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  1. #1

    Wink "Political Correctness" and Youtubers/E-Celebrities

    Was curious about other people's thoughts on this topic. Its going to be a long post, so if you know all the details, my actual question for you all is at the bottom.

    Basically what occurred was that on August 3rd, the Youtuber JonTron was talking about the new service Sony is developing for the PS4 called "Playstation Now" and said this:

    "Playstation Now" is the most painfully retarded thing I've seen in a while. WTF even.
    https://twitter.com/JonTronShow/stat...83251961585668

    The first couple tweets in response were nothing special or controversial. However, somebody tweeted at him asking him not to use the word "retarded:"

    please don't say "retarted" Jon, it's pretty rude. Thanks.
    https://twitter.com/benhuber/status/495783555143065601

    Still, nothing really big until Jon tweeted back with this:

    I'm sorry I forgot you were retarded, my bad
    https://twitter.com/JonTronShow/stat...83749142192129

    And after this the proverbial shit hit the fan. Accusations of Ableism (Prejudice against the Handicapped -- something I didn't even know had a word until this incident happened, I'll point out), calls for boycotts, rants against him on Twitter, and especially Tumblr, and floods of comments on virtually every tweet past this. After a few hours, where Jon really wasn't kowtowing to the people throwing a fit, he ended up making this statement:

    I don't usually respond to this kind of criticism, but this has gotten so out of hand and always happens when I make some sort of ‘controversial' statement on twitter. To you people who get offended at every turn: Why don't you try focusing your civil unrest at something that dearly needs it, like the fact that today the Israeli air force struck a school with a missile killing 10 people, most of which were children. I suppose you're all ok with that, as long as the missile didn't call the school 'retarded' first, right? My job as a comedian is to make people laugh and feel better about their lives. So no, in the midst of so many other pressing matters in the world, I will not apologize for calling a PS4 retarded. I encourage you to look at yourselves and think about what really matters.
    http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1s2sdiu

    Suffice it to say, the statement didn't help. The people who were upset about him using "retarded" as a slur toward somebody joined up with the few, incredibly vocal, people who thought he was scapegoating the incident in Gaza joined up and the shouting intensified. Accusations of antisemitism abounded, combined with everything else that had been thrown his way. At this point Tumblr was fully involved in the "conflict," with the JonTron tag trending fairly publicly. Despite ALL of this, the only thing he really seemed remorseful for was the way people were taking his comments about the Middle East. And while I can't speak for Jon or know him personally, it felt like his tweets were less "I'm sorry for bringing up Gaza" and more "I'm sorry my words were interpreted that way by those few people." As such he posted this, later on:

    I mainly want to apologize to anyone who may have interpreted that I was using loss of life overseas to sidestep controversy, that was not my aim. I was merely trying to make a point, I guess it didn't land. The mere thought of doing that is appalling to me, and I am sorry if anyone took it that way.
    http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1s2sen3

    But that didn't really seem to abate anything, so basically his next move was to mainly just tweet with friends, retweet people who were coming to his defense, and generally ignoring it. ALL of this happened on August 3rd by the way, everything in this post up to this point. The people who were throwing a fit about Gaza pretty much gave up after the first day, but those who were offended by his "Retarded" comment continued.

    In the end, he ended up doing an interview with the "Internet Outrage Database" website, which tracks, records, and reports "outrages" on the Internet. Just to specify, the website asked Jon to do the interview and he agreed. He did not seek them out on his own. You can find it here. In it, he's still fairly indignant about the whole thing, talking about the immediateness of the Internet's outrage, previous "outrageous" things he's said in the past (He made a reference to Hitler on his twitter while this was going down. About Hitler never giving up), having fans be "outraged," how effective or genuine most apologies after these kind events are, and censorship on the internet.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Actual question for the thread: So after all that, my question is multi-faceted. How much should the internet "public," as it were, hold popular personalities on the internet to this universal code of ethics, if at all? What should be deemed inappropriate for this kind of personality, if anything, that is said by these people? Do they have an obligation to try and accommodate whenever anybody who proclaims to be their "fan" deems something they've said is inappropriate, and they either remove it, apologize for it, and/or promise not to do it again?

