No Tina Fey, you weren't "funny"

[Heartstrings]

"To my white friends: I posted a reply on someone else's page I should have posted here days ago. The Tina Fey skit is not funny. Please stop sharing it. If it's on your wall, consider taking it down. I have heard people of color say, "don't be surprised if I'm dead within the year," and recount experiences at businesses near my home where white people harassed them and not one white person stood up for them. These are dangerous times. The KKK and white supremacists are marching with hoods off, emboldened by this administration. White people are harassing people of color unchecked in shops in my (and your) community. If you can laugh or catch your breath at the idea of sitting home, eating cake and being 'safe' rather than being visible for the rights and actual safety of people of color, check your privilege. People of color can't sit at home and eat cake. They have to go about their lives: work, shop, drop their kids off at activities, buy a sandwich at a deli. They don't get to take a break from bigotry and hate. Their lack of safety is lived every time they step out of their house, every time they check FaceBook. Every new white person is a potential risk. The white people in their lives are are unsafe for them when we post things like Tina Fey's skit and especially when we say things like, "lighten up, it's just comedy." Stop. Listen to the experiences of people of color and how the current climate is making them feel. Consider that your ability to laugh it off is rooted in your privilege. Resist the urge to explain away white behavior or minimize the feelings and experiences of people of color. If those comments appear on my page, I will delete them. Listen. Witness. Learn. Change. Keep showing up. If you want to talk about this with me, call me. I'm still learning, too."

Written and posted on Facebook by my step-sister......you go girl! ❤️ You....#resist like hell

[Old Vet]

1. Its satire, Its comedy, And she was right on point IMHO

Giggles between stabbing the ALT-RIGHT and back and forth. I thought she was spot on IMO...

[Old Vet]

8. Ok, Iam white, Although I have more skin in the game then you could imagine....

Iam gonna leave it at that, although saying I must be white to understand satire is a FUCKED UP statement.

[EffieBlack]

105. I'm black and thought it was both hilarious and absolutely brilliant

[chelsea0011]

3. I like Tina Fey a lot but I agree with you....that skit sucked and her

comment about Jefferson was even worse. Sometimes you hit them out of the park and sometimes you whiff.

[edhopper]

4. Then why did I laugh?

[OnDoutside]

26. Blasphemer !!!! Stone him !!! ;)

[Not Ruth]

5. I have seen many similar comments from POC and Antifa

[Paladin]

6. Congrats.

You're indicating an appreciation of skilled satire on the level of our resident Gun Enthusiasts and the right-wing loons who sympathize with them. Not a good place to be.

[obamanut2012]

50. this

[barbtries]

56. yes.

thought it was brilliant actually. and quite pointed.

[still_one]

7. It wasn't meant to be funny. It was a statement using the cake as a metaphor, and each bite of that

cake was the feeling of helplessness many Americans feel as racism, bigotry, and sexism is legitimized. The climax of that statement was when Michael Che, an African American, grabbed a piece of that cake. The American flag decorating that cake was completely obliterated, symbolizing the 70 years of civil rights progress being whittled away.

It seems like some people are quite upset by that SNL routine.

How many of those that are upset by this are among the 47% who didn't even bother to vote in 2016?

How many of those that are upset by this are among the self-identified progressives who refused to vote for Hillary in 2016.

How many of those who are upset by this said "the Democrats need to give me a reason to vote for them, or I am not voting"?

The Supreme Court obviously wasn't reason enough for some.
Civil rights, women's rights, workers rights, the environment, healthcare, social security, medicare, and a lot more reasons I can name weren't reason enough.

Every Democrat running for Senate in those critical swing states lost to the incumbent, establishment, republican, and most of those Senators were progressive.

Guess what, there is a difference between republicans and Democrats

You want to be pissed off at something, maybe they should start there.

[Old Vet]

11. Exactly, Thanks for saying what I meant........

[still_one]

18. You said it quite well Vet, and in fewer words than I used. While I can understand why some may not

care for that kind of satire, the hyperbole being used against it, makes me wonder where this is coming from?

[nini]

24. That's exactly how I saw it

Honestly I don't think people think things through anymore We're so quick to be outraged that we don't analyze anything anymore.

