Gross joke (duh) about jews and pokemons, punctuated with the inspiring signoff “don’t be a pussy”. Honestly not worth tracking down.
CW:Fuckwit.
https://twitter.com/PaulSzoldra/status/1300460657800744960
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Nothing precludes his rehabilitation even if they discharge him. And most people can change although many don’t. I assume as an officer he graduated from some university so he’s got the gray matter to change his thinking. I think he just quite immature.
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I assume he was a serious frat boy in college based on this post.
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Well, he’s relieved of duty while the investigation is in progress. To be discharged will still require that there is sufficient evidence to move to trial, and then a successful conviction. With the infiltration of the military by neo-nazis over the past 20 years a conviction is not a foregone conclusion.
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Thanks for posting! I was trying to remember where I found that thread. The insights about humor being used to identify the “in groups” and the “out groups” brought up all kinds of crummy memories from my overly “sarcastic” upbringing the first time I read it, but it’s nice to be able to make sense of those interactions.
And it’s a perfect refresher when ever one of these “just joking” anti-semites or other bigots pop up.
Side note: this weekend I heard a “man on the street” interview with Trump supporters in AZ and one woman’s reason for liking him is that, “he pisses people off so much,” and she said, “he’s just joking. People don’t get the jokes.” Ugh.
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Appreciating this, thanks. Your last sentence re: the contrast between the military and police in their responses deserved to be in the headline IMO, excellent point.
No. His military career is over. The Army has an “up or out” policy. You must advance in rank regularly. If you are not selected for promotion, you are discharged at the end of your current term of duty. One bad OER (Officer Efficiency Report, done annually) can prevent your selection. In the OER, there is a numeric score where 200 is the maximum. It has long been accepted by all Army officers that a score of 199 is iffy. A score of 198 can be survived if and only if the written evaluation of the OER makes you sound like God’s left nut. A score of 197 is inherently fatal. What score do you think a man will get after he has been relieved for misconduct? He’ll spend a few months waiting for the results of the Article 32 investigation (an inquiry equivalent to a grand jury, for the purpose of determining if there’s enough evidence to warrant a court martial), then he’ll spend the rest of his time in uniform ‘blackbirding’. That’s a position where he does nothing but show up at roll call in the morning and spends the rest of the day doing nothing. They’ll make him the officer in charge of the Fort Bragg laundry or something at that level. That may not sound like a punishment to you but to a cannon cocker who wants to be out on the range doing a battery six, a job like that is the vestibule of hell.
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If you have to preface something with “It’s a joke” it probably isn’t funny. 
Also something that is meant to be offense doesn’t stop being so with a “It’s a joke disclaimer.”
Even dark and offense humor doesn’t need a qualifier.
ETA - found the “joke”. Not funny, at all. 
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“Note how immediate and complete the Army’s response to this sort of behavior is”
Near as I can tell, all that has happened to him so far is he got a day off from work.
Not fired.
Not court-martialed.
Not demoted.
Not dishonorably discharged.
Not even de-platformed.
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Yes, this is a clear instance where Popehat’s Rule of Goats applies.
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I’ve posted this before, but I find it to be a great response to this type of “joke”
“There’s plenty of people being funny right now. Not only being funny but being really fucking funny. There are still lines to be rode. If you like to ride a line, you can still ride a line. If you want to take chances, you can still take chances.
“Really, the only thing that’s off the table, culturally, at this juncture –and not even entirely – is shamelessly punching down for the sheer joy of hurting people. For the sheer excitement and laughter that some people get from causing people pain, from making people uncomfortable, from making people feel excluded. You know, that excitement.
“If you’re too intimidated to try to do comedy that is deep or provocative, or even a little controversial, without hurting people, then you’re not good at what you do. Or maybe you’re just insensitive.
“Bottom line is no one is saying you can’t say things or do things. It’s just that it’s going to be received a certain way by certain people and you’re gonna have to shoulder that.”
-Marc Maron, reformed down-puncher
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21 years in the Army, I know how it works.
My point was that I wouldn’t count on a conviction. Under AR 600-20 an accusation short of a conviction cannot go on an OER. One would hope this would be cut and dry but I guess we’ll see.
ETA: there was an update made to AR 600-20 not even two weeks ago to address social media and cyberbullying. His goose should be cooked.
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Nice.
Until I got to the end, I thought sure that was a George Carlin quote.
P.S. the annoyingly frustrating part is that so many of the people making this kind of offensive “joke” wouldn’t be convinced that they were, in fact, punching down. Not sure how to address that BS.
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Lieutenants have been the subject of jokes for many years:
A freshly minted U.S. Army lieutenant is assigned to a base in Afghanistan. He walks around the base and sees everything is regulation except there’s a camel tied to a tree on the edge of the camp.
The lieutenant asks one of the men who has been there awhile why there’s a camel. The soldier explains sometimes they get lonely since there were no woman there, so they have the camel.
The lieutenant is appalled but being new he just lets it go.
After a few weeks he was feeling very lonely. So he takes the camel into his tent. It takes quite a bit of effort but finally he walks out, bruised and battered, but satisfied.
Wow,” he says to the men, “that camel sure put up a fight! How do you guys do it?”
One of the men responded, "Well usually we just use the camel to ride into town
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Let the Army handle it. As posters above mention, at least one form of executive authority actually takes their constitutional obligations seriously. Now let’s hope we can still say the same come January.
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Or at least focus on honing students’ critical thinking skills.
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I like Marc Maron, and he hits it on the head about others wanting to do controversial material. I do believe it is still possible but it cannot be mean spirited “because its just a joke bro”. There has to be something of value or consequence, people like Chapelle or Carlin were/are very good at what they do despite talking about “controversial topics” because they’re talking about real shit and making legitimate points. If a punch line is just the controversial statement that’s not funny, challenging nor insightful.
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Chapelle went dark; he’s no longer included on the list of funny comedians who punch up - all he does now is dis Trans folks, and whine about “cancel culture.”
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And that’s his point. Controversial topics require real comedic talent. Punching down is entirely different and disingenuously conflated with controversial comedy as a cloak when, in reality, it’s just unfunny cruelty.
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I take it that you’re not a fan of Jimmy Carr?
