Relevant comedy

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PianoRacer
____
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2016 1:13 am

Relevant comedy

Unread post by PianoRacer »

Here is a clip from a popular US TV show (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia) laying out how the governmedia really works. The entire episode is worth watching (Season 9, Episode 2, "Gun Fever Too: Still Hot"), but this clip sums it up nicely. I found the role of the news anchor ("Chet") particularly hilarious:


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLZVsmfm3hw
Frank: I think of myself more like Al Gore.
You know, he got everybody worked up over global warming.
Then he made millions.
Everybody does it.
Liberals, conservatives, doesn't matter.
This is America: you're either a duper or a dupee.
I'm a duper.
You guys are the dupees.
The Simpsons, a much older but more well-known show had similar tidbits sprinkled throughout. I found the following particularly amusing:

[1F13] Deep Space Homer
Video starts at 1:06 of this video: https://youtu.be/GyTOmihKopE?t=1m6s
Image
NASA Assistant: Sir, the TV ratings for the launch are the highest in ten years.
Everyone: Yay!
NASA Scientist: And how's the spacecraft doing?
NASA Assistant: I dunno. All this equipment is just used to measure TV ratings.
Once again the news anchor ("Kent Brockman") is in rare form:


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lcUHQYhPTE
Kent Brockman reports on Channel Six.
Kent: We're just about to get our first pictures from inside the
spacecraft with "average-naut" Homer Simpson, and we'd like to
-- aah!
[Camera shows a close-up of an ant floating in front of the
three astronauts]
Everyone: Aah!
Kent: Ladies and gentlemen, er, we've just lost the picture, but,
uh, what we've seen speaks for itself. The Corvair spacecraft
has been taken over -- "conquered", if you will -- by a master
race of giant space ants. It's difficult to tell from this
vantage point whether they will consume the captive earth men
or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain, there is no
stopping them; the ants will soon be here.
And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to
remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful
in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar
caves.

It's pretty clear who the news anchors in these clips owe their allegiance to, and it isn't the truth nor their audiences.

One last one, this time in the realm of education. The truth spoken by the school superintendent here is striking to me, and the images portrayed remind me very much of my own prison-like elementary school experience:

https://youtu.be/9135thV3Dj0?t=38s
At school, it's recess time. Three uniformed children bounce a ball in
unison. Six children swing slowly in unison on a swingset.


Todd: [without enthusiasm] You're "it". [touches Lisa]
Lisa: [to Milhouse] Now you are the one who is "it".
Milhouse: [looking down] Understood.
Superintendent Chalmers: Well, I've got to hand it to you, Seymour: these drab student
coverings have created the perfect distraction-free
environment, thus preparing the children for permanent
positions in tomorrow's mills and processing facilities.
Then of course there is the school's "Independent Thought Alarm":

Image

full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBAhx8Uadfg
Principal Skinner: Uh oh. Two independent thought alarms in one day. The students are overstimulated. Willie, remove all the colored chalk from the classrooms.
Groundskeeper Willie: [slamming his fist angrily on Skinner's desk] I warned ye! Didn't I warn ye?!? That colored chalk was forged by Lucifer himself!
It brings to mind similar satire from Calvin and Hobbes:

Image
Calvin stands in front of his classroom for show and tell, holding a small box.
Calvin: Today for show and tell I've brought a tiny marvel of nature: a single snowflake.
Calvin: I think we might all learn a lesson from how this utterly unique and exquisite crystal...
Calvin: ...turns into an ordinary, boring molecule of water, just like every other one, when you bring it in the classroom.
Calvin: And now, while the analogy sinks in, I'll be leaving you drips and going outside.
Teacher: CALVIN!
It took me until early adulthood to truly understand the analogy that Calvin is referring to here, but when I did it resonated with me deeply. Some interesting analysis here:

https://sites.google.com/site/english4a ... e/analysis

Coming to terms with the true purpose of compulsory government education and the governmedia is an important step to de-domesticating ourselves, at least it was for me. Being exposed to this kind of humor from an early age ultimately helped me dramatically change my perspective. I hope others find them helpful as well or at the very least, amusing.
Alicekinnian
Banned
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2018 2:04 am

Re: Relevant comedy

Unread post by Alicekinnian »

So, I just wanted to begin with saying, I can see how earlier in my life I might have found the videos you posted funny. But, I have encountered a lot of people (even in my own family) with this attitude of how it's a sign of intelligence, and even amusing, to take advantage of others, who are less intelligent, and there have been times they have gone so far as to literally laugh at those "stupider" than themselves. In those cases, at least, they did not pride themselves on lying. But there definitely was an overlap between the dark humor and the way they ultimately structured their values.

I understand the need for release - to laugh at what most irritates us, or terrifies us, and there is a catharsis in this.

But it is also true that when we invest in this form of entertainment, to some degree we are rewarding it. In the first video (to me) it almost sounded, especially from the closing lines, that there was a not so hidden admiration for the "impressive" lying ability. And indeed, in the vacuum of a life divorced from contact with said "victims", a person might even joke to themselves of what a good scam they ran.

But I think as you know, being here, lies have real consequences, and those consequences wind up actually hurting others. In the obvious case here - the water filtration systems would deplete a family's funds were it not really necessary, and one can extrapolate how greater issues have even graver consequences.

