SNL's 'ISIS' commercial parody offends?

[superpatriotman]

I actually laughed out loud at the absurdity and black humor.



But now it's 'offensive' according to some anonymous busy-bodies on Twitter:

http://www.salon.com/2015/03/01/“snl”_offends_viewers_with_controversial_isis_sketch/

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[BubbaFett]

1. Professional pearl clutchers

these oh so sensitive types wouldn't have made through 3 hours of prime time television in the 1970s.

How do these folks make through every day?

[deutsey]

14. +1

I can still remember Al Franken and Tom Davis coming out onto the SNL stage and calling for the violent overthrow of the US government.

Announcer: It's time for "The Franken & Davis Show", starring Al Franken and Tom Davis. And now, here's Al and Tom!

[ dissolve to Al and Tom standing on stage ]

Al Franken: Thank you, thank you! Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! It's GREAT to be back!

Tom Davis: That's right. And, tonight, we'd like to stick our necks out a little bit on national television, and call for a violent overthrow of the United States government! [ he bows, as the audience applauds ]

Al Franken: Thank you! Thank you! You see, besides being a professional comedy team, Tom and I are international Communist revolutionaries... and we believe that nothing can really be changed in this country, through the Democratic process! [ brief applause ] Oh, thank you! We're glad a lot of you feel that way!

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/78/78cfranken.phtml

[Yo_Mama]

34. LOL!! So true!!!

I never thought I'd see the emergence of another classic "Church Lady" on the left/progressive wing, but they are popping up all over. Pearl-clutchers is an excellent description (but it only works for an old fart like me).

[Turbineguy]

39. A new class of

Delicate Flowers.

[BubbaFett]

55. Delicate SPECIAL Flowers™

[hifiguy]

52. Bingo. Well said, sir.

The same "mentality" as the nincompoops who protested Monty Python's Life of Brian.

[itsrobert]

2. yup, one of the fews laughs I had last night

The monologue, the bondage/Fifty Shades of Grey jokes, and Dakota were awful.

[Fred Sanders]

3. SNL, I remember when you had well paid and happy writers...and free thinking actors...no more.

[glasshouses]

5. .

[HERVEPA]

6. You had a problem with this?

[zappaman]

48. Huh?

[glasshouses]

4. It's rare that SNL actually has something funny

This is one of those times

[valerief]

27. Agree!

[Marrah_G]

7. LMAO

[catbyte]

8. I thought it was hilarious.

Then again, I have been told I have a twisted sense of humor. Actually, it's one of the funniest SNL bits I've seen in years.

[LiberalElite]

9. Offensive? no. Unfunny? Yes IMHO nt

[Fred Sanders]

11. I thought it had a funny moment or two but...what was the satire? Mocking ISIS propaganda!?

[superpatriotman]

12. Satirizing this:

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Quite well, actually.

[Fred Sanders]

17. Only folks who have watched one specific corporate car commercial, and remember it...get the satire?

[superpatriotman]

20. Satire is not universal

Though billions worldwide tuned into the Superbowl where this corporate ad first debuted.

[DefenseLawyer]

42. Yeah, pretty much.

Too bad they didn't call you ahead of time. They went to a lot of trouble for nothing. Hopefully they don't make that mistake again.

[zappaman]

49. !!!

[erronis]

51. There are many more millions of Americans that couldn't give a

hoot about commercials on the supperbool than those that do.

T.V. as a medium is dying/dead.

pro big-moneyed sports is not going to survive unless they can tap into the incredulous nature of fans with bank accounts.

It amazes me how much time in a business is wasted over staff talking about tiddly-winks, hockey, girl's beach volleyball (OK, that one I like.)

Anybody that really lays their reason-for-existence on the line for some pro ball team...

[DefenseLawyer]

60. Were you the guy in the movie line in front of Woody Allen in Annie Hall?

Love your work.

[notadmblnd]

10. Someone, please tell me where it is written

that one gets to go through life without being offended? Life is offensive, people, get over it.

[demwing]

36. You sound offended

that's ironic

[notadmblnd]

37. Even if I were, so what?

As I said, no one ever promised that one could/should go through life un-offended.

[demwing]

40. Ironic, as I already stated.

And now you sound offended that I pointed out the irony. Is no one allowed to take offense except for you?

[pokerfan]

57. "offensensitivty"

[hifiguy]

59. Opus (and Breathed) nails it.

I still miss Bloom County.