[still_one]

37. Satire is a tricky thing, and does not always resonate with people the same way. The point can

easily get lost in the action

[alp227]

81. the instantaneous nature of social media doesn't help

At least DU or Free Republic style message boards allow for more nuance especially hyperlinking, instead of fast paced, shallow remarks.

[bettyellen]

34. All that- and it was satire, not advice for anyone. Satire will sting w some, but it has people

talking about the issue- which is a lot better than it being ignored.

[still_one]

40. Excellent comment Betty!!!

[bettyellen]

64. I totally get it that it feels like a bad time for some. Sexist crap that is mildly

Disapprove of feels a lot more... meaningful because of the shitty year we've had with Trump, in that sense I've lost my patience for some satiric shit too. But I think she was skewering white women and American culture in general.

[Mz Pip]

36. Agree.

I am pissed at a lot of things, many you just mentioned. I still appreciate humor, satire and mockery.

These aren't mutually exclusive.

[sheshe2]

44. I thank you still_one.

[still_one]

86. Hi sheshe

[sheshe2]

87. Hey.

[Freethinker65]

59. Agreed.

I found the skit to be disturbing, frustrating, and absurd....much like I find the direction of the Trump administration, the Administration's supporters and those supporting the Unite the Right marchers. I watch how fast and far America has fallen and although I "resist" I have my moments of disbelief; can this really be happening??
I do not think the skit was intended to be "funny", but more satirical and biting...and it succeeded at that.

[still_one]

91. My exact sentiments. Still difficult to comprehend what is happening

[Hekate]

78. Spot on, still_one

The amount of angst expressed here -- repeatedly, OP after OP -- would be better employed in (a) understandng the very nature of satire, and (b) going after the actual Trumpian cause.

[still_one]

92. Arguing over a piece of sataire seems somewhat out of place with what is happening

[Agschmid]

88. Perfect post.

[Bettie]

96. That was how I read it too

But, people really love to throw liberal voices under the bus because they may not be absolutely perfect in their eyes.

Every single piece of comedy will offend someone. There is almost nothing a human can say that won't offend a segment of society someplace.

Heck, I got yelled at for smiling at someone in the grocery store a few months ago, which pointed out to me that there is literally nothing that won't offend someone.

[still_one]

97. so true

[betsuni]

98. +1

[mountain grammy]

100. Yes, thank you

I was laughing when it began but at the end I was cheering...say it sister!

[EffieBlack]

106. Every single word of this

[Warren DeMontague]

9. Why is funny in quotes?

[6000eliot]

10. Aren't there more important things to get upset about right now?

[Bradshaw3]

32. No it's more important to get upset about Tina Fey, Bill Maher, etc.

Any number of enemies really while creating litmus tests for Democrats. Doesn't matter if more repubs are elected and their policies implemented. We must stand up to the real enemies of people of color.

[Warren DeMontague]

48. NO! we need a fully focused, no holds barred war on so-called "comedy"

Less laughing, more scowling. That's the way to win the midterms!

[cwydro]

12. That's EXACTLY what she was making fun of.

White liberals who have that choice.

"Eating sheet cake with an American flag" was the first clue.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. I agree with you. But I think that Tina Fey came up with a new term to explain the

world we live in: Flat caker - Someone who enjoys the benefit of white privilege and is tone deaf to racial issues .

[Ken Burch]

20. "flat caker"...that's a keeper.

n/t.

[Initech]

14. It's satire. And it needed to be said.

Tina Fey is a University of Virginia graduate, so she has a personal connection with what happened in Charlottesville. Yeah it fucking sucks that we have a president and Congress that is enabling the absolute worst extremes of society, but we need humor in a time like this. It's what makes us human. We are fighting a group with no sense of humor or dignity whatsoever. This bit happened to be the right bit at the right time. Tina Fey said exactly what needed to be said and did it in a comical fashion. And if you don't like it? Change the channel.

[samnsara]

22. Sheetcake stress eating is right up there with

MORE COWBELL!!😂

[Initech]

25. I got a fever, and the only perscription is MORE COWBELL!!!

[stonecutter357]

15. it is very funny .

