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Original poster

Jimmy Carr

198 replies

cavalierkingc · 08/02/2022 13:52

You might of seen outrage about Jimmy Carr joking about the Gypsies that were killed in the holocaust .
Ive seen lots comments calling people 'snowflakes' for being offended.
Aibu to think if it was the other way around and he said that it was a positive the Jewish people were killed nobody would dare say 'just don't watch it then if you font like it.'
I don't believe we should ignore racist 'jokes' like this. Or they never end.

If you didn't see it, he joked that people don't talk about the positives of the Holocaust.
Thousands of people died!

OP posts:
Agrudge · 08/02/2022 17:39

@HelloFrostyMorning

The fact some posters find him and his vile 'joke' funny speaks volumes about these posters.
What exactly does it say about us?
anon12345678901 · 08/02/2022 17:43

@HelloFrostyMorning

The fact some posters find him and his vile 'joke' funny speaks volumes about these posters.
The fact that we can understand a joke is a joke?
SockFluffInTheBath · 08/02/2022 17:50

I agree OP, it would have been a different reaction if the ‘joke’ had been about Jews not Gypsies. Maybe we need to think about that and how it shows we’ve not progressed in the last 80 years.

DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 17:50

What exactly does it say about us?

Well, for the one who was open about enjoying punching down, that she takes pleasure in attacking the vulnerable and marginalised and worsening their situation.

I suppose one has to commend her honesty, if nothing else. But I'll tell you this: I never met anyone who enjoyed punching down who was anything other than the whingiest little pissant when someone made a joke at their expense.

Agrudge · 08/02/2022 17:54

@SockFluffInTheBath

I agree OP, it would have been a different reaction if the ‘joke’ had been about Jews not Gypsies. Maybe we need to think about that and how it shows we’ve not progressed in the last 80 years.
^they say theres safety in numbers...

Try telling 6million Jews that^

That one of his previous jokes back when we had sense of humour

SockFluffInTheBath · 08/02/2022 18:03

That one of his previous jokes back when we had sense of humour

See I wouldn’t even class that as dark humour, it’s just sick IMO.

DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 18:18

That one of his previous jokes back when we had sense of humour

What would we do without people like you to tell us what's funny?

Agrudge · 08/02/2022 18:20

Exactly it is a bit a sick. But people took it for what it was and didnt try "cancelling" them for it .

It's not meant to be serious,its just making light of a very shit that happend

SockFluffInTheBath · 08/02/2022 18:23

I see what you mean @Agrudge I don’t agree with cancel culture but I won’t pretend to be sad that this sort of thing gets reined in a bit these days.

DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 18:28

@Agrudge

Exactly it is a bit a sick. But people took it for what it was and didnt try "cancelling" them for it .

It's not meant to be serious,its just making light of a very shit that happend

Everyone prides themselves on their amazing sense of humour. Everyone is the yardstick of what's funny. Even bad taste humour is good taste really. So devilish. So daring. Har har har.

Carr won't be cancelled for this. I don't know how anyone could think he could be. He's become a global megastar out of shit jokes. He's so confident about it that he regularly showcases the worst of them in a section he actually calls "career enders". Do you think he'd make jokes that he truly thought would end his career?

If you're worried that Carr won't be allowed to keep on attacking Gypsy people, Jews, women and rape survivors, rest easy. He'll be fine.

Don't he and his supporters WANT calls to be cancelled? The entire point of that kind of humour is to cause hurt and offence. Why do they all get so butthurt when they succeed?

Like I said, those who punch down can never take what they give.

BellatrixOnABadDay · 08/02/2022 18:31

It's just not funny is it. A really low form of wit. As a pp said, he wouldn't say these things in private but happily stirs it up publicly to make money? Knowing he'd receive support from the people who want to bleat on about 'cancel culture', as if it is somehow comparable to the disgusting way JKR has been treated for stating biological fact.

It makes me feel queasy in the same way that I felt on the train at the weekend, having to listen to a pair of complete shit for brains knuckle draggers making jokes about the mason greenwood case. 'I told my wife I'm going to mason greenwood her when I get home today'. Followed by jokes and discussion about his victim. As somebody who was abused by my ex husband I was so, so fucking angry to have to listen to this utterly vile, misogynistic bullshit. I held my tongue but I wanted to tell them how disgusting they were. You can imagine how that would have gone though.

I don't agree with 'cancel culture' but I think it's pretty disgusting that some people think it's humorous to make crass jokes which are going to be incredibly offensive and hurtful to others.

DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 18:40

It's actually incredibly oversensitive to be told "you're not funny and that joke was out of line" and hear "CANCEL CULTURE! YOU MUST BE SILENCED!" You want to be offensive but as ever, you can't take the slightest bit of criticism yourself. You're so oversensitive that you think any criticism of your joke is an act of persecution.

Like I said, I never met one of these types who could take it.

What kind of fathead makes a point of being offensive and is then stunned not to meet universal approval?

