ContraPoints

See, I can't speak as someone who is non-binary (I'm not), but I am a Trans Woman that does not always succeed at passing. The takeaway I got from the video was that the aesthetics were what's important, and the takeaway from the thread was that I don't "count" as a woman unless people perceive me as one. Which...no. I'm still a woman regardless. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around, it still scientifically makes a sound. That isn't negotiable.

I do recognize the effect that gender expression has on social lives, but the issue is she basically told everyone (in the tweet before the really controversial one) what I said above. "You don't really count as your gender if people don't see you that way." In that tweet, she basically said she was functionally a man when she identified as non-binary. She ignored identity in favor of reducing gender to expression. People try to be themselves as much as possible, but some people can't if their environment is hostile to LGBTQ rights. In which case, your identity is all you've got. To say that's not enough is...really insulting.

She didn't get it, though. Her twitter thread showed that she really didn't include anyone but passing Trans Women and men. I wish I could still link, but there are a few choice examples above.

And that "pragmatism" is the issue. She found it helpful to her, so she tried to give the same talk to everyone else. But that type of "advice" is 1: Highly dependent by person and unsuited for a public forum and 2: Highly offensive if it was unsolicited. Which it was. A lot of what Tabby said in the video, about identification and that she's still a woman regardless of others thoughts and that passing is not all there is to her, that was not intellectual pretentiousness. Its what I struggle with in my life.

Tl:dr If someone in public loudly said I didn't pass well and should try wearing high heels, my response is not going to be "Thank you for the advice". The response is going to be "Frack you".

Edit: This was not a great page topper...

Edited by AzurePaladin on Oct 1st 2018 at 10:00:07 AM

The awful things he says and does are burned into our cultural consciousness like a CRT display left on the same picture too long. -Fighteer

There was another one that seemed to be even more controversial, but there weren't any screencaps of it. Judging from the replies, and there were a lot, it appeared to be an assertion from Contra allegedly claiming that trans men don't suffer from misogyny. Which is definitely not true as many trans dudes can testify, but again I'm working off of limited clues as to what exactly was said. I guess that may have related to her point about passing and how supposedly trans men pass easier (not really.)

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Oct 1st 2018 at 11:13:57 AM

More about the last part, please?

Embedded wont work. Anyways new video on pronouns.

Edited by PhilosopherStones on Nov 2nd 2018 at 10:52:16 AM

GIVE ME YOUR FACE

I could get it up.

So this lessens the Unfortunate Implications of the aesthetic video.

Edited by RhymeBeat on Nov 2nd 2018 at 10:27:00 AM

The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.

Oooh, time to plug one of my favorite subreddits: r/ArrestedCanadaBillC16, just in case anyone want to see close Western Civilization is to falling.
One issue I have with this video is the futch scale. Why is the trumpet more butch than the saxophone? Not to mention this is clear bagpipe erasure.

Edited by HottoKenai on Nov 4th 2018 at 1:54:15 AM

So Natalie went on some podcast

Pretty informative episode. I was having trouble contextualizing just why the right wing intellectuals dingbats are so popular. The situation also seems unfair to content creators like Natalie (not helped by Youtube shitty algorithm), whose work often only get half of the views idiots like Ben Shapiro and Steven Crowder get.
And we can't forget Mouthfeel^TM , in its full, glorious PSA format.

Edited by HottoKenai on Nov 19th 2018 at 10:30:56 PM

Oh boy, it is here. I hope it doesn't cause a shitstorm again.

Great episode. It's depressing that Natalie has to make it clear that she's playing characters that have their own views tho, considering she shouldn't have to do that. Also that mascara game is on point!

"If you spend all your heart / On something that has died / You are not alive and that can't be a life"

Btw, while on the subject, I totally recommend the following video:

Natalie referred to it and linked in the description, but I think it is worth being embedded here as it works very well as a companion piece. While Contra discussed the infamous phrase itself, Pedantic Romantic discusses the term itself, including its origins and usage.

You know, if there's one thing I realized watching CP's videos, it's the paradox of how empowering self-deprecating humor can be. It's like a way of saying "I feel comfortable enough to joke about myself if I want − I'm the one to decide."

In that sense, the sex jokes she throws around (especially in this episode) aren't only funny but feel like they're here for a reason.

I've seen another youtuber who occasionally jokes about his own gayness (though unlike Natalie it's never the focus), and it kinda feels the same way.

And yes this is a good complement.

Edited by Lyendith on Jan 17th 2019 at 7:18:27 PM

I thik because it stole the power the alt righter have about "Ttriggering" other by making fault of herself, she is self aware of what they can see about her and respond in kind, in that way she beat them because of it.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"

Speaking of which:

About the role and limits of dark comedy, "politically incorrect" jokes and self-deprecation, notably on her own channel.

