[Seth Says] Never Don't Not Stop
You can tell I'm not an optimist because I use a quadruple negative. (Clearly I need one more negative, making it quintessential.) (Hi Five!) There's a joke I saw some time ago about a teacher saying that we often use double negatives to mean something positive but never use double positives to mean something negative, to which a student responds, "Yeah, sure."
OH, SARCASM, HOW ORIGINAL
I am, admittedly, an enjoyer of sarcasm and certainly given to cynicism at times, but nonetheless I can recognize that a ceaseless barrage of both can be unhealthy. (Admittedly (Gosh, we're doing a lot of admitting in this paragraph) a ceaseless barrage of anything can be unhealthy, even ostensibly healthy things like broccoli.) (Also, have you heard my Green Day cover band "Ceaseless Barrage of Broccoli"?)(Also also, I am reminded of one of my favorite jokes I've ever written: What did the broccoli say to his getaway driver? Floret!)
But in terms of cynical sarcasm, some TV commentators have noted that this cynical sarcastic detachment was all the rage a few decades ago on TV, when South Park really blew up and cemented the idea of aggressive apathy as cool -- and thus made empathy and sincerity uncool. And look, not only do I enjoy the sarcasm and mockery in general, there are also specifically numerous South Park bits I've found funny (even though there are also plenty I didn't). Parker and Stone are clearly talented and funny writers. Still, I think that while South Park can sometimes do that kind of humor well, the audience who grew up with a ceaseless barrage of that type of humor more often end up susceptible to becoming the unfortunate "edgelord" type, offensively crapping on everything.
And I feel like this is the sort of realization that pushed Dave Chappelle to stop doing his show. (I mean, obviously now he has become a figure of controversy with a lot of people calling out his recent specials for transphobia and more generally for comedy based on overused stereotype premises -- a bit ironic given the reason he initially quit -- but that's a whole other newsletter and for this paragraph I'm just talking about why he quit his show back in the day.) Because he had an absolute hit show, that was original and well-written and edgey and funny. But eventually, he started to question whether people were laughing at the wrong thing. Even though he was writing material he knew was funny, he could see the audience missing a lot of the messages but just taking on the cruelty.
The topic could be a whole book, but long story short, I think in part Chappelle saw that while his smart comedy was written to satirize racial stereotypes, the effect it was having on some of the audience was reinforcing those stereotypes instead. It's tough to realize that you can be doing something of comedic value, but that some of your audience are going to take the wrong message and make the world worse. (I guess arguably true of every SNL sketch character with a catchphrase that became popular to repeat around an office water-cooler, although obviously saying "John-atolo, the Copymeister" causes less damage to society than "ironic racism" suddenly making racism more socially acceptable.)
Because you can't be funny and then tell people not to emulate you (I mean, you can, but it won't work.) And people will take the wrong message. Which is how we went from a lot of smart, but offensive and/or cynical comedy, to a large number of people who are good at being offensive and cynical but not very good at comedy (or arguably, at smart, although perhaps in saying that I am myself being cruel and cynical. See chapter 107 of my non-extant autobiography, "I'm The Problem, It's Me".)
But in terms of cynical sarcasm, some TV commentators have noted that this cynical sarcastic detachment was all the rage a few decades ago on TV, when South Park really blew up and cemented the idea of aggressive apathy as cool -- and thus made empathy and sincerity uncool. And look, not only do I enjoy the sarcasm and mockery in general, there are also specifically numerous South Park bits I've found funny (even though there are also plenty I didn't). Parker and Stone are clearly talented and funny writers. Still, I think that while South Park can sometimes do that kind of humor well, the audience who grew up with a ceaseless barrage of that type of humor more often end up susceptible to becoming the unfortunate "edgelord" type, offensively crapping on everything.
And I feel like this is the sort of realization that pushed Dave Chappelle to stop doing his show. (I mean, obviously now he has become a figure of controversy with a lot of people calling out his recent specials for transphobia and more generally for comedy based on overused stereotype premises -- a bit ironic given the reason he initially quit -- but that's a whole other newsletter and for this paragraph I'm just talking about why he quit his show back in the day.) Because he had an absolute hit show, that was original and well-written and edgey and funny. But eventually, he started to question whether people were laughing at the wrong thing. Even though he was writing material he knew was funny, he could see the audience missing a lot of the messages but just taking on the cruelty.
The topic could be a whole book, but long story short, I think in part Chappelle saw that while his smart comedy was written to satirize racial stereotypes, the effect it was having on some of the audience was reinforcing those stereotypes instead. It's tough to realize that you can be doing something of comedic value, but that some of your audience are going to take the wrong message and make the world worse. (I guess arguably true of every SNL sketch character with a catchphrase that became popular to repeat around an office water-cooler, although obviously saying "John-atolo, the Copymeister" causes less damage to society than "ironic racism" suddenly making racism more socially acceptable.)
