's 20% of the left SEEKING offense wherever they can find it and constantly demanding others change on their behalf.

The Golden rule never took cry-bullies who cry foul for power games into consideration

Well, for the 80%, a good-faith attempt to treat them well covers a fair number of mistakes. For the 20%... they're not going to be happy, no matter what you do. They won't even be happy with your silence. For them, the rule is more like "So far as it depends on you, live at peace with all."

And I think (or maybe hope) that it's a lot less than 20%. The problem is that much of the internet is a broadcast or oratorical medium, and those seeking offense will find you. They find offense everywhere. It must be a miserable way to live.

Did you watch it though.. its not about him having a trans friend? He states multiple times he's a feminist and relates to struggles people have in life.

He sides with JK Rowling. That doesn't make him bad.. that makes him sane!

it isn’t a “sides” thing really… trans women are asking to be treated like women and some people feel the need to say “no”

They're asking for laws from compelled speech legislation (in Canada), to censorship legislation and also leveling death threats at their opposition when they make valid counterpoints (like J.K. Rowling, who received thousands of death threats from rabid trans activists).

It's not accurate to say they're asking to be treated like women. They're asking for expansive accommodations above what anyone else would receive.

Then there's the issue of trans activists lying about the safety of hormone blocker use in children, which is NOT reversible nor is it safe. There is an established link between the use of those products and irreversible bone density loss.

If you mention any of this, you get viciously attacked on a personal level.

People who are declaring themselves to be women are demanding they they treated like women, get all the privileges of women, and criminalize descent.

This is very different from your word games. Having a right to do something everyone else does, like buy a house, get credit in my name, etc is different from demanding I act out your identity under punishment of arrest.

If you are drowning, I am not obligated to save you, yet somehow I’m responsible for your feelings?

Some people saying yes and some people saying no is literally what a “sides” thing is.

It looks like you're not read up on the ongoing discussion around this topic.

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