[BannonsLiver]

23. The outrage finally got me to watch it

There are some great lines but its not on the level of her work as Palin in 2008 (which I think had a direct impact on the election), but from all the hullabaloo one might have thought she came out in blackface and started telling racist jokes.

[Brainstormy]

16. Whoooosh

The sound of GREAT satire going over a LOT of heads.

[loyalsister]

17. The skit bothered me and the responses have been disturbing

I have only found the jabs at Trump and his inability to reach to lowest bar of morality worth a chuckle. What happened in Charlottesville is disturbing especially because of their sincerity, their age, and the discovery that they are hiding in plain sight. If as a white person, I am starting to feel a little suspicious of the young men who are college students moving back into my city, I can't imagine what it feels like for my friends who have to live more cautiously than I to begin with.
I remember a time when jokes about terrorism were off limits.

[Heartstrings]

57. Thank you!

I think the term "walk a mile in my shoes" applies to some of these comments...

Wow, just wow!

[loyalsister]

80. I saw a video ridiculing a kid who was there "for fun"

I saw nothing funny about it, because it minimizes the horrifying self perception of nobility the leaders of the alt-right have. And I think it says something worth paying serious attention to if there are people going to neo-nazi events for fun.

[SethH]

19. i didn't get it

even after reading the analyses.

[LenaBaby61]

29. I didn't get it.

I watched it, internalized it ....

Went back to my Tofu

[samnsara]

21. I loved it

[Pathwalker]

27. I swear, thought "sheet cake" was a metaphor for "SHIT cake"

as a way to get it past the censors. But, clearly, that's just me - who didn't think shit pie in the movie "The Help" was funny either.

[sheshe2]

51. I think "sheet cake" was a metaphor...for the GOP.

The Alt Right and the Fugging racist that now holds the highest office of our land and embraces the fuggers. They just aren't wearing the sheets openly.



I have no problem with Tina Fey.

[Pathwalker]

54. Oh, I love Tina Fey! But my husband has been stress eating

like her ever since the election - he's only gained 20lbs! He can't go the the grocery store without bringing home day old cakes, cupcakes, muffins - whatever's on sale. I think the sheet cake's for all of us - we're in deep shit as a nation, but it's the quicksand kind.

[barbtries]

58. So have I

chocolate primarily. and i have gained weight which i cannot afford to do, already obese and i have a big old wardrobe that fits me one size ago which i will not allow to go to waste (pun intended)!

[sheshe2]

60. Your husband should have gone to the Boston rally...

They were handing out sheet cakes for free.



Yeah...we are in deep shit, yet we RESIST!

[Heartstrings]

65. Sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes here

with a smidgen of chocolate thrown in!

[C_U_L8R]

28. I thought she captured the angst perfectly.

Sometimes a look in the mirror is pretty funny.

[Heartstrings]

30. Hey! I enjoy satire as much as all of us however

My sister is married to a black man, and they have 2 Bi-racial children.

Taken from their perspective, it wasn't funny!

That's all this op was meant to point out......geesh!

[Bradshaw3]

35. So if you don't get the satire that means we have to resist Tina Fey?

Because as you said in your post, the resistance now includes resisting Tina Fey. Got it.

[Heartstrings]

46. If I wanted a resistance movement against Tina Fey

I would have posted #resisttinafey.....

[Bradshaw3]

66. No you put "resist like hell" at the end of your post

And spent a lot of time and space attacking her and anyone who did get the satire. That should work well in defeating the forces that truly are trying to take away the rights of people of color. But keep on fighting. Divide the resistance over a piece of satire you and others didn't get. That really serves a purpose.

[Heartstrings]

68. Actually if you had really read the op

those are my sisters words, I put them out there for exposure....for what's it's been worth.

[Bradshaw3]

84. Actually I really did read the op. Did you?

You have her words in quotes and then wrote - assuming you know what quotes mean - this: Written and posted on Facebook by my step-sister......you go girl! ❤️ You....#resist like hell. That last line is what I quoted and from your own op one would assume those are your words. Since you got that wrong perhaps you and your sister got Tina Fey's satire wrong, too maybe?

[Heartstrings]

95. Apparently writing the words "written by"

isn't disclaimer enough? Guess I missed the du disclaimer rules and etiquette somewhere....