A video about poorly done dark humor and how good dark humor is done from within

I was gonna bring this up in another thread cause it's been on my mind, but this gives me a good excuse to talk about it here:

Whenever someone rants about how, "oh you can't say anything anymore" and "everyone's offended by everything these days and the PC culture and blah blabbity blah", they're upset because someone told them not to do or say something. And a lot of anti-PC outrage culture based this childish mindset of "I don't like being told what to do". It's a bunch of grown men who never got out of their "rebellious teen" phase, except now that they're (biological) adults and probably live away from their parents, they need to find something else to rebel against. So they turn to an increasingly progressive society, where we're starting to tell people how to behave like an upstanding citizen, which, in a way, is kinda like your parents. So they pick that to rebel against - "FUCK YOU PROGRESSIVE MOM YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

It's one thing to make a spectacle. It's another to make a difference.

Lindsay Ellis, Mel Brooks, The Producers and the Ethics of Satire about N@zis
Straddling the line between what's funny and what's offensive is what made being a comic so difficult and so rewarding. And I think most people are aware of this, the ones complaining about "kids these days" are mostly just playing the victim to deflect criticism, and of course Persecution Complex^TM
My fav part of was was her calling out that ablest Carlin bit, cause many people seem to see Brutal Honesty and mistake the "brutal" for the "honesty" part. And because Carlin is so worshiped by edgelords that it's almost impossible to critique him without people calling the critics snowflakes (from the same crowd that constantly screams about how Political Correctness Gone Mad).
And let's be real here, if someone uploads a video of prison guards laughing at an inmate being tortured on Youtube and tagged it under "comedy", you can bet there will be a sizable amount of people commenting "can't believe the snowflakes are offended by this". Gotta love the Internet.
Edit: So after a bit searching, I found out in this bit where George Carlin complained about Euphemisms & political correctness, and he complained about how PTSD is politically correct cuckcoldry (paraphrasing) for "shell shock" cause people don't want to face the truth. In reality, the tern "shell-shock" was incorrect because "medical and military authorities documented shell shock symptoms in soldiers ''who had been nowhere near exploding shells.''" George Carlin, the O.G anti-intellectual edgelord.

Edited by HottoKenai on Mar 3rd 2019 at 10:58:44 PM

I guess if we're discussing comedy now I might as well link this video:

Okay, so I'm 4:14 into the video, and so far, it's just been an extended take on the "it's just a joke bro" deflection, as if comedians never use their own views and opinions as the basis for their material. Like, he talks about the Louis CK bit about the Parkland survivors and claims that the internet got offended because the routine was "decontextualized", but like... what context would people need to think this is okay?

It's one thing to make a spectacle. It's another to make a difference.

A comedy club and alcohol apparently.

Overall, the takeaway I'm getting from this video (which isn't the one Coffee Break intended) is that comedians host their shows in their own social structure where the path of least resistance is, obviously, to laugh. And are miffed that their jokes are placed out in the open as a sitting duck for scrutiny. Which has a few problems because when one has receive no criticism, then they cannot grow, they stagnate. And without input form the audience, and the world beyond, they cannot know that the Acceptable Targets had shifted, or that they weren't acceptable targets to begin with.

Basically, I think Comedy Clues and other shows were a bubble,one that the internet popped. And comedians that rely on them are ones that Can't Take Criticism.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Mar 3rd 2019 at 4:55:45 AM

I actually saw a comedy special online that had a bit about this exact topic. I can't remember the comedian's name, but she talked about how a comedians tells a joke (a rape joke, in this instance), the audience laughs, and they opt to continue telling it for 20 years. Then, when people finally start criticizing it, they complain about being "censored", when they're really just receiving negative feedback for once.

But yeah, that Coffee Break video was such a bad take, I can't believe I wasted my time watching it.

It's one thing to make a spectacle. It's another to make a difference.

Sometimes horrible jokes are funny because it is shocking in a crossing the line twice kind of way, that is why I usually laugh with the roast because it feel a "no barrel down"

Now with the darkness video I kinda feel a little bit like Natalie: from one part, I'm trying to be understanding of minorities and their issues nd I feel much of edginess can be stupid,immature and less self aware(in a "is funny because I consider so"), but sometimes being overly safe ambient of the left at time can be a little bit granting and to moral guardian for me.

I will guess is the issue with being on the edge and be edgy.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"

It's "Rape Jokes" by Carmen Esposito, here's the clip you were talking about used in another video about men's sexual assault being Played for Laughs
It's like Natalie said, it's a fine line between snowflakery and edginess. If you fall on either side (and let's face it, mostly on the edgy side), then that's on you, not the audience.

Thank you, and that's actually the video that led me to the special.

It's one thing to make a spectacle. It's another to make a difference.

Coincidentally I also learned about social structures from one of his videos.