I Disagree, Pedophilia is NOT Funny!

Originally posted by Hijaqd
I think it is too easy in our PC rich society to look at everything through that skewed vision of "Who is this going to offend" instead of accepting that perhaps the time honored tradition of using humor to cope with our societal ills is taking place.

I'm not much of a PC person
Personally I feel PCness has run amok

But this isn't about being PC, it's not about offending people, it's about making fun of a horrible act thereby making it more accepting

Accepting??? You say
Well yes, that's an old man, a creepy guy that people like
If they like him they are liking a pedo, it's funny to them so they feel they can relate to the character
So yes... accepting

Originally posted by Hijaqd
During those coworkers conversations, were any of them saying "Yeah I want to BE that guy!"?

Or did it allow the office or workspace to now engage in a taboo topic that would never have taken place prior?

They were imitating him and trying to replicate his voice
They didn't specifically say they wanted to be him, but they did imitate the character

Nobody ever imitated a funny lovable pedo before, not in front of me
But now they are, that's our society now

honestly I was more insulted when Family Guy had Micheal J Fox as the actor to remake Zorro and the joke was that he couldn't make the Z and instead it came out as gibberish on the wall. I still laughed but obviously I felt bad for a second.

I've had the worst imaginable things happen to me but I still take the time to laugh it off. if we don't we lose our humanity.

hell if I were in world war 2 and saw someones head get blown off i'd HAVE to make a joke or else i'd might as well just put a bullet in my head then and there.

ok i see everybodys point but herbert and the rest of the family guy is reality the stuff described happens all the time and its sad. pedophiles isnt the only thing covered on the show come on stewie is matricidal, quagmire is a sex addict who on multiple episodes tryed to have sex with unconscious women, theres bestiality, antisemitism, and much much more. I myself find the show hilarious, yes its a cartoon but its meant for an older audience. Have you seen californication or weeds or any other show on hbo or show time

pedophiles and pedophilia are not funny, that is true. But I have always looked at Herbert as a sort of.... Archie Bunker-esq jab at pedophiles. What I mean by that is the character Archie Bunker was a Bigot and they always used him to show how stupid Bigotry really is....

I always kind of felt they were doing a similar thing with the Herbert Character, just showing how awful pedophiles really are.....


I don't know.

Just my two pesos.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


I think it is more of a play on what is obvious...they are here, have been, and will be forever. The subject is hideous, why not make blatant mockking fun?

CJ

reply to post by gimme_some_truth


You know gimme_some_truth, you are really starting to get me boiling with your level headed well reasoned posts! Stop being so reasonable! Baffle the oponent now and then!

CJ

reply to post by ModernAcademia


I like the show overall. I wouldn't want to censor the show or anything, because of free speech and all. There are people like that out there after all, and the creator has a right to make whatever social commentary he wants. But the show makes a lot of attempts to just push a shock boundary that I feel isn't needed.

Personally if I had made the show, I would have done some things differently.

First of all the pedo guy, I don't really think that's funny. It's not a humorous topic to me and I wouldn't have that character. His only purpose on the show is to make jokes about a topic that I don't find funny.

I like the overall character of Stewie, but it's not funny to me when he just randomly kills innocent people or trying to kill his own mother like he does sometimes and some of the other things he does. It makes sense, because of Louis' brother, after all, that Stewie would have serial killer DNA running in his blood, but it isn't really required.

An evil homicidal baby maniac kind of crosses a boundary that doesn't need to be crossed to be funny. In other words, they've gone too far to reap too little funny reward for where they went. They could most likely portray him as just a very cranky baby, but not homicidal and evil, and get the same amount of funny in my opinion. At least 99% of the time anyway.

I don't like how Peter is made stupid just for the sake of being stupid so we have something stupid to laugh at because I don't think there's anything funny about mental retardation. I also don't think it's funny how he consistently mistreats Louis and the family. I don't think it's funny to treat your wife and family like crap on a daily basis. This goes for Homer and the Simpsons too. I would personally add more depth and emotion to the character other than, he treats everyone in the worst way possible because he's mentally retarded. I'm pretty sure I could develop a better character than that. Maybe not a better show overall, but at least a better character lol.

I also don't like how the parents mistreat Meg and always make remarks such as she was a mistake, or was supposed to be aborted, or that she's ugly. I don't understand how mistreating your daughter is funny.

I also don't care for the character of Quagmire. It may seem funny at first, but he's not just a ladies man. He's beyond that and is a sex addict and sex offender and even jailed for it in the show and is also most likely a registered sex offender based on the shows dialog. Being attracted to the ladies is one thing, but there's no reason to take it so far. There's nothing funny about a sex offender that most likely needs jail time and therapy. Again, they just went too far with it.

There's probably some other things too and I know not everyone will agree with me. But this is just how I feel if it were my show. But it's not my show lol.

I don't like the "jokes" that involve domestic violence and rape. Some of the jokes, like towards gays, I see them as showing people how stupid they really sound when they make anti-gay remarks themselves in reality. Because if I am correct, I believe Seth McFarlane supports the gay community. But the domestic violence and rape jokes....no. In one episode where Chris is mentioning he may enlist in the army, Peter makes a comment about the cool things you can see and do while in the military. ".....and all the brown people you can rape."


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reply to post by Shawny2222


Isn't that more a continuation of the basic disgusted at real life humor the show is known for?

CJ

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Hi Benevolent Heretic,

You know that I love you right?