[Bradshaw3]

99. Well now we know

why the satire wasn't understood.

[OnDoutside]

31. August. Silly season. People losing their minds over comedy. What else is going on in the world ?

[Fluke a Snooker]

33. Tina Fey was Exactly Right

Republicans and white cis males ARE The Problem and need to be fixed. She is 100% right.

[LakeArenal]

38. It isn't funny

Not the Tina Fey thing. That rather superior way some have to disagree with someone else's opinion.
Whoosh, agree with me or you're dense.

[Heartstrings]

42. Haven't had that on du, until now that is.....geesh!

[obamanut2012]

49. Except it isn;t an opinion, it is factually wrong

People who are saying what is in the OP are factually wrong.

Saying you think it wasn't funny is an opinion.

[LakeArenal]

61. Satire, fact, I guess you are the judge...

Judge away judgy judgertons...

[TNNurse]

39. I have watched it twice.

I missed the part of telling people to stay home.

I did not miss the part of saying go get a cake from a Jewish or Black owned bakery.

I know that I am white and do not grasp the fear of many who live in the horror that his administration has encouraged and increased.

I worry about not being able to see humor as a release.

[Heartstrings]

41. That was the point

People of color live in fear over what would be considered seemingly nothing to us "white folks".

[obamanut2012]

47. Except Fey wasn't felling people to stay home

People who are saying all of this about her piece are factually wrong.

[pnwmom]

43. A lot of people were offended by Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," too.

But most of us, even most Irish people, find it darkly humorous -- and metaphorically true.

[WinkyDink]

53. I taught this to h.s. seniors for decades. I always liked the "fricassee" part. Heh.

[obamanut2012]

45. It was dead-on satire and well done satire at that

It isn't Fey's fault it whooshed over people not sharp enough to get satire. Those saying this about Fey's piece are FACTUALLY wrong.

Fey is a huge ally. Her piece was brilliant.

Your stepsister is wrong.

[Heartstrings]

63. Your opinion, not hers.

And for the record my sister is a highly regarded political activist (on our side...) marching as much as she can, for equality and acceptance for all in NYC.....

[joeybee12]

52. Tina is hilarious. Unrec for the satire impaired. Nt

[JCanete]

55. So there are a couple angles to see this from. First, pointing out our human failings is what comedy

does. it is supposed to tell the truth. I think Tina Fay's skit does just that. Her skit lampoons that couch sitting white liberal who isn't actually out there marching with protesters or putting energy into a cause when people of color are literally dying. I am certainly guilty of that myself. For some people, like me, that might have stung, and should, because it hits close to home. It should make us reconsider our privileged ability to sit at home without direct consequence.

Granted, it has the other effect of making people feel like they are not alone in their underwhelming activism, and that might undercut some people's shame for not doing something. One thing is certain though, this generates a conversation about what we think is acceptable behavior of ourselves, particularly once we know the stakes, and I don't think anybody misconstrues the skit as suggesting that somehow sitting on your ass and eating cake is helpful.

Sometimes the purpose of humor is to cope with reality as well as to lay it bare. If Dave Chapelle does a skit about a KKK member, well those who aren't confused about whether the KKK is a vile hate group can still laugh at the send-up of that ass-backwards shit. Sending up white people who are too insulated to lift a finger is drawing attention to a fact that other people already know about and are frustrated about. Sometimes that can result in a cathartic laugh for people seeing it.

So while I get the concern that Fey might be somehow enabling this behavior, and I do think the skit might have done more to drive the cognitive dissonance home, I still see pointing this out as better than saying nothing. Sometimes people need this stuff to sneak into their personal narratives. It can be how they get disrupted.

[elias7]

75. I don't think the OP is listening

Many levels to understand this on, but when your mind's made up, your mind's made up. Not an ideal stance, but understandable, I guess...

[jayschool2013]

62. I'm still pissed at Randy Newman

"Short people got no reason to live."

The nerve of him.

[Heartstrings]

67. Funny...but not

My sister is getting a hell of a lot of positive feedback on Facebook.....

Thanks du'ers!

[DesertRat]

69. I disagree. I loved it.

A lot of us have been eating (or drinking) too much since Nov. These are dark times, and this sketch made me and my friends laugh out loud. It sounds like some people are reading WAY too much into a comedy sketch.

