Coronavirus

[JarJarDrinks]

Dont forget about your vibrating penis that turns lesbians straight...

Did you report this one from JJD? Why or why not? It's "about" lesbians, isn't it?

It was more of an inside joke

[Gergall]

[spideyguy0]

Nothing profound to add here and I am likely the worst voice for it to come from, but we all can be better with what we say and how we conduct ourselves here and elsewhere. I do not have a strong opinion on the moderation policy, but if we all slow down and think before we post, it may eliminate the need for much moderation.

And when people misstep- and they will, I certainly have- however it is dealt with, it provides an opportunity for personal growth, for people to learn from their mistakes, to learn why something they did can be harmful. Sometimes its obvious, but sometimes it is not. I can only speak from my own experiences on some of these issues- in many ways certain things did not click for me as abstract concepts, but as I have grown and gotten to know more people with varied backgrounds and opinions in recent years, it helped me put a face to people facing various forms of discrimination, and provided to me a more tangible example of the negative effects of poor conduct, but also showed how even small changes in wording and conduct can have a strong positive effect on a community.

I am not too involved here any more, and nothing changes the past, but in my opinion we owe it to ourselves, to each other, and to future players of the game to try to be better, and I am committed to trying to do what I can to be more welcoming in the future.

This is my favorite post in this thread (maybe my favorite forum post in a while) and I wanted to acknowledge it.

[Shadow 14]

Nothing profound to add here and I am likely the worst voice for it to come from, but we all can be better with what we say and how we conduct ourselves here and elsewhere. I do not have a strong opinion on the moderation policy, but if we all slow down and think before we post, it may eliminate the need for much moderation.

And when people misstep- and they will, I certainly have- however it is dealt with, it provides an opportunity for personal growth, for people to learn from their mistakes, to learn why something they did can be harmful. Sometimes its obvious, but sometimes it is not. I can only speak from my own experiences on some of these issues- in many ways certain things did not click for me as abstract concepts, but as I have grown and gotten to know more people with varied backgrounds and opinions in recent years, it helped me put a face to people facing various forms of discrimination, and provided to me a more tangible example of the negative effects of poor conduct, but also showed how even small changes in wording and conduct can have a strong positive effect on a community.

I am not too involved here any more, and nothing changes the past, but in my opinion we owe it to ourselves, to each other, and to future players of the game to try to be better, and I am committed to trying to do what I can to be more welcoming in the future.

This is my favorite post in this thread (maybe my favorite forum post in a while) and I wanted to acknowledge it.

x2

[JarJarDrinks]

Nothing profound to add here and I am likely the worst voice for it to come from, but we all can be better with what we say and how we conduct ourselves here and elsewhere. I do not have a strong opinion on the moderation policy, but if we all slow down and think before we post, it may eliminate the need for much moderation.

And when people misstep- and they will, I certainly have- however it is dealt with, it provides an opportunity for personal growth, for people to learn from their mistakes, to learn why something they did can be harmful. Sometimes its obvious, but sometimes it is not. I can only speak from my own experiences on some of these issues- in many ways certain things did not click for me as abstract concepts, but as I have grown and gotten to know more people with varied backgrounds and opinions in recent years, it helped me put a face to people facing various forms of discrimination, and provided to me a more tangible example of the negative effects of poor conduct, but also showed how even small changes in wording and conduct can have a strong positive effect on a community.

I am not too involved here any more, and nothing changes the past, but in my opinion we owe it to ourselves, to each other, and to future players of the game to try to be better, and I am committed to trying to do what I can to be more welcoming in the future.

This is my favorite post in this thread (maybe my favorite forum post in a while) and I wanted to acknowledge it.

x2

Brad setting u guys up teasing a face turn. I suspect next post he rips off outer shirt revealing a reidtech/team-ohio 4eva shirt underneath.

[rhendon]

Brad setting u guys up teasing a face turn. I suspect next post he rips off outer shirt revealing a reidtech/team-ohio 4eva shirt underneath.

This is how I always picture Brad on these forums. He is living a forum life of a WWE superstar, jumping between face and heel. Being whatever the SWCCG community needs him to be.

[Gergall]

Wife took the antibody blood test, as we figured Covid-19 probably passed through our house weeks/months ago and we were all just asymptomatic.

Test came back negative. Could be a false negative.

[arebelspy]

Wife took the antibody blood test, as we figured Covid-19 probably passed through our house weeks/months ago and we were all just asymptomatic.

Test came back negative. Could be a false negative.

Same thing with my parents.