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Personally the whole "episode" stinks to me of exceptionally butthurt Social Justice Warriors on tumblr looking for something to be offended about. Whether you like JonTron or not is irrelevant. These types of people just bounce from personality to personality looking for a soap box to stand on and proclaim how offended they are and how everybody around them must accommodate how upset they are. Was Jon being an asshole when he called the person "retarded" after they asked him politely not to? Of course he was. However that is exactly the kind of comedy that his channel has always been about. The sarcastic, often over-the-line stuff. Calling he dude retarded, bringing up Hitler. Ending the interview in the way that he did. In fact, I actually found it pretty funny when I read it for the first time.

    I'm happy for the kind of progress that has been made in our world to ensure equality, but I feel like "incidents" like this just show how goddamn entitled people believe they are to not have their sensibility cherries popped by the internet.

    In the end, its the Internet. You need a thicker skin or you're going to be embarrassed by most things you find here. Jon makes this point in the interview that I think utterly destroys the entire butthurt-brigade parading around being offended:

    We can’t police words, we must police the meaning and context behind those words. One could argue that when I called the guy ‘retarded’, I crossed that line. But I was simply trying to use sarcasm to show the difference in context. I thought that should be obvious to anyone onlooking.

    As far as being offended? Quite frankly, I think one should be an adult and grow some thicker skin. So what you’re offended? That doesn’t mean anything to me, or anyone. It is subjective. I’m offended by your offense. What now?
    So, in the end, that's my thoughts about it all. What about everyone else?
    Last edited by KrazyK923; 2014-08-06 at 07:57 AM.

  2. #2
    Deleted
    What do we learn from all of this;
    Social media is a cesspit.

    It's better avoided or if you do use it, carefully select who you interact with. Mostly, I just keep my stuff private.

  3. #3
    Deleted
    Crazily sensitive people gonna be crazily sensitive.

  4. #4
    Deleted
    Tumblrists gonna Tumble.

    Someone got there shit seriously triggered.

  5. #5
    LOL, those people sure are retarded.

  6. #6
    The Lightbringer NuLogic's Avatar
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    Yes it's true most people don't have anything better to do than correct other's. It's not entirely bad but they need to focus a bit more on themselves at times.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    I'm surprised he hasn't been dropped by his sponsors yet, not that i'm complaining; People will get their panties in a twist over the most pitiful of things, but they tend to be quite on ball to avoid controversy, sponsors that is.

    What do i think of the language used?

    Who cares

    I have a pretty fucked up sense of humor, so if the joke is well intentioned to me i'll laugh my proverbial tits off.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Manakin View Post
    I'm surprised he hasn't been dropped by his sponsors yet, not that i'm complaining; People will get their panties in a twist over the most pitiful of things, but they tend to be quite on ball to avoid controversy, sponsors that is.

    What do i think of the language used?

    Who cares

    I have a pretty fucked up sense of humor, so if the joke is well intentioned to me i'll laugh my proverbial tits off.
    He doesn't have any sponsors. I believe except Audible.com, which he had just begun advertising on his videos. The only thing that isn't himself he is attached to is the Youtube Network "Polaris." And I sincerely doubt they would get involved in something like this. They mainly deal with legal proceedings. I know this because my tiny channel is actually under their subsidiary network, RPM. They don't involve themselves in anything except legal stuff.

    I'm with you, who the fuck cares. I'm a fat guy, I've been mocked for it before, but I don't go around on the internet demanding people never bring it up. I'm also gay, and I have no problem with people using the word "faggot" or saying "That's so gay." In the end, who the hell cares. You are going to accomplish absolutely nothing by making a stink every time someone says something like this ON THE INTERNET. Except to get worked up over something you can't really change in any meaningful way.

  9. #9
    Deleted
    Advocating circumcism is a really poor stance to take in this day and age.

  10. #10
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by NuLogic View Post
    correct other's
    correct others'.


  11. #11
    The Lightbringer NuLogic's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Miuku View Post
    What do we learn from all of this;
    Social media is a cesspit.

