Hola kids! An interesting thing happened today on Twitter right after another fantastic episode of I’m With Stupid this morning. My good friend and friend of IWS, CatcherDudesMom had been in the chat room listening and then decided to catch up on Sunday’s Mother’s Day celebration. After listening to both shows she asked us (not in a rude way or anything) “Do you ever think you go too far on your show?”
Matt-Man answered with a quick “No.” My initial reply was “If we didn’t go too far, we wouldn’t be trying.” Thennnnnnn CDM was all like “Isn’t there a societal norm of what’s too much?” Of course Matt-Man wrote brilliantly about society’s unwritten rules yesterday, but I decided to give my take on this topic too.
This got me to thinking, not about whether or not we “go too far,” but what “going too far” is. I told her that I didn’t know what the “societal norms” would be, and even if I did I would intentionally break them anyway. I’m a rebel like that. But honestly, these “norms” are usually set by the loudest, pushiest and narrow minded minority.
The late great American philosopher George Carlin once said "I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately."
I understand that people don’t care for comedians (or radio hosts) whom they consider to be unnecessarily vulgar. A lot of people feel that way about Louis C.K, Sarah Silverman, Opie and Anthony, Don Imus and so many more. But, if you get rid of all the comedians who tell dirty jokes, or joke about things that make you uncomfortable or use the word “cunt,” all you’ll have left is Jeff Foxworthy and is brain-dead “Redneck” jokes. (Which would be offensive to Rednecks if they weren’t being told by a white Redneck.)
When it comes to attempts to regulate what people say, I think we should break all these rules daily. I mean, if we can’t make jokes about gender and racial stereotypes, religion, politics, abortion and everything else that makes people uncomfortable then what can we joke about? People are going to take things we or anyone else says the way they want to no matter what. If you’re looking to be offended it won’t be too hard to find a way to be.
Of course, there are always the fake offended people who just feel like they SHOULD be offended. Many people believe they SHOULD be offended by abortion jokes. Or jokes about how Miley Cyrus’ hotness peaked 5 years ago when she was 14.
My friend Catcher Dudes Mom is not one of those people though. She was just asking a sincere question and even said people don’t have to listen if they don’t like it. Which is, of course, the absolute Goddamn Motherfuckin’ Truth. But, our problem is that we WANT people to listen. We want lots and lots of people to listen.
But, like the American philosopher Matt-Man said yesterday, people shouldn’t hide who they are just to please others or be popular with others. And, we can’t pretend to be something we’re not either. And to be honest, you would be shocked at how much we hold back during the show and how many things we think, but don’t say. This is actually a flaw on our part and we should correct it and just let it all hang out. Maybe we will one day.
But, until then, listen to today’s Wacky Wednesday show. It was a pretty good show. Not nearly offensive enough, but still pretty good. We talked McDonald’s breakfast, Ron Paul, unappreciative gays a few other topics and then launched some Molotov Mocktails. Good times!
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