Kathy Griffin

[Renton405]

“New York magazine gave her ‘kudos’ for her ‘joyfully blasphemous rant,’ going so far as to gush, ‘thank God we can always count on Kathy Griffin to inject a little energy into a boring awards show.’ But the same tabloid found nothing joyful about a remark that got Imus fired, labeling it one of the ‘Great Moments in Bigoted Slurs.’ Different strokes for different folks?




I wonder if there were gonna be any laughs from audience if she said "Jews can suck it" or "Allah can suck it"..

Liberal secular double standard anyone??

 

[quatona]

I wonder if there were gonna be any laughs from audience if she said "Jews can suck it" or "Allah can suck it"..

I´m sure there would have been laughs, though not necessarily from the same persons.

I have always found it reasonable to criticize the own crowd (own country, own culture, etc.) more directly than the others.

That said, I personally can´t detect anything funny or profoundly critical in saying "X can suck it", no matter which or whose god it is about.

Now, laughs can not be censored, and what you find funny does not necessarily allow conclusions on your stances. Laughter is a spontaneous expression of emotions, and not an intellectual statement.

I can imagine, though, that open statements (no matter how deep or superficial) against something that you have always felt had a restrictive impact on your society and your own life are emotionally perceived as liberating. Whilst, for example, criticism of gods that don´t play any role in your upbringing, your culture and your society and therefore have never affected you do not trigger your emotions as much.

Liberal secular double standard anyone??

Well, if you insist on making laughter an intellectual statement...

I´m sure you don´t want the tenets of non-Christian religions to be legislated in your country, and, by the same token, this could be called a religious conservative double standard.

I don´t see much point in making great efforts in discrediting the person you disagree with. This seems to be one of your favourite approaches, and I just don´t think it helps your case.

 

[Renton405]

Well, if you insist on making laughter an intellectual statement...

I find this a cop out. The laughter shows the current general view, as what she said as acceptable. I mean, "shes only making fun of Christians, Its not like shes making fun of Jews or Muslims and their religion"..type attitude.

 

[bunced]

I´m sure you don´t want the tenets of non-Christian religions to be legislated in your country, and, by the same token, this could be called a religious conservative double standard.

And your answer to the second half of his question, please, Renton

 

[Renton405]

I´m sure you don´t want the tenets of non-Christian religions to be legislated in your country, and, by the same token, this could be called a religious conservative double standard.

And your answer to the second half of his question, please, Renton

They've secularized every public school and public association. God is pretty much taken out of anything public.

The sad thing is anti-christian/catholic bigotry dosen't effect people the way anti-seminitism does. Imus makes a joking comment about blacks and its all over the world what a horrible person he is, this woman makes a bigotted comment about christians and everyone cheers her on and laughes..

This is just a wonderful example of how the media is brainwashing us with their liberal secular agenda.

 

[quatona]

I find this a cop out. The laughter shows the current general view, as what she said as acceptable. I mean, "shes only making fun of Christians, Its not like shes making fun of Jews or Muslims and their religion"..type attitude.

Well, if you reserve the right to read people´s minds you will be able to make anything they do or say an argument against them.
Laughter is not an intellectual statement and it does not necessarily show the general view as to what one finds acceptable. Something usually is funny exactly because it violates our feeling as to what´s acceptable. There are many tv-shows that appeal to Schadenfreude solely, and many people find them funny. Most jokes are inacceptable if you try to derive an intellectual statement from the laughter they are responded with.
Laughter is a spontaneous relief of emotions, unless it is calculated laugher - something which you and I can not tell, unless it´s our own laughing.

 

[quatona]

They've secularized every public school and public association. God is pretty much taken out of anything public.

Can´t say anything about America, but even here in Germany which is accurately described by your statement, religion has still a deep cultural impact.

The sad thing is anti-christian/catholic bigotry dosen't effect people the way anti-seminitism does.

To be precise, both affect different people differently.

Imus makes a joking comment about blacks and its all over the world what a horrible person he is, this woman makes a bigotted comment about christians and everyone cheers her on and laughes..

1. Laughing about a remark, and finding the person making it a horrible person aren´t mutually exclusive. They are completely differnt things.
2. Making fun of convictions and making fun of a race are subtly different things.
3. I´m sure there were people who laughed about Imus´ comment (whatever it was and whoever this Imus chap is) , but didn´t laugh about the remark Kathy Griffin (whoever that girl is). I´m sure there are people who didn´t criticize Imus, but are outraged about Griffin.
And that´s that.
Laughter is not an intellectual statement.
The intellectual bias of the observer is a different issue: You find it on all sides of the spectrum.

This is just a wonderful example of how the media is brainwashing us with their liberal secular agenda.

What a rant.
Both made their statements in the media, both were criticized and applauded in the media.

