That might be the intent, but the tool that Mr. Cohen uses is homophobia. The comedian may not be actually punching down, but some of the extra force is heading downwards anyway.
Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he would accept a blowjob from Trump in latest Sacha Baron Cohen trap
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I really don’t feel any need to cover up the fact that I think gay sex is gross. That’s why I don’t intend to have any. Just like Brussels sprouts. I just don’t get how “I think it is gross” implies “We have to make it illegal.”
Given that humor is pretty subjective, I think it at least partially depends on where one’s coming from. It seems to me that one of the valid criticisms is that homophones might find it funny because, well, they’re assholes, and there’s an argument to be made for steering clear of such laughs even incidentally. So that I can see. I’m not against the idea that the humor is problematic, even aside from the fact that I don’t find it funny. I just can’t abide the notion that Arpaio is the person being punched down on, as some seemed to strongly imply.
But yeah, Cohen’s “humor” is problematic.
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In that case I think we agree. I did mention punching down, but I was thinking of the stuff he did in Borat and the likes. Punching Arpaio is of course hardly “downwards”.
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Oh, I wasn’t referring to you. Someone else upthread of your first comment implied that.
ETA: Okay, looking back it was you, but I appreciate you clarifying. I think we had some confusion.
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Oh, to be a video streaming fly on the wall when Trump hears about it.
“Can I unpardon him?”
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side note…why is this not a thing yet?!? Zorg had it…why can’t we?!!
He might have had an absolute field day with this other candidate for Senate, who (it turns out) did not appear on the ballot, after all.
Are you saying he may have heard “blowfish” instead?
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My issue is not with the subjectivity* of humor or whether homophobes will find it funny, mostly because my issue is not about whether it’s funny or not. My problem is that this type of joke reads to me as if it will normalize the idea that gay sex is somehow lesser or more disgusting than heterosexual sex. That’s clearly the psychological quirk in the right-winger’s minds that Mr. Cohen is attempting to trigger.
But what about the splash damage? What about the gay men recieving the message, whether that message was intended or not, that their love is less valid. Not to mention the implication that the giver of a blow-job is in a subservient position (not so much present in this joke, but certainly in all the Trump-Putin blow job jokes)? Does the act of cunnilingus have the same implication? Why not?
This is my main issue: these jokes are hurting the Republican politicians some (although i would contend that most are already wounded easy targets), but they also have great potential to also harm others. And Sacha Baron Cohen doesn’t seem to care.
* In fact, to me that phrase is only talking about whether all people will find a joke funny which is orthogonal to problematic.
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You can’t normalize what’s already normalized.
I hear your point, it’s valid; and you’re right that the implication is biased and unfair.
However, bigots (especially those on the right) already think this way, and they are unlikely to ever have a ‘come to Jesus’ moment regarding equality and tolerance of those who are different.
The ‘joke’ was crass, vulgar and totally gutterball; not to mention, it just wasn’t funny.
But I do believe it serves a higher purpose, if it helps alienate Arpaio from 45’s already fickle ‘good esteem.’
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It’s so not about them.
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For Cohen I think it is, though; as they’re the ones falling for his crap, and thereby giving him his current meal-ticket.
I’m not saying he’s right in his tactics; the material he uses is offensive on many levels… but sadly, that seems to be the only language some people speak anymore.
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That’s a really solid and articulate critique that’s just part of why Cohen’s brand of humor is problematic. I don’t think this is a simple issue. There’s a mess of things from differing receptions to what the jokes really mean to various people. I think you’re driving in the direction of some of the questions that Hannah Gadsby’s set raised for what’s funny, and this deserves a more cogitation than I can give it at the moment.
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While I don’t enjoy watching mean people being mean to each other, if it helps keep one or both of them out of public office, that’s a fine result.
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Which is why I never invite you to my parties. To be fair though, I’m sure you’d find them boring.
SBC’s primary objective is to expose and satirize scumbags by using their own ideas against them. If you don’t find it funny, how would you deal with scumbags? Inaction is not an option.
Two men can be described as “friends” or “room mates” or “fuck buddies” or “coworkers”, and if your immediate reaction is that one of those categories has some kind of alarm bell attached to it, that might just be you; it does not seem that way to me, precisely because I am a big giant gay, and blow jobs are well within the normal ambit of what men do together afaiac.
I get that both Turmp and Arpaio would have assholish reactions to the gay sex angle. Possibly Baron Cohen was trading on it as a snickering 9th-grade taboo. That doesn’t mean I have to. My priority is to do sex with men, not weaponise the idea of it as a culture-war shibboleth. I don’t see who that would serve.
ETA I do, however, agree that this whole format is not very funny or nice, and has not improved with extreme age.
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Can someone help me understand all the fuss over SBC’s blowjob question? To me, the whole point is that only bigots would be offended by Arpaio’s response. To anyone else it’s just a blowjob between two consenting adults.
In this case said bigots happen to make up a considerable chunk of the conservative voting bloc, and the two consenting adults are conservative icons.
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Better safe than sorry. People thought the same way about Roy Moore, but it still took kiddy diddling to knock him down. Not the embezzlement, not the constant violation of federal law, not the rampant bigotry…but maybe his inability to ride a horse.
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