Because you can't be funny and then tell people not to emulate you (I mean, you can, but it won't work.) And people will take the wrong message. Which is how we went from a lot of smart, but offensive and/or cynical comedy, to a large number of people who are good at being offensive and cynical but not very good at comedy (or arguably, at smart, although perhaps in saying that I am myself being cruel and cynical. See chapter 107 of my non-extant autobiography, "I'm The Problem, It's Me".)
TRYING NOT TO BE THE PROBLEM
In our previous issue I know I mentioned that a measure of skepticism is especially warranted in these troubled times, but also I was reading something online that pointed out one of the goals of disinformation is not just to feed you false information, but simply to have a ceaseless barrage of false information to raise your cynicism to the point where you also distrust true information and actual videos. So I guess be skeptical in your skepticism also? I dunno, it's a difficult world out there and I think not interacting with it much is the reason my life is so calm and pleasant.
One of my rules for writing jokes or columns on touchy subjects is that I should have a new perspective and/or approach that I think is worth hearing for people who have already heard the most common chatter around the issue. This may not seem like a high bar, but it has certainly kept me from writing a number of columns. ("Not enough, apparently, since earlier this year you wrote yet another column about how the big problem causing mass shootings is guns." Well, I count "now in rhyme" as a new approach to an issue. And anyway, I don't actually presume people dislike my writing. I presume they like my writing and dislike me as a person.)
One of my rules for writing jokes or columns on touchy subjects is that I should have a new perspective and/or approach that I think is worth hearing for people who have already heard the most common chatter around the issue. This may not seem like a high bar, but it has certainly kept me from writing a number of columns. ("Not enough, apparently, since earlier this year you wrote yet another column about how the big problem causing mass shootings is guns." Well, I count "now in rhyme" as a new approach to an issue. And anyway, I don't actually presume people dislike my writing. I presume they like my writing and dislike me as a person.)
OH WAIT, IT IS I WHO WAITS
So, funny story, (in no way a funny story, people use this phrase and it never leads into an actual funny story with lots of jokes and witticisms and slipping on banana peels and juggling babies and whatnot. No, "funny story" is always followed by something completely banal, and it certainly will be this time. See chapter 108 of "It's Me, I'm The Problem")(Also I forgot the title of my fake autobiography; guess that's chapter 109!) I was amidst typing up this newsletter and realized the Eagle hadn't actually posted my column yet. So now I'm typing it up and telling you that you should read my latest column, about quicksand and the fear of being disliked as a person:
But I won't actually send this out until there's a column online to link to the words "Linky-poo", which I should probably change to the column title but now I'm not gonna. Quicksand was actually less in the news last week when I wrote that column, but now we've heard that the ACME vs. Coyote movie will be shelved by Warner Brothers like Batgirl, and a creative endeavor that many people poured their hearts into, which was a completed product that even tested well with audiences, will be thrown away as a tax writeoff.
(Or at least that was the case when I wrote that paragraph; NOW it sounds like there may be hope for another studio to buy and release it. So put that in your pipe and smoke it and then have the pipe explode leaving you with a charred face and your fur and/or hair pointing straight backwards in spikes.)(I love Looney Tunes.)
(Or at least that was the case when I wrote that paragraph; NOW it sounds like there may be hope for another studio to buy and release it. So put that in your pipe and smoke it and then have the pipe explode leaving you with a charred face and your fur and/or hair pointing straight backwards in spikes.)(I love Looney Tunes.)
WHO'S DA BEAVER'S BEST FRIEND FROM INDIA?
Diwali! (I will hasten to remind you, this newsletter is free.) While I generally don't even celebrate festivals of my own culture, in this particular case due to circumstance today is both the last day of Diwali AND a day that I will be excitedly eating gulab jamun, one of my favorite desserts in the world and one which Debbie recently procured for me from an Asian market.
I could go on about the ceaseless barrage of interesting tasty things I've eaten this week (octopus dumplings! alligator sausage!), but perhaps that's a better topic for a column, as I can see I've already gone on at length, which is what happens when I write one newsletter over multiple sittings. Better to thank you for reading (you: reading. me: eating)("I've a feeling there's a failing in your filing."), and to assure you that I'll be back in two weeks with another column and another ceaseless barrage of words.
Or a diesel garage for nerds with a beakless collage of birds, but only if I decide to put all three of those phrases into the world's worst rap song. No, I'll stop typing, and you should get away while you can.
Floret,
Seth
I could go on about the ceaseless barrage of interesting tasty things I've eaten this week (octopus dumplings! alligator sausage!), but perhaps that's a better topic for a column, as I can see I've already gone on at length, which is what happens when I write one newsletter over multiple sittings. Better to thank you for reading (you: reading. me: eating)("I've a feeling there's a failing in your filing."), and to assure you that I'll be back in two weeks with another column and another ceaseless barrage of words.
Or a diesel garage for nerds with a beakless collage of birds, but only if I decide to put all three of those phrases into the world's worst rap song. No, I'll stop typing, and you should get away while you can.
Floret,
Seth
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