Satire Is Funny. We Need To Calm Down.
The fact that we want to jump and yell at, talk down to, and demonize anyone who seems stupid, vapid, and ignorant shows that we're all holding on too close to our “precious feelings” and have lost the ability to take a joke.
By Dave Nappi
Whilst going through the supposed “under-belly” of the clearnet side of the internet, I was simply looking for a broader understanding of the world I live in by trying to engage in proper political discourse with people of all walks of life, in hopes that I could find deeper meaning and pride in keeping to my own personally chosen moral principles and to help further justify my existence. (Translation: I was on 4chan’s /pol/ board brandishing my tinfoil fedora because, you know, Der Juden) Suddenly a post popped up linking to an article by Anne Gus ‘Asian Women Need To Stop Dating White Men‘.
At first glance, I held my head in my palms, with a furrowed brow thinking to myself how idiotic and racist one must be to write such gibberish.
I started to suspect something was amiss when I noticed that she actually used the word “Like” at the beginning of a few sentences. While I understand some authors wish to write in their own style, and make it seem more like they are having a fluid conversation with the reader, it just didn’t sit right with me. Had the patriarchy indoctrinated me so deep into my privileged cis-white-male delusion that any form of writing that didn’t fit into proper grammatical formatting was to be dismissed? Was I so blinded by the LGBTphobic media that anything produced that didn’t fit into my narrow-minded world view was deemed degenerate and detrimental to society? I decided to check her other articles.
I started laughing. And like Archimedes stepping into bathtub, I finally understood. EUREKA!
First, let me point out some facts. According to the website, Anne has posted 10 articles in just 15 days. So every day and a half, she produces “content” in the form of an opinion article related to feminism and identity politics.
In the “about me” spot, she says “I’m a feminist. I’m a woman. I’m strong. I’m in my twenties. I’m beautiful. I deserve love. Give me it.”
Looking at her other articles with classic titles like, ‘If You Don’t Have A Mental Illness, You’re Just Not Cool‘, ‘All Women Should Do Porn At Least Once‘, or my personal favorite, ‘If You’re An Android User, You’re A Misogynist‘. It was becoming apparent that Anne Gus isn’t some extreme feminist, nor is she a brilliant troll. She is simply writing satire. And from my perspective, pretty good satire at that.
In her article about Android users being misogynists, I was laughing out loud at some of her remarks. My favorite being:
Most coding languages are written based on logic rather than emotions.
which is talking about the mock-programming language ‘C Plus Equality‘, which itself was a satirical piece in reply to an article featured on HASTAC about creating a programming language based on feminist theory. I finally got the joke of her work. It’s pretty good. Sure, it stereotypes a bit, and it makes any feminist sound like a dumb and vapid person who’s just naive to how the world really is. But that’s how satire works. You point out the flaws and stupidity using sarcasm and irony.
Let’s not forget Stephen Colbert. In case you live offline, Stephen Colbert recently got his ass chewed out on Twitter with #cancelcolbert due to a tweet in where he was “being racist towards Asians”.
Now keep in mind, the tweet was a direct quote from his show, and it was him making fun of the Washington Redskins not willing to change their name because “creating a charity’ was easier than not offending Native Americans. Now, Colbert was only making a satirical piece about the whole incident, but the reactionary mentality of people was so much, that Comedy Central (not Colbert mind you) had to delete the tweet. What does this have to do with Anne Gus? The fact that going through the comment sections of her articles shows that everyone, not just people involved in identity politics, has become hyper-sensitive.
One of the arguments people make against SJW’s (Social Justice Warriors, people involved with identity politics) is that these people are hyper-sensitive and are too knee-jerk reactionary, never thinking about what was actually said or done. I do agree that there are many people out there who overreact to many of the simplest things in life. These people tend to have ‘Special Snowflake Syndrome’ and will actively seek the “injustice” in all things and explain why “they’re the victim”.
Like #cancelcolbert, they will only see and hear what they want to see and hear. It’s hard for them to understand satire in such a defensive state, of if someone is just over-dramatizing any mundane event. Kinda like Elevatorgate. Someone inviting you over for a cup of coffee at 4am in an elevator, doesn’t really constitute as objectification. Or like the debate around “rape culture”, it’s become so reactionary and misandrist, that people at RAINN (Rape, Abuse, And Incest National Network) are actually saying victims of rape are starting to become marginalized because of SJW-esque reactions.
One could argue that SJW’s are marginalizing real issues of identity politics (homosexual right of marriage, women’s rights in oppressive countries to name a few). So it does bother me to see people posting comments, with absolute sincerity, about how dumb and naive Anne Gus must be.
I understand that what she wrote pushed people’s buttons, it was suppose to.
It even prompted another author to write an entire piece on why Anne was wrong about Asian women dating white men. People are praising her article, and it is well written. However Anne Gus simply wrote another piece on why she’s not the enemy of Asian women.
Frankly, I still think it’s funny, BECAUSE IT’S MEANT TO BE FUNNY. And she’s pointing out very subtly that it’s all a joke. It’s not meant to be taken seriously.
With this, I see a major problem. It’s not just the SJW’s that are hyper-sensitive. Most of the internet is as well.
The fact that we want to jump and yell at, talk down to, and demonize anyone who seems stupid, vapid, and ignorant shows that we’re all holding on too close to our feelings and have lost the ability to take a joke. No, I don’t agree with anything she says, but I am able to understand that it’s not meant to be taken at face value, it’s meant to draw attention to the current state of identity politics and how this movement has become a joke. However, if we’re all going to react in the comment section of her articles the same way SJW’s reacted to Stephen Colbert, aren’t we just pots calling the kettles black? Of course, there are some people who get that it’s a joke, and call her an internet troll. However, there’s an equal amount of comments that take her seriously.
So Anne Gus, you keep writing your pieces, and I’ll keep laughing.