Is it possible, therefore, to fully laugh at something without partially agreeing and admiring it? If it really struck us as it perhaps could be seen - laughing at a representation of how someone would truly wish to hurt someone in a real context, or profit at their expense, and I think that phrase should be cogitated "at their real expense" - their pain, their fatigue, their wearing down, who knows, maybe even at the extreme, their death - should there be a place for humor that even in part devalues and hurts others, or celebrates unethical means of exploiting others?

I don't know, maybe I do not have a sense of humor any more. I'm not sure. I know I am writing to you but when I write I also write to myself.

What would the world look like if the entire budget that was spent on recreational comedic value - if that were redirected to helping the poor or, if that time spent were somehow used to encourage a brother or sister?

I am not answering the question for you but, just positing a thought.

Could it be that there are some forms of entertainment that deaden our empathy, and glorify, indirectly, the very oppression that enslave us? Could it be a secondary form of enslavement? Could the eyes alone bring into the body a form of toxin, that once entered, cannot be easily cleared - that destroys the natural purity therein?

Anyway, I am sure all of my words will wind up eventually censored, as is the case so often with any belief that emanates from a personal perspective, and it could be easily said that the response is too "preachy" and too "dogmatic" but, what happens when we wake up into a world that is devoid of emotion and compassion, and we wonder, well, where did it all go? It is hard to revive a heart or the heart of a society from callousness, at least for the individual.

I don't think you are callous to clarify, but I think it is a risk.

I guess I am speaking from the perspective of a person who would love to see something altruistic and beautiful, and a joke that empowers two people, and laughs at our mere foibles, rather than that seems to reinforce, even in jest, a "winner loser" mentality. But as it has been said to me so often, I need therapy so, feel free to simply ignore what I write. It will certainly be discarded at some point anyway.
PianoRacer
____
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2016 1:13 am

Re: Relevant comedy

Unread post by PianoRacer »

I am sure all of my words will wind up eventually censored
You have said something along these lines in nearly every post you've made, and I personally find it quite offensive, not to mention completely inaccurate. I have literally never seen a post censored on this forum - quite the opposite in fact, many users have expressed frustration that they cannot delete their own posts, and some have in fact been upset that the moderators refuse to delete their posts! See BrianV's latest tirade for an example of this. Your concerns about censorship are completely unfounded, and to raise them again and again shows that you have little to no understanding of how this forum is run and how it's members are treated. As others have advised, to avoid having your threads locked, your posts moved to the derailing room, and possibly your account banned (none of which is censorship by the way), you may want to spend a little less time posting massive walls of text and a little more time ingesting and digesting the contents of this forum.

Moving on - I don't agree with you on nearly anything you've said. There is a HUGE difference between finding humor in actors and writers performing in a production that is clearly intended to be fictional and satirical, and paid liars who are pretending to be telling the truth about real events for the purpose of controlling and frightening people.

I find the character "Chet" to be hilarious because he is so convincing as a "news anchor", and if he were talking about things that you thought were real instead of a clearly over-the-top narrative about drinking water, you would be hard pressed to tell him apart from the Anderson Coopers of the world. And yet, when we see this actor playing a character in a context that is obviously not true, his actions/mannerisms/situation come across as completely absurd.

I like how Glenn Howerton, creator and writer of It's Always Sunny, put it in a recent interview:
[The characters are] an interesting parallel to what I think is wrong in society in general, which is, it's the most extreme version of someone who is out only for themselves. In a weird way, here we are in a free market economy, in a democracy, you're given permission to get whatever you can get, as long as you're acting within the confines of the laws, you're encouraged to. "Hey, if you can go make a billion dollars, go make a billion dollars."

And that's great in theory. But I do think it lends itself to a mindset like "Yeah, I stepped on a couple heads on my way, but I didn't break any fucking laws. So fuck you. Fuck you." And that doesn't build communities, it doesn't lead to happiness. And yet we still celebrate it. We celebrate money and we celebrate people with massive egos. I need to satirize that because it makes me so fucking angry. I want to satirize that because I want you to see what you think makes you happy fail. Dennis is Donald Trump having failed. Donald Trump is Donald Trump having succeeded. You think that guy's fucking happy though? That guy's fucking miserable. And yet the people who actually buy in to the Trump brand, they aspire to that. They're like, "Yeah, man, see! He is the perfect example of the American Dream." Right? And, yeah, he is.

But those of us who know that that doesn't make you happy look at it and go, "Oh, fuck. We need to reexamine what the definition of the American Dream. Because that guy sucks." But he was taught the same fucking things we are. In a way, you almost can't blame him. He happens to be the most grotesque version of it.
https://www.gq.com/story/glenn-howerton ... eing-funny

Dennis was one of the "dupees" and, along with the other characters, is absolutely awful. That, along with the fact that he is a fictional character, is why it's ok to laugh at his misfortune. In contrast, the vast majority of the people who buy into the many lies we are told are completely innocent. Innocent people in real life being duped isn't funny. Awful characters being duped by other awful characters in a clearly fictional setting, while simultaneously exposing the truth and absurdity of the mainstream media, definitely is, at least for me.

Speaking of funny, one conclusion that I've come to over the years is this: liars are never funny. Laughter is an involuntary response to truth, and thus lies and the liars who tell them are never funny. The videos I posted are funny (to me) because they intersect with and to a certain extent expose important truths. "It's funny because it's true", n'est pas? Humor is an incredibly potent tool for exposing the truth. Listen to some George Carlin for evidence of this.

Your posts Alicekinnian, on the other hand, I have thus far found utterly humorless, which is too bad because I think we really could use some more humor around here, and in the world in general.
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