Youcansaythatagainandagain · 08/02/2022 18:41

@Agrudge

No I havent
If you had you may not find Carr quite so funny.
coodawoodashooda · 08/02/2022 18:45

@FourTeaFallOut

You know, there are a gazillion TV programmes that do the heavy lifting when it comes to the vilification and distasteful othering of travellers/ gypsies and it all flies under the usual radar of typical sensibilities.

Mostly people are blind to it because it doesn't hot their personal give a fuck meter.

Jimmy Carr put a mirror up to that lower level - tolerated- abjection and made it obscene, grotesque for sport. It wouldn't have made sense, it couldn't have been a punchline, if it didn't speak to something that highlighted that nugget of truth - that society holds this deep seated prejudice.

So, no. I don't think we should cancel obscene jokes. It's a hideous lightening bolt of knowing. We should interrogate why it's a joke, why people laughed, how we got there and how is it perpetuated it.

You can cancel all the jokes and it won't wash away the ugly.

What a great post.
BattenbergdowntheHatches · 08/02/2022 18:52

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DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 19:01

@BattenbergdowntheHatches

I’m not sure that’s right *@DrSbaitso* - I don’t think the joke was funny, I’m probably not in JC’s target demographic, but I’m opposed to cancel culture as well. I switch over. Just like I wouldn’t buy the Daily Heil.

I think OTT jokes are fine and I certainly wouldn’t virtue-signal over them.

I'm not into cancel culture either. Most people aren't and I don't think it's been called for on this thread. (If it has, kindly take it up with the person who said it. I didn't.)

And that being the case, one has to wonder why that's what all these devil-may-care, oh so admirably not virtue-signalling (clearly trying to shut down dissent yourself with that old chestnut), razor-witted benchmarks of Great Humour think that's what's being said every time they're told they're not funny and out of order.

BattenbergdowntheHatches · 08/02/2022 19:13

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DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 19:19

@BattenbergdowntheHatches

It wasn’t directed at you. There was a PP who suggested that canceling was “deserved” in this case. It reminded me of Titania McGrath (who, incidentally, is on fire at the moment).

I’m not trying to shut down dissent. I love dissent, as do most people who put free speech above the right not to be offended. But then I doubt I could type the words “whingeing little pissant” with a straight face either.

Either way, JC is doing very nicely out of it. He no doubt thrives on this kind of publicity having made a career out of it.

Yet another reason why a “meh” response is the best all round.

I thought it was directed at me because you @ me in it.

I’m not trying to shut down dissent

It kind of comes across that way when you imply that people who don't share your view are merely "virtue signalling".

But then I doubt I could type the words “whingeing little pissant” with a straight face either.

You think I had a straight face? I'm flattered. Or maybe I'm hilarious.

Yet another reason why a “meh” response is the best all round.

I partly agree. However, I do think that when famous, rich and powerful people cause unnecessary hurt and distress to disempowered, marginalised people, they ought to be made aware of it and asked if there truly is no other target they could reach for.

Humour is a powerful weapon. Watch where you're pointing that thing.

BattenbergdowntheHatches · 08/02/2022 19:36

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SnowFlo · 08/02/2022 21:01

I think he just relied on a section of the audience being sufficiently racist to laugh and wasn’t disappointed.

I don't think you need to be racist to laugh at that joke tbh, the same way I don't think you're pro-rape and a rapist if you laugh at a rape joke.

lucythejuicy · 08/02/2022 21:04

I think the joke was awful and genocide is nothing to be laughed about. He shouldn't be cancelled but I will choose not to watch him anymore. I don't think you can conflate this With peoples views on gypsies though. People aren't being racist about gypsies - most people have experienced gypsies and usually it's not pleasant. I feel for them because their way of life is in threat - by the same token when they leave a ton of rubbish behind them wherever they go and behave in an antisocial way people are allowed to form opinions about it. And don't say thats generalising because it's not. They have a reputation that they adhere to. That is not in anyway the same as being racist towards someone just because of their skin colour.

BattenbergdowntheHatches · 08/02/2022 21:15

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DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 21:23

@SnowFlo

I think he just relied on a section of the audience being sufficiently racist to laugh and wasn’t disappointed.

I don't think you need to be racist to laugh at that joke tbh, the same way I don't think you're pro-rape and a rapist if you laugh at a rape joke.

You need to be someone who enjoys helping to make it more acceptable though. And who doesn't give much of a shit about pissing on vulnerable and disadvantaged people.

You are allowed to do this, but I think you should stop short of being proud of it.

Original poster
cavalierkingc · 08/02/2022 21:23

@lucythejuicy
Most people with views like yours don't know the difference between gypsies and irish travellers. They are 2 different groups.

OP posts:
DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 21:30

I’m also not inclined to intellectualise it by suggesting that he was making a point about racism. I think he just relied on a section of the audience being sufficiently racist to laugh and wasn’t disappointed.

I agree.

It's not subversive and clever. It's just a straight up racist joke for people who find racism acceptable, appealing even, if you jusr wrap it up properly.

As with so many other things, some people just need a reason. And no doubt they'll quickly take offence...