Rifftrax - please stop with the transgender "jokes"

[Artie]

If one compares the jokes of Bill and the Rifftrax crew in general to, say, the posts that Doc made earlier in this thread (Let's make those useful!) I think the difference between hateful remark and arguably-misguided pun are pretty clear. That's my opinion. It doesn't have to be yours.

Of course I'm saying that as a straight white American male-- part of the one group of people EVERYONE feels like they can insult without consequence. :^)

And all the privileges that come with being part of that group (A group I too am a member of).

[MartyS (Gromit)]

If one compares the jokes of Bill and the Rifftrax crew in general to, say, the posts that Doc made earlier in this thread (Let's make those useful!) I think the difference between hateful remark and arguably-misguided pun are pretty clear. That's my opinion. It doesn't have to be yours.

Of course I'm saying that as a straight white American male-- part of the one group of people EVERYONE feels like they can insult without consequence. :^)

And all the privileges that come with being part of that group (A group I too am a member of).

There are privileges?  Damn, no one told me about them.  Where do I go to sign up for those?

[CHF01]

The only issue I see with stopping one type of joke is it opens doors for others to chime in with their issues with other joke types, and using this as an example. 

[Danecho1967]

The only issue I see with stopping one type of joke is it opens doors for others to chime in with their issues with other joke types, and using this as an example. 

Precisely.

[wi11 Mitchell]

These are not hurtful, spiteful comedians or human beings, nor have their jokes or humor ever come close to being labelled as mean spirited or hateful towards any one person or group, Michael Bay and Shia LaBeouf not withstanding.

Using Bill's tweets as an example of his "hurtful ignorance" has simply proven you are merely an attention seeking naysayer and a troll. 

You reek of bias and I am sorry that you cannot see these gentlemen for the wonderful people they are.  I doubt there has ever been a more understanding, nonjudgmental, well-educated, socially aware and caring comedians, that were actually funny, and you suck as a person for trying to start a such a shameful witch hunt.

[ScottotD]

The only issue I see with stopping one type of joke is it opens doors for others to chime in with their issues with other joke types, and using this as an example. 

Riiiight but if they were making regular jokes about a religion or race we wouldn't even be having this conversation, why is this suddenly a "slippery slope"?

[goflyblind]

The only issue I see with stopping one type of joke is it opens doors for others to chime in with their issues with other joke types, and using this as an example. 

Riiiight but if they were making regular jokes about a religion or race we wouldn't even be having this conversation, why is this suddenly a "slippery slope"?

because, next thing you know, we won't be able to use the words coon, cunt, or fag. and we can't let that happen. if we do, then the terrorists win.

[Danecho1967]

Yeah, over the top sarcastic nonsense aside...

How about if someone says that the occasional fat joke hurts their delicate little feelings?  Must MKB stop just for that person?  I'm a fat guy, and I dont care if they tell the occasional fat joke.  Hell, sometimes fat jokes are damned funny.  There are real examples of jokes that could potentially hit close to home so let's keep the conversation based in reality, shall we?

I know it's easy to get tunnel vision and ignore everything else in the 2+ hour riff when you are overreacting to the 6 seconds that you don't like.  Adults used to shrug off little stuff like that and were able to enjoy the rest of the show.

That is why I say we are living in a culture that believes there is no greater damage that one can do to another than to offend them, and people are too damned easily offended.  Get. The fuck. Over it.

[Artie]

These are not hurtful, spiteful comedians or human beings, nor have their jokes or humor ever come close to being labelled as mean spirited or hateful towards any one person or group, Michael Bay and Shia LaBeouf not withstanding.

Using Bill's tweets as an example of his "hurtful ignorance" has simply proven you are merely an attention seeking naysayer and a troll. 

You reek of bias and I am sorry that you cannot see these gentlemen for the wonderful people they are.  I doubt there has ever been a more understanding, nonjudgmental, well-educated, socially aware and caring comedians, that were actually funny, and you suck as a person for trying to start a such a shameful witch hunt.

The definition of troll certainly has changed, I didn't realize a polite request was trolling now.   

You have just two posts, one them you've used to try to insult me - you sir are the troll.

[Artie]

Yeah, over the top sarcastic nonsense aside...