I think a lot of people assume they've had it and we're asymptomatic, but haven't had it yet.

[rhendon]

I think a lot of people assume they've had it and we're asymptomatic, but haven't had it yet.

Agreed. I read something this weekend where an infectious disease expert was talking about how we need the 60-70% of the population for herd immunity in the US and said that he thinks only 5% have had it so far. If only 5% of the US population has had it, and we've had over 100k deaths, to get to that 60-70% mark, we'd have approx. 1.2 million to 1.4 million deaths. Those are insane numbers to think about.

[AdmiralMotti89]

People certainly are harmed by joking about police aggression and their murder of black people, and making it more standard as something for us to laugh off and accept.

(I had started some comments about the soviet joke, infantilization, and my tongue in cheek comment on omission of characteristics from the list but I think that's pretty minor stuff compared to notions of what any of these jokes are actually promoting or not)

There's a difference between a joke being "about" something and a joke mentioning something on the way to a comment about something else entirely, like the two original jokes do (or sometimes not really focusing on a comment, but rather being driven by wordplay like below). There's a difference between laughing at a joke that mentions something and laughing off something mentioned in a wider context as if it isn't bad or isn't important.

Years ago, I beat up my high school bully with a baseball bat. Both of his arms were broken.
Come to think of it, that's probably why I felt brave enough to beat him up.

That joke "ties into" bullying. But it would be quite foolish to say it's encouraging bullying or countering bullying with violence, for example.

Why exactly is that "quite foolish"? It seems exactly like it promotes violence to deal with bullying.

Those jokes no more "normalize" and "perpetuate" bullying or violence than the other two jokes "normalize" and "perpetuate" aggression or racism. What makes them funny isn't actually about bullying at all.

Right, what makes them funny is the unexpected twist in the punchline. Setup, pull out the rug. Just because it isn't the bullying that makes them funny doesn't mean they don't also encourage or promote it.

It sounds like you're saying that a person telling that joke is making a literal prescription for behavior, as in "I beat someone with a bat, go now and do likewise." "Promote" is a strong word. In my opinion, not only does it stretch the notion of plausibility, but also the notion of possibility that a person saying that joke is actively encouraging people to commit violence, It's the same stretch to think that a remotely sensible person would hear that joke and think beating people with a baseball bat is more acceptable than before they heard it.

The joke with the bat didn't make me think beating someone with a blunt object was any more acceptable than before I read it. I would guess it didn't do that for you either. Neither of the two original jokes made me think what happened to George Floyd was any less terrible, or any less unacceptable. I would guess it didn't do that for you either (I would be quite concerned about the moral fortitude of anyone reading those jokes who somehow took away the absurd notion that his death was not a big deal after all. That says a lot about the person who changed their mind, not about the joke or who told it). Perhaps instead of commenting on (much less diminishing) the injustice of what happened to George Floyd, the jokes might actually be commenting about the attitudes of people toward current issues, specifically covid.

[Gergall]

There's a difference between a joke being "about" something and a joke mentioning something on the way to a comment about something else entirely, like the two original jokes do (or sometimes not really focusing on a comment, but rather being driven by wordplay like below). There's a difference between laughing at a joke that mentions something and laughing off something mentioned in a wider context as if it isn't bad or isn't important.

Let's go ahead and assume you are technically correct. Congratulations, you won!

Lets still avoid posting things that we know are going to make some people feel unwelcome in the SWCCG forums.

I think everyone has the common sense to know that making any joke that contains the name George Floyd is still going to have that effect on some people, even if you are right, so lets just not do it.

If you can agree with "let's just not do it" and still want to continue having the argument anyway then go ahead I guess.

[AdmiralMotti89]

There's a difference between a joke being "about" something and a joke mentioning something on the way to a comment about something else entirely, like the two original jokes do (or sometimes not really focusing on a comment, but rather being driven by wordplay like below). There's a difference between laughing at a joke that mentions something and laughing off something mentioned in a wider context as if it isn't bad or isn't important.

Let's go ahead and assume you are technically correct. Congratulations, you won!

Lets still avoid posting things that we know are going to make some people feel unwelcome in the SWCCG forums.

I think everyone has the common sense to know that making any joke that contains the name George Floyd is still going to have that effect on some people, even if you are right, so lets just not do it.

If you can agree with "let's just not do it" and still want to continue having the argument anyway then go ahead I guess.