[Warren DeMontague]

70. HELP! HELP! I'M CRAMPING UP! OUCH!

what if my fingers get stuck like this?

[Nevernose]

71. The joke wasn't sitting home, eating cake, & being safe

The joke was that watching a thousand Nazis in the street, and the idiotic a few white people said about it ("Free speech makes us great! Derp!&quot , and the Idiot King's multiple shitty responses... Even your sister said it: things were shitty before, but now they're emboldened to march without hoods.

All that is fucking depressing, and on some level makes most people paying attention want to curl up in a fetal position under the covers and stress eat through the tears. The joke was that she was portraying the id of every decent human being watching the news; what makes it funny is that while we all feel like that sometimes, actually seeing an exaggerated portrayal is ironic and therefore funny.

She was laughing and expecting us to laugh, but that's not the same as "laughing it off." Saying "this is all fucking depressing" isn't even CLOSE to "minimizing the experiences of people of color," and she was certainly not laughing AT people of color.

I honestly don't know how people can watch that piece and think "She doesn't want us to march or make things better."

[LuvLoogie]

72. I think that Tina is completely entitled to her take on Charlottesville.

Last edited Mon Aug 21, 2017, 08:24 AM - Edit history (1)

She is a liberal woman and a member of a demographic that is under attack by this administration and organized, right wing bigotry.

Was Dave Chapelle funny on SNL after the election? Hell yeah. Was it appropriate for him to ask people to give trump a chance? I never did want to give trump a chance, and never will. But that was Dave's take, and he was entitled to it.

His monologue was poignant. This administration is an assault on EVERYONE OF US. Tina Fey is on OUR side.

[NRaleighLiberal]

73. I am not always a huge Tina Fey fan, but what she did was not simple..

it was multi level, complex satire and humor - not easy to pull off, and because it is humor and satire, every single person is going to interpret it differently.

The skit to me wasn't uniformly successful, but inflicted some deep thrusts at the appropriate targets. Pretty nuanced, even though it played over the top.

[bluepen]

74. Is there a single person who watched that and stayed home

instead of marching?

Show me that person and I'll show you an idiot.

If there are people taking Tina Fey literally, as a political commentator, for something she did or said during a sketch, well, then things are worse than I thought. And things seemed pretty goddamn awful before her sketch.

[nolabear]

76. It was a thing in Boston. People brought and shared and laughed.

I liked it. I took it as a funny mash-up of the kind of helpless anxiety we so often feel and a call out of all the horrors that can evoke that. She wasn't advocating doing nothing.

[LostOne4Ever]

77. You could rewrite this about Jonathan Swifts "A Modest Proposal"

They are still both hilarious.

[Persondem]

82. Nice comparison. Satire isn't for everybody. nt

[randr]

79. Satire, at times, is not meant to be "funny"

[m-lekktor]

83. K and R! nt

[Blue_true]

85. Satire.

Is not intended to be funny, it does show the silliness of the human condition.

[pnwmom]

90. Another DU-er slamming white feminists --

i.e., the majority of female DUers.

You failed to appreciate her satire. Did you hate Jonathan's Swift "A Modest Proposal," too?

[lunasun]

101. Swift himself was Irish . Not the same as with Fey

[pnwmom]

104. Fey is one of the privileged white people she was lampooning. n/t

[still_one]

93. I guess the statement that was being made went completely over your head

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9493567

[tavalon]

94. Not allowed to let anyone mock liberals

I'm a card carrying bleeding heart liberal and I laughed until my sides broke. Some say it was too subtle but it wasn't. It was a brutal statement on white liberals thinking that this or that non action counts as protest.

[lunasun]

102. Your step sister may enjoy this read

http://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/how-bout-this-tina-fey-give-us-black-people-the-she-1797989932

[Heartstrings]

103. Thank you!

She did!

[applegrove]

107. Thought it was great. And i thought her appeal for people to stay

home was so people would be safe.

[nolabear]

108. We have GOT to stop attacking one another.

We have different perceptions of what she was saying but I can't imagine anyone thinking her intent was bad or her message harmful.

We are eating our own while we are under attack and that needs to stop.