[alp227]

45. So? I thought "justifying the system" was for right wingers not progressives.

"Life is offensive" is the same argument used by segregationists and homophobes in opposing gay marriage, racial integration, etc. What's wrong with making arguments about popular culture influencing discrimination against women, minorities, etc.?

[Nye Bevan]

13. I laughed out loud. Thanks for posting (nt)

[SickOfTheOnePct]

15. I thought it was funny

And really couldn't care less whether some found it offensive. Way too many people that believe they have a right to not be offended.

[hifiguy]

53. The "freedom for me to speak but not for thee" crowd

is a human universal. I have seen a lot of it on DU over the years, which is really sad.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

54. +10000 n/t

[JoePhilly]

16. I thought it was funny and a great twist from the expected.

[B2G]

18. Offends? Seriously?

I thought it was brilliant!

[Puglover]

19. You know what offends?

The mainstream media giving that murderous thug a cutsey nick name "Jihadi John". If I were one of those poor families I would go ape shit.

[Fred Sanders]

21. Well said. And playing it on loop for days, as if to pat themselves for their clever word play.

The message is the former Christian, now just a murderer and criminal gets to have a cutesy name?

That is plain media stupid with a capital S.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

26. "That is plain media stupid with a capital S."

He was given that moniker by the hostages who recognized his non-Middle Eastern accent. You might want to revisit what constitutes stupid.

[zappaman]

50. Facts are stupid!

[melman]

82. Former Christian?

Where did you get that?

[Nye Bevan]

24. He's a Jihadist, and the pseudonym "John" came from some of his hostages (nt)

[Puglover]

30. Golly.

Thanks for the enlightenment. Perhaps I should modify my post say "using" instead. Whatever. It's disgusting. JMO.

[Exhibit A]

22. I think that's hysterical!

Of course people will overanalyze it and convince themselves there's something Truly Awful® about it, but structurally, it's pretty classic humor based on the incongruity theory. It looks like a father saying goodbye to a daughter who's starting college or entering the military, but -- SURPRISE!! -- it turns out she's joining ISIS. It's funny because that's not what is supposed to happen in this kind of commercial, and because we're all kind of scratching our heads lately wondering why western young women are running away to join the jihadis.

[Fred Sanders]

32. I think that's hysterical!

[Rhinodawg]

23. Who is offended again?

[Cleita]

25. Sounds like some of our authoritarian PC DU members leaked over into Twitter.

You can't say or do anything they haven't put their "imprimatur" on.

(For those who don't know what imprimatur means. It's an approval the Vatican puts on books noting, that it's acceptable to the Church.)

[Fred Sanders]

31. What was the approved message?

[fadedrose]

28. I was shocked that they took on ISIS

but was not offended. Hope nothing bad happens to anyone on the show because of it.

"Take care of my little girl," the father asked of the guy who picked up his poor little helpless daughter. Then she grabs the machine gun and fires in all directions from the truck. Kinda funny in a kinda sick way.

[Rhinodawg]

29. Lets set up a new religion...Religion of the Purposefully Offended.

I know...we might have one already.

[edhopper]

33. If your comedy doesn't offend anybody

you're not doing it right.

The original commercial offended me. You're fucking super-dad because you drive a Toyota?
All those commercials make me puke.

[TeamPooka]

35. It was a great bit. nt

[demwing]

38. Nothing offensive, nothing funny

at the end, I didn't cringe or laugh, I just scratched my head and wondered how people who got paid to do this can call themselves "comedy" writers.

I also don't get the many here who think it "hilarious."

[Fred Sanders]

43. Apparently folks watching had to also be simultaneously remembering a TV car commercial. In the know.

Then it is just hilarious parody... For some reason.

Black hat, white hat, no nuances allowed.

[Nye Bevan]

70. Many people preferred "Full House" to Monty Python.

Some folks just don't do satire, and that's fine.

[Brickbat]

41. SNL actually put together something that's shorter than 90 seconds?

AMAZING.

[WillowTree]

44. I'm sure James Foley's parents found it hilarious.

[alp227]

46. This seems pretty predictable and cheap to me.

Going after a Super Bowl ad? OK. Making the punchline about ISIS, when most American Muslims have a hard enough time being lumped in with terrorists? Sorry, that's "punching down".

[SickOfTheOnePct]

58. Sorry, but BS

It wasn't aimed at American Muslims, it was aimed at ISIS.

