jul 17
2008
Taken Out of Context We're All Strange
Any of ya wanna reconsider those bilious comments about Jezebel? Hey, fine if ya don't, just askin.
5 comments
hm. maybe some of us are journalists, who are naturally inclined toward skepticism and belief in a cliche that oft-rightly states that there are "many sides to every story," and we refrained from commenting at all in the knowledge that today, things become scandals at a truly scandalous rate and perhaps judgment should be reserved for, um, judges. in courtrooms. or god, if you are so inclined.
posted by Sara at 4:55 AM on July 17, 2008 
I'm officially retracting all critical comments against Moe and Tracie about this particular incident.
Yes, it was necessary to post a text transcript of the incident to reveal the dialogue's proper context. I was not going to watch an hour-long Internet video at work. It seems that Lizz effectively started a smear campaign by providing the exact opposite: small, digestible text quotes taken out of context. She is a douche.
Of course, this doesn't make the rape jokes any less stupid or non-comical. It just shows that they weren't as deeply ignorant as they once appeared. I suppose all comics bomb a few times.
posted by Brian Van at 9:23 AM on July 17, 2008
Okay, but there's this weird thing I didn't notice before--their awareness that they're living in an ideal situation, NY instead of Baghdad or China or even rural US. They try to make it into a joke about Williamsburg guys being pussies, but for all their concern about Iraqi honor killings, they don't seem to feel any concern for (or obligation to help) women who are in less-than-ideal sexual environments and who might be reading their blog. Even after Winstead calls them on it--Tracie says she's not "Captain Save-a-ho," but who was talking about ho's? Winstead's right, date rape doesn't work like that.
Maybe they shouldn't be held to that kind of standard, but if not then what's the point? It just turns into bragging about how much you drink and how much awesome sex you have. And that's just tacky.
posted by Jared at 12:42 PM on July 17, 2008
Jared: lending more to the "tempest-in-teacup" theory about the reaction to this incident, that people are getting OUTRAGED about merely "tacky" behavior. This is why, as much as I initially felt that the Jezebel girls did something wrong here, I wasn't looking to crucify anyone upon first glance.
Also, the incident did draw out all these buried disapprovals of Jezebel itself that had little proper context in web discussions until this happened. So it looked to be even worse.
posted by Brian Van at 2:15 PM on July 17, 2008
as much as I initially felt that the Jezebel girls did something wrong here, I wasn't looking to crucify anyone
Yeah, I had the same reaction, which is why I started my comment "Okay, but..." My point is that their crime wasn't insensitivity or anti-feminism as much as just not knowing how to fix the problems they're discussing.
posted by Jared at 11:57 PM on July 17, 2008
NOTE: The commenting window has expired for this post.