 

[trunks2k]

That said, I personally can´t detect anything funny or profoundly critical in saying "X can suck it", no matter which or whose god it is about.

In Kathy's case, it's funny in the context of her statements. I'm no fan of Kathy Griffin but in this case I think her statements were spot on. She used what she is known for (saying a lot of crass things), to poke fun at the inanity of all the actors that thank god and jesus for their award.

Maybe it's just me, but if I was christian I think I'd be more offended by people thanking god for very inane and shallow things like an award for acting. So you're saying god cares about you winning a statue more than he cares about all the starving people in the world? I think it's all very shallow, vain, and insincere.

 

[quatona]

In Kathy's case, it's funny in the context of her statements. I'm no fan of Kathy Griffin but in this case I think her statements were spot on. She used what she is known for (saying a lot of crass things), to poke fun at the inanity of all the actors that thank god and jesus for their award.

Thanks for the info. So much for the context that Christians love so much, and for an unbiased description of what actually happened.
In fact, the OP did not even mention what Ms. Griffin had said - I had to guess it from his hypothetical statements about Jews and Allah.

Let´s put the media in Renton´s hand - he will make sure we get complete, unbiased information without an agenda.

 

[m9lc]

She was poking fun at religion in general. Of course she's gonna pick the dominant religion, just like almost all the atheists on this board have picked a forum of the dominant religion of their own country.

 

[quatona]

Out of curiosity: When saying "god", did she made any references to bible-god in particular?

 

[bammertheblue]

Out of curiosity: When saying "god", did she made any references to bible-god in particular?

So no, it's not surprising that it was construed as offensive to some people. However, she is a comedian who makes fun of absolutely everything, including herself. In my opinion, she was making fun of people who thank God or Jesus for their awards or talents.

Edit: Sorry!

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

I think she just said "God had nothing to do with me winning this award." I can't seem to dig up the exact quotation, I fail at Google today.

Google?! Wikipedia all the way. (Bottom quote--doubt I can get away with actually posting it).

 

[bammertheblue]

You beat me before my edit!
Um, should I not have posted the quote? Sorry about that, I will remove it.

Google?! Wikipedia all the way. (Bottom quote--doubt I can get away with actually posting it).

 

[quatona]

I´m doing the sound and light in a small theater. Yesterday there was a Turkish Muslim comedian with his show "Islam for beginners". He made fun of the followers of all three Abrahamic religions and threw in a couple of jokes about atheists, pagans, Hindus and Buddhists as well.
The audience distributed their applause and laughter equally, no matter who was the respective target.
I´m sure Renton would have loved this show for its balance.

Btw., one thing that really impressed a couple of persons whom I talked to after the show (apparently persons who are not overly knowledgeable when it comes to Abrahamic religions): He held a flaming Jihad speech about killing and mistreating non-believers, and later revealed that it was taken from the OT.

 

[uberd00b]

They've secularized every public school and public association. God is pretty much taken out of anything public.

Matthew 6:5-6 anyone?

Besides what Kathy Griffin said was not aimed at Christians, but at Jesus. It was unexpected, which is the very essence of comedy. I see no double standard here.

 

[TeddyKGB]

They've secularized every public school and public association. God is pretty much taken out of anything public.

What's stopping you from putting him back? Surely you don't need the state to tell your children when to pray?

This is just a wonderful example of how the media is brainwashing us with their liberal secular agenda.

That's only because every single media outlet praised Griffin's remark.

Except they didn't. This is you making an absurd, unwarranted generalization.

Grow up.

 

[flicka]

One comedians statement isn't even close to the thousands of "I want to thank god" comments we hear on a daily basis. I don't get why Christan's get so upset with this kind of thing. Nobody can "take god out" of anything...just the gratuitous commercialization of him. People having different beliefs does not equal persecution.

 

[Maren]

Having seen a clip, what she did was very funny as it was pure parody of those who come and say that Jesus helped them win the award, etc. She did not directly mock or make fun of Christians or any other group, only at those that appear to be somewhat self-righteous. It wasn't directed at Allah or other gods because you don't hear other gods thanked at American award shows.

It also reminds me last week on the Amazing Race, there was an Episcopal priest who commented, "We are religious people, but we are under no illusion that God cares whether or not we win 'The Amazing Race"'. It is hard to understand why a God would care about the winner of game shows or entertainment awards (which are already often blasted for Christians for their promotion of "evil") over helping the poor that pray to him to get food and other necessities; and we know some of these poor are going to bed hungry despite their prayers.

 

[m9lc]

All in all, get over it.

Seriously, I'm gay. If someone cracks a funny gay joke, I laugh.

I'm sorry, but I just don't get huffy over offensive jokes, because that's all they are: jokes. Quit whining and laugh at yourself every once in a while.

Really, I think that the ability to joke about something takes away from its hurtfulness.