[alp227]

61. OK, but the problem is that the average viewer will conflate "Islam = terrorism"

and so while it wouldn't have been the intent of the creators, do realize that in modern America it's hip to hate Muslims. Sure, you and I know that most American Muslims aren't terrorists/terror apologists. But the risk of these kinds of comedy sketches aimed towards the average uninformed viewer is that stereotypes are perpetuated.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

62. Sorry, but I'm not in favor of dumbing things down

in order to keep the idiots from jumping to the wrong conclusions.

[alp227]

63. Where did i SAY things should be "dumbed down"?

Please make arguments based on things I say, not things I imply. Me pointing out that the average viewer will jump to bad conclusions from watching this SNL sketch does NOT mean I want SNL to not have sketches poking at Islam.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

64. Fair enough

Then what exactly was your problem with the sketch? And what would you suggest that SNL should have done differently?

[alp227]

68. I can't answer either question since I haven't watched the sketch yet.

I will concede that the content of the sketch is pretty relevant to current events such as the super bowl toyota ad and the British teenage girls who joined ISIS. That said, it's not fallacious to acknowledge concerns i raised about this sketch influencing Islamophobia among the average, non-thinking TV viewers.

[Fred Sanders]

65. Strawman arguments and AH attacks like the one you encountered are a dime a dozen in comment boards.

To be followed by questions demanding answers shortly.....3,2,1....case in point.

[alp227]

66. Exactly. Sadly, DU isn't immune to that. i thought such argumentation was only for freeperville etc.

So frustrating. Whatever happened to "not making DU suck"?

[Fred Sanders]

69. Use the Full Ignore feature, if you have paid subscription, makes life less suckier at DU.

I am going to add a person just now....DONE! Peace!

[Scootaloo]

76. "Dumbing things down?"

What, like this is high-concept humor or something?

Anyway, have a read of this, if you want to have an inkling why people are bothered at the idea of a college girl getting pawned off to Daesh.

It's pretty damned tone-deaf. SNL did better with this one:

[SickOfTheOnePct]

77. Huge difference between

A woman being kidnapped and women going voluntarily to join ISIS.

It was a skit on a comedy show, big effing deal.

[Scootaloo]

79. I didn't say they were identical, I posited it as a reason people may be bothered.

But hey, if you want to be freaking out becuase people don't agree that it was funny, don't let me stop you.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

81. I'm not freaking out at all

I don't really care whether people thought it was funny or not , or whether they were offended or not - to each his/her own.

And not only are the situations not identical, they are in no way alike in any way. Anyone that would conflate or compare the two, i.e., a kidnapping by ISIS and voluntarily going to ISIS is being silly, IMO.

[Fred Sanders]

74. Interesting link. I liked a couple of the quotes, seems to fit what this silly skit is doing:

• George Orwell on Charles Dickens:
Where he is Christian is in his quasi-instinctive siding with the oppressed against the oppressors. As a matter of course he is on the side of the underdog, always and everywhere.

• Joy Bennett, “Defending the Powerful Is Not Our Mission”

Defending the powerful, the visible, the ones with plenty of resources, is exactly the opposite of what God tells us to do.
It’s a recurring theme throughout the prophets and the wisdom literature. We serve a God who rescues the weak, protects the defenseless, cares for the poor and orphan and widow. And God tells us to do the same.
....................

Women and girls and vulnerable young men being brainwashed and lured into a life of slavery is just not a very comedic subject, punching down......

[romanic]

47. Some people

just get off on being offended.

[hrmjustin]

56. I thought it was funny.

[LiberalElite]

67. It didn't offend me but

it didn't make me laugh either.

[Fred Sanders]

72. Which is about all the new GE/Comcast owned and recast SNL and right wing comedy can ever aspire to.

[LiberalElite]

73. Joke may be on them then

because there's no reason for me to watch.

[CTyankee]

71. betcha this will be on morning joe tomorrow... no telling what joe will bellow...

[Major Hogwash]

75. Not like Dakota Johnson has done anything controversial lately.

[Takket]

78. I am offended by...

People that pervert their religion into an excuse to slaughter every man they come across and rape and enslave every woman and child they come across, but that's just me.

[randys1]

80. Humor is supposed to be offensive, otherwise it is just a bunch of people saying words...

[hack89]

83. The Arabic writing on the ISIS pickup says "I love cats". LOL. nt