But I have to disagree with you on this occasion. The way I feel is this... As a society we have to draw certain metaphorical lines in the sand. We have to have boundaries, which we do not go beyond; otherwise we might as well go back to the days of Homophobic and racist jokes being the norm. Before you know it kids in school think it’s normal to pick on the minority kids. Humour and comedy is a great form of expression, but I can also be used to ridicule and bully.

For me, this issue is one of them boundaries, and when people go beyond it, i feel very uncomfortable.

As always, i respect your opinion and wisdom.

Peace

reply to post by ModernAcademia


There's a difference between accepting a pedophile and accepting pedophilia. I accept, and even pity, murderers and pedophiles alike, but I do NOT accept murder or pedophilia. I've seen just about every episode of Family Guy, and I love Herbert the Pervert. I think he's hilarious. Why? Because his voice is insane and because he fails every time he tries to pick up a kid. It's funny to me, doesn't mean it needs to be funny to you. I don't see why people think it's wrong to laugh at a fictional character?

And not to mention the fact that Chris isn't some 5 year old boy, he's 16. That's legal in plenty of places throughout the world and even in the US. It's not really even pedophilia, it's just an old gay man wanting a much younger straight boy. Herbert doesn't chase after Stewie - the baby of the show. That would be different.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
Am I being too much of a stickler, am I going overboard?

Yeah. You're being hypersensitive and have no perspective because your response isn't proportionate to similar things.

Murdering is illegal. Look at all the violence everywhere. Look at all the other illegal or impossible things they do even on that show. I heard there was one where he fed the baby horse semen. Family Guy is always tasteless and trashy to get laughs. I don't like any of it, but I'm no more offended by the character you mention than anything else they do.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Am I the only one who is reminded of the GOP rooting around trying to rip all "the gays" out of kids shows? I really don't see how Hebert is harming anyone or reestablishing where pedophilia sits in social norms; people don't respect Family Guy -- or any television program -- enough for that kind of stuff and never will. If you want to go on about things that are actually not funny on Family Guy, though, I can give you a very long list; most of them have to do with 5-minute-long gags that go nowhere and have no punchline.

I really fail to see the point of proxy-managing cartoons for any reason, really. I also don't see you complaining about the jokes surrounding death and murder in Family Guy, why so upset about pedophilia?

reply to post by Muckster


Since when are "homophobic" and "racist" jokes not 'the norm'? I think it's fine to see it in comedy, really. It's just comedy... the opposite of seriousness, in all reality.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


FAmily guy is hilarious. I think including someone like Hebert the pedophile isn't a bad idea. This show shows the real life situations and there's nothing wrong with that.

I have a love/hate relationship with trash television.

I usually am disgusted by trash programming, like Family Guy, but every once in a while I relax enough to enjoy an episode.

It certainly trivialises paedophilia. The whole show desensitises people to trashy behaviour in general, and we get cheap laughs out of things which truly aren't that creative or funny. It seems the benchmark for creativity, & humour has gone way, way down, and now we have to be as raunchy and low-life as possible just to squeeze out some laughs out of people. It's pathetic, and disgusting.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
But this isn't about being PC, it's not about offending people, it's about making fun of a horrible act thereby making it more accepting

And you are offended by that idea. You have said as much. No one EVER admits to being PC, or even realizes it, but the fact is, more and more people are slipping into it without even being aware of it. When you want to change something in society because some people are offended by it, in order to make everyone feel more comfortable, you are being PC.

Talking and laughing about a pedophile is offensive to you and you want it stopped. That's no different than Carlos Mencia telling jokes about Mexican immigrants, calling them "illegals" and someone is offended and wants it stopped. It's PC.

Freedom of Speech is not neat and pretty and comfortable. But if you support it, you support it for all.

Do not slip into the "I'm offended - this should change!" crowd. It's not attractive. At all.

Its a cartoon guys
go cry about it
seriously
a cartoon

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic

Freedom of Speech is not neat and pretty and comfortable. But if you support it, you support it for all.

Freedom of Speech as the absolute you present it, never truly existed. If you cross the line, you're taken out. Period.

What someone chooses to say is none of my business, but what is aired should be regulated to some extent.

The government agrees. That's why we have agencies like the FCC.

It seems these regulations have become more lax, and society slips further into the abyss of "idiocracy".

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Talking and laughing about a pedophile is offensive to you and you want it stopped. That's no different than Carlos Mencia telling jokes about Mexican immigrants, calling them "illegals" and someone is offended and wants it stopped. It's PC.

I think you are changing the term PC into an entirely different animal

I think you are trying to change the word PC to mean "I Do Not Oppose...."

Don't let the powers that be do this

Originally posted by unityemissions
Freedom of Speech as the absolute you present it, never truly existed.

I don't present Freedom of Speech as an absolute. There are exceptions, of course.

What someone chooses to say is none of my business, but what is aired should be regulated to some extent.

I agree that aired content should be regulated. But not because some people are offended. If we go that route, we'll be having atheists who are offended by the religious channels on TV and want them removed. There will be "sensitive" people who don't want any violence or blood on TV and so those shows will be canceled. There will be white people who are offended by Black Entertainment Television and will have that station removed.

We become a society of people whose "sensitivities" will be determined by the most sensitive and controlling members among us. No, thanks. If you don't like the show, don't watch it. Write them a letter. Write them every day and object to their content. But don't use the law to calm the sensitivities of the most thin-skinned among us.