    It's better avoided or if you do use it, carefully select who you interact with. Mostly, I just keep my stuff private.
    Yeah social media tends to put people on a pedestal and so their is usually someone closely watching. People need to remember that he's just like them and doesn't have someone proofreading his statements at all times.

  12. #12
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyK923 View Post
    He doesn't have any sponsors. I believe except Audible.com, which he had just begun advertising on his videos. The only thing that isn't himself he is attached to is the Youtube Network "Polaris." And I sincerely doubt they would get involved in something like this. They mainly deal with legal proceedings. I know this because my tiny channel is actually under their subsidiary network, RPM. They don't involve themselves in anything except legal stuff.
    Ahhhh.

    That's pretty fucking neat, and especially useful in this situation.

    Sponsors avoid controversy to avoid damage to their brand, an unsponsored e-celeb can garner such controversy and can use it to spirit interest in their channel(s).

    That's just me looking at it like a skeptical scum-bag though, he probably didn't mean to offend thy internet warriors hailing from the delicate sphere called Tumblr.

    All in all, Tumblr is going to Tumblr, 4chan is going to be full of closet pedophiles, and Reddit will lap up each of what they drop and polish it up.

    Dude will continue to create videos, and this will blow itself over.

  13. #13
    Pandaren Monk Constraint's Avatar
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    I remember this song by the Black Eyed Peas called "Let's Get Retarded" which was shouted down by random imbeciles because it's apparently magically demeaning to people with mental retardation. Kinda reminds me of that.

    He has basically the exact same stance on political correctness as I do, although I thought his strange allusion to the situation in the Middle East made no sense whatsoever.

    Some people will complain about anything. That's not to say it's the same few people complaining about every single issue, but let's look at the facts - on popular social media, you WILL find people poke fingers at EVERYTHING which they can even pretend to take offense to. The more controversial the topic, the more white-knights, nit-pickers and the scum of the earth, the overly politically correct, will turn out of the woodwork. It's just shit, literally makes me sick.

  14. #14
    From a business standpoint you should do whatever keeps $$ coming in.

    But to be honest if he takes donations or sells a product, he should be under some obligation to be professional. If all he does is have some indirect stuff like advertisements, then it doesn't matter what he says, in my opinion. He's just someone on the internet.

  15. #15
    That's just me looking at it like a skeptical scum-bag though, he probably didn't mean to offend thy internet warriors hailing from the delicate sphere called Tumblr.
    I've been subscribed to him for a while, from his very first videos to GameGrumps and beyond, and all of his responses that weren't the two "apologies" were totally in line for the kind of comedy he does on his channel. So it really isn't about him being misrepresented or not trying to offend people. In fact, I'm pretty positive he was trying to offend the guy with the "retarded" comment. However that was the entire point. The sarcasm.

    Just an example of people, most of whom probably don't even watch/listen to him, jumping on the bandwagon because its currently popular to do so.

  16. #16
    Deleted
    Fuckin' retarded.

    Kappa

  17. #17
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyK923 View Post
    So, in the end, that's my thoughts about it all. What about everyone else?
    calling a retarded person a retard is a social faux pas.
    calling a thing that is not working properly retarded, is not.
    Last edited by mmocfd561176b9; 2014-08-06 at 08:17 AM.

  18. #18
    Deleted
    Some people really need to stop taking everything on the internet seriously.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Constraint View Post
    I remember this song by the Black Eyed Peas called "Let's Get Retarded"
    This cracks me up. I thought, wasn't that called "Let's Get It Started"? Turns out the title indeed got changed for airplay so that nobody has to piss their pants. Hilarious.

  20. #20
    The political correctness crowd are the whiniest collective of humans in history. There is no way to please them once they get started, so he might as well have left it at his second tweet and stopped trying to defend himself. Anyone who gets offended at the use of a derogatory word being applied to an inanimate object is pretty hopeless. His last statement about people needing to grow thicker skin and get over it is quite true, as is the fact that nobody gives a crap if they are offended in the first place.

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