How about if someone says that the occasional fat joke hurts their delicate little feelings?  Must MKB stop just for that person?  I'm a fat guy, and I dont care if they tell the occasional fat joke.  Hell, sometimes fat jokes are damned funny.  There are real examples of jokes that could potentially hit close to home so let's keep the conversation based in reality, shall we?

I know it's easy to get tunnel vision and ignore everything else in the 2+ hour riff when you are overreacting to the 6 seconds that you don't like.  Adults used to shrug off little stuff like that and were able to enjoy the rest of the show.

That is why I say we are living in a culture that believes there is no greater damage that one can do to another than to offend them, and people are too damned easily offended.  Get. The fuck. Over it.

We're not talking about one joke.  There's a history that's developed over the years, nearly every single feature length riff has a transgender related joke in it.  I think that fact that this discussion is happening now, 6 years since Rifftrax started, shows how much my friends and I have been willing to put up with.

[Pak-Man]

Nearly every single feature length riff has had a fat joke (Or several) in it too. There was even a complaint a long while back from someone who felt offended by that. Much fun has been poked at Furries, Scientologists and I'm sure we haven't heard the last of the Brony-teasing. There was someone early on who didn't believe it was fair to make fun of Tom Cruise.

[Artie]

Nearly every single feature length riff has had a fat joke (Or several) in it too. There was even a complaint a long while back from someone who felt offended by that. Much fun has been poked at Furries, Scientologists and I'm sure we haven't heard the last of the Brony-teasing. There was someone early on who didn't believe it was fair to make fun of Tom Cruise.

That doesn't disprove my point.   

[Danecho1967]

Yeah, over the top sarcastic nonsense aside...

How about if someone says that the occasional fat joke hurts their delicate little feelings?  Must MKB stop just for that person?  I'm a fat guy, and I dont care if they tell the occasional fat joke.  Hell, sometimes fat jokes are damned funny.  There are real examples of jokes that could potentially hit close to home so let's keep the conversation based in reality, shall we?

I know it's easy to get tunnel vision and ignore everything else in the 2+ hour riff when you are overreacting to the 6 seconds that you don't like.  Adults used to shrug off little stuff like that and were able to enjoy the rest of the show.

That is why I say we are living in a culture that believes there is no greater damage that one can do to another than to offend them, and people are too damned easily offended.  Get. The fuck. Over it.

We're not talking about one joke.  There's a history that's developed over the years, nearly every single feature length riff has a transgender related joke in it.  I think that fact that this discussion is happening now, 6 years since Rifftrax started, shows how much my friends and I have been willing to put up with.

I don't really have time to calculate the number of hours that MKB alone (not including iRiffers) have recorded of Riffs in the past 6 years, but it has to be several hundred hours.  In that several hundred hours, probably no more than a couple of minutes have been dedicated to this one type of joke.

It's like judging the artistic quality of a piece of architecture by your opinion of the lobby art.

[Artie]

You now it's really easy for people to say

Get. The fuck. Over it.

Or "Grow a thicker skin" or "Choose not to be offended" when something doesn't effect themselves or someone they know.
But I've seen it.  You have to understand that since Rifftrax started the #1 thing my friends and I would do was to get together and watch the latest riffs and shorts.  And at first we would laugh off those jokes, figuring it was all in good fun.  But as time went on, and the jokes kept coming up in riff after riff we couldn't laugh it off anymore.  It became annoyance, then frustration, then dread - knowing that at some point in a riff they'd make another transgender joke, usually having little-to-no relevance to what happening in the movie.  You think it's fun watching something that's supposed to entertaining and feeling dread?  Guess what? It's stopped being fun.

So that's why I made this thread, I want Rifftrax to be fun again.  I don't care if people think it's a "slippery slope" or a "witch hunt"

[Pak-Man]

Nearly every single feature length riff has had a fat joke (Or several) in it too. There was even a complaint a long while back from someone who felt offended by that. Much fun has been poked at Furries, Scientologists and I'm sure we haven't heard the last of the Brony-teasing. There was someone early on who didn't believe it was fair to make fun of Tom Cruise.

That doesn't disprove my point.   

I suppose my question is, why should this group be the one that gets riff-immunity?