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Request: Try to Watch un-PC Remarks in the Comments

I don't know whether to put this in a post or in the comments; both sort of suck. If I put it in a post, it makes a bigger deal about this than maybe it needs to be; if I put it in a comment, it makes it look like I'm addressing one particular person, which I'm not. This is a long-standing thing.

Please try to tone it down in the comments as regards areas of political sensitivity.

That's the short form of the post. There's more, if you feel like wading through it, but I really can't say I blame you if you don't. This isn't fun to write, and I don't think it's fun to read.

Instapundit noted that the problem with comments isn't with potentially-offensive comments coming from your opponents -- obviously, they can and and should be thrashed horribly -- but rather the problem comes when a dicey comment comes from a friendly reader or contributor. On one hand, you don't want to insult a freindly reader; on the other hand, if you don't make some big statement distancing yourself from the comment, people will charge you with tacitly approving of the statement.

I'm not trying to pull the PC card, but whenever someone writes something that I think may be over the line (or which I think others may think is over the line), I'm confronted with having to write "Watch it" and risk alienating a reader or else saying nothing at all and letting that tacit endorsement be used by an Oliver Willis type to discredit me.

So far I've pretty much ignored stuff like this, pretending I "didn't see it," which is dishonest, but dishonesty seemed the most prudent course to take. But if everyone could help me out by just watching it a little, I'd appreciate it.

I know that I make a lot of jokes that some may think cross the line. I'm not asking this from the standpoint of innocence or superiority, I'm just asking.

First of all, when I make a joke, it's a joke I'm either comfortable with myself or which I think falls into the accepted limits of humor, as defined by, say, Saturday Night Live. SNL makes numerous gay jokes every month, but, for whatever reason, they're generally not labeled offensive, at least not by any except the most homophobia-phobic audience members.

There are reasons a particular joke might be SNL-safe while another might be branded offensive. Sometimes it depends on the tone; sometimes it depends on the actual target. When Psycho Giamboni says ordering a cobb salad constitutes going "all queerbait on [him]," that's less a joke about gays than it is about Psycho's overly-strong feelings about cobb salad.

For whatever reason, gay jokes dealing with gay/camp culture & tastes are usually in bounds, whereas jokes dealing with gay sexual practices are trickier (depending on how it's put).

I can't explain the rules precisely because I don't know them precisely. I don't think anyone does. And I don't think that there really is any clearly defined "rule" on any of this that everyone would accept. There's a lot of gray area, obviously. But try to stay out of the gray area, if you wouldn't mind.

Even if you think my crap is no worse than anything in a comment, it's still my crap, so obviously I'm going to give myself a bit more leeway than I might give someone else. (See, e.g., Oliver Willis making an utterly non-sequitor and unfunny "If it's brown, get down" joke about Michelle Malkin's skin tone; had I made such a joke about someone on the left, I'm pretty sure he'd call me a racist.)

Plus, if I write something that's potentially offensive, I've still made the decision to risk that heat and, for whatever reason, I think the joke is "in bounds" as far as acceptable humor. I might even be able to defend it. However it shakes out, it was my decision and I'm responsible for it. Obviously I haven't made such a decision as regards someone else's comment, but unless I scold a commenter, people are going to take as me as being responsible for that comment anyway. (LGF gets a lot of heat for this reason.)

I think I've personally crossed the line quite a few times when I write about terrorists and Muslims. Yes, I know I'm not supposed to say we're at war with "Muslims," but rather with psychotic Islamofascist Muslims. But I haven't written that every time, and that's probably been one of the reasons some stupid internet filter now brands this a restricted site due to "Violence/Racism/Hate."

Again, I don't pretend to really know "the rules" any better than anyone else. And yes, I'm aware that all of this can be construed as hypocritical -- I don't really think it is, but I wouldn't think someone crazy for making that charge. I don't think I have a special objective understanding of what's permissible and not. I only have an understanding of what I think is permissible (and what I think others deem permissible) that seems to semi-work for me.

I'm not going to start mad-deleting comments or anything, and I'm probably not going to even bother scolding anyone. I'm just asking that everyone just watch it a little when making a potentionally-objectionable comment. I'm especially sensitive right now with this bullshit "Violence/Racism/Hate" charge. I don't think that has anything to do with any comments, but still, I'm more on-patrol about it than I was a week ago.

Anyway, thanks, and I'm really sorry if I've put anyone on the defensive. I know that mentioning anything like this immediately puts everyone on the defensive (I myself am on the defensive about this being a "Hate" site), and I really didn't want to write any of this at all. I'm just asking.

Posted by Ace at August 30, 2004 06:16 PM | TrackBack