I think in the course of making a point on how prominent people depict the coronavirus threat depending on surrounding circumstances, someone might feel uncomfortable, and that the point could be worth it anyways. That said, I think Hunter's joke made the point more effectively than the one that mentioned Floyd by name. So ideally, if a person were trying to make a point, and method A would make the point more effectively while making some people uncomfortable, and method B would make the point less effectively while making more people uncomfortable, there is no good reason to choose B.

I haven't missed that your entire post above is about whether he should have said that joke or not, rather than the specific issue I took as to whether it (or Hunter's) relied on racism and/or normalized and perpetuated aggression. There is a wider issue of "this offends me, therefore it is violent." If you doubt that there is an issue regarding that belief, Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff have some observations and implications for the idea, and I think a lot of that is still on youtube even.

To make kafkatrap accusations against me for finding it absurd to accuse either person for telling either joke of promoting aggression or relying on racism, however, or accusing me of only making my argument to "win" is of course unjustified. Of course if I say that I believe the points I've made are worth making, that it matters to determine what promotes violence or aggression and what doesn't, that's just even more proof that I don't mean any of it.

[The Honky Tonk Man]

I'll sign onto Brad's post and add my own two cents.

One of the things I've learned, and for whatever reason it took me too long to learn this, is that a witty comment, joke, or any other edgy commentary is NOT FUNNY if it can ever be construed in a way that can hurt or offend someone. It's just inappropriate and unacceptable. In a forum like this, when you're trying to be funny, it's easy to fall into the mindset of seeing who your audience is to determine what buttons you can press to get them going. However, that's a really shortsighted view as there are a multitude of others who view these boards that may fall outside of those you perceive as your audience. And that's when you can offend and turn people away.

When I'm trying to be funny, I just have to remind myself that no joke or edgy comment is worth it if it has the potential to marginalize someone or some important issue.

[arebelspy]

There's a difference between a joke being "about" something and a joke mentioning something on the way to a comment about something else entirely, like the two original jokes do (or sometimes not really focusing on a comment, but rather being driven by wordplay like below). There's a difference between laughing at a joke that mentions something and laughing off something mentioned in a wider context as if it isn't bad or isn't important.

Let's go ahead and assume you are technically correct. Congratulations, you won!

Lets still avoid posting things that we know are going to make some people feel unwelcome in the SWCCG forums.

I think everyone has the common sense to know that making any joke that contains the name George Floyd is still going to have that effect on some people, even if you are right, so lets just not do it.

If you can agree with "let's just not do it" and still want to continue having the argument anyway then go ahead I guess.

I agree with the let's not do it. Let's all be better.

But what response should we have to the person who does it anyways? That's what we were discussing.

I think a clearer message to someone seeing that is the community respond with saying it isn't appreciated, rather than having everyone ignore it, then it disappear a day later.

[Gergall]

I think a clearer message to someone seeing that is the community respond with saying it isn't appreciated, rather than having everyone ignore it, then it disappear a day later.

Okay that's a good strategy for dealing with such comments, I'll strive to be a part of that voice.

I'll sign onto Brad's post and add my own two cents.

One of the things I've learned, and for whatever reason it took me too long to learn this, is that a witty comment, joke, or any other edgy commentary is NOT FUNNY if it can ever be construed in a way that can hurt or offend someone. It's just inappropriate and unacceptable. In a forum like this, when you're trying to be funny, it's easy to fall into the mindset of seeing who your audience is to determine what buttons you can press to get them going. However, that's a really shortsighted view as there are a multitude of others who view these boards that may fall outside of those you perceive as your audience. And that's when you can offend and turn people away.

When I'm trying to be funny, I just have to remind myself that no joke or edgy comment is worth it if it has the potential to marginalize someone or some important issue.

Awesome! That is a great 2 cents!

[Meto]

I feel like I'm late to this thread, but it's been a pleasure growing up with you guys. It's easy to forget we're not the same people we've met 5, 10, 20 years ago, online or otherwise.

[Archmage]

Several years ago, someone photo-shopped my face onto Osama Bin Ladens body. I never saw the post, Steve and Mike aggressively defended me/threatened acts of violence to the poster.. the whole thing was a mess. It was all deleted. I never actually saw any of the posts.

This makes me sick. I am sorry that you had to experience this even second hand. Thank you Mike, Steve and the rest of the people that stood up and dealt with this so Justin did not have to directly.

[mr007agent]

Eric Garchow for President!!!

[mr007agent]

I feel like I'm late to this thread, but it's been a pleasure growing up with you guys. It's easy to forget we're not the same people we've met 5, 10, 20 years ago, online or otherwise.

You still suck

[shawnd1984]

Eric Garchow for President!!!

Reflections 2 packs for every voter!