No fucking way. July 16, 2004 5:23 AM   Subscribe

No fucking way.
posted by Frasermoo to Etiquette/Policy at 5:23 AM (92 comments total)

Way!
posted by Stan Chin at 5:24 AM on July 16, 2004


Its funny, I didn't click that link, cos a) its from quonsar, and b) ITS OBVIOUSLY PICTURES OF DEAD BABIES! You knew what you were getting when you clicked it.
posted by Orange Goblin at 5:33 AM on July 16, 2004


Hi, I'd like to trade my quonsar for the, you know, funnier model? I think this one is broken.
posted by majick at 5:39 AM on July 16, 2004


Hell, quonsar's link is even SFW! ;-P
posted by mischief at 5:56 AM on July 16, 2004


Frasermoo, are you new to the interweb? Sometimes people post things which have subtle clues as to what might be inside, which can actually be quite offensive to the unprepared mind. More experienced 'surfers' can spot these clues and guess what to expect. Perhaps if you look at quonsar's link again you can pick up some of the little clues as to where it might take you, and this might inform your future viewing pleasure.
posted by biffa at 6:00 AM on July 16, 2004


MetaFilter -- I didn't click that link cos it's from quonsar
posted by matteo at 6:21 AM on July 16, 2004


The thread sucked. quonsar's link sucked. Let's just kill the whole thing before this trend goes any farther.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 6:25 AM on July 16, 2004


Feel the HATE.
posted by adampsyche at 6:33 AM on July 16, 2004


No fucking way.
posted by eastlakestandard at 6:39 AM on July 16, 2004


Tasteless, yes. But for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction; often quonsar IS that very equal and opposite reaction.

Move along, nothing to see here.
posted by ashbury at 6:47 AM on July 16, 2004


Frasermoo, could you please clarify the point of this MeTa? Honestly, I don't understand.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 6:53 AM on July 16, 2004


I'm a bit concerned that within a thread on the blue someone deems it appropriate to drop in a link to pictures of dead babies, whether he's a local hero or not.

Maybe I'm missing the point or getting a little sentimental in my old age.
posted by Frasermoo at 7:06 AM on July 16, 2004


Whenever people post a link to goatse or whatever that thing is, people invariably defend it by saying it was labelled NSFW or that you should not have viewed it if you thought it was offensive (I didnt click the link), quonsar should apply the same rule of thumb, if he thought the mush was going to offend his sensebilities, he should have stayed out of the thread!

Dead babies! Best of the web my arse!
posted by kenaman at 7:09 AM on July 16, 2004


It was NSFW and should have been marked as such.
However, that is moot because the entire thread is idiotic and should be deleted, and quonsar's comment was moronic and should also be deleted.
posted by ac at 7:10 AM on July 16, 2004


Maybe it's just me, but I tend to assume anything labled "pictures of dead babies" is NSFW.

Or did you think they might possibly be work safe dead babies?
posted by bondcliff at 7:16 AM on July 16, 2004


Frasermoo is right about this, and to each of you questioning the validity of the original thread... You're a bunch of Fucking Morons. Really. I've had it up to here with the petty, stupid, unambitious & sick nonsense you alls come out with.

How many times has each one of you taken the "If you don't like it, don't read it stance.
20 Newsfilter posts on the front page... "If you don't like it, don't read them."
Nothing but newsfilter posts... "Get a life. You don't OWN metafilter."

Then we get a single Cutesy post asking people to link to heartwarming things, and you're like a bunch of babys...

"Waaah - I don't like this shit."
"Waaaah - I'm going to spoil other peoples fun."
"Waaah - Matt, take away the scary things."
"Waaah, Waaah, Fucking Ad-Infinitum."

quonsar. If what you were doing is trolling, then you should know better. If it isn't, then get a fucking idea. This was beyond acceptable.
posted by seanyboy at 7:28 AM on July 16, 2004


What's wrong with pictures of dead babies? It's not like he killed them himself.

Dead babies! Best of the web my arse!

Since it wasn't posted on the front page, I think this criticism is off-target.
posted by rushmc at 7:30 AM on July 16, 2004


Oh, and could someone ban this jackass seanyboy? Kk, thx.
posted by rushmc at 7:31 AM on July 16, 2004


Hell, at least his comment wasn't a mathematical symbol. Get a sense of proportion. Sheesh.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 7:42 AM on July 16, 2004


I've been around a while (*cough*) and the dead baby link is probably the most questionable thing I've ever seen online (or offline for that matter.) That doesn't mean q shouldn't have posted it though. He's probably had that up his sleeve for a long time, waiting for the right time to spring it and, let's face it, this thread was just screaming out for it.

Screaming agonising throes of "kill me please - please, before I have a chance to mature and experience the cruel world that is called an inadequate Metafilter front page post life."
posted by cbrody at 7:42 AM on July 16, 2004


OK, try looking at it this way:

sgt.serenity started a FPP linking to the CARE BEARS website. You've been around here about a year longer than I have. Do you really think the Care Bears website is among the best, most interesting pages on the web (I'll grant you it's likely not a site most MeFites have visited before, but still...)?

I'm not sure of the good sgt.'s motives in posting - absolute sincerity is doubtful, seemed more playful to me. But it should hardly come as a shock that someone here would respond to a Care Bear FPP with something less than hugs and kittens. And that said someone would be quonsar... and when it comes to the mighty q, you have to expect it to get very dirty. As ashbury said, it's tasteless. But it's also expected and appropriate.

quonsar's link is disturbing in a few ways, and oddly enough it deserves a FPP more than the sgt.'s thread. It's amazing (and yes, unsettling) to see how some people attempt to cope with stillbirth. Years ago I had a friend whose younger sister was a twin, only the other twin had died in childbirth (or in utero; I was far too young at the time to understand that part), and I remember them always referring to her by name. It was as if she was a ghost always present, a way of acknowledging what had happened and dealing with it. It would never have occurred to me that someone might want a picture as a way of remembering/coping, but that little queasy feeling I get in my gut whenever I think that someday, something bad might happen to my son tells me I have no right to judge them.

But there's also an extreme to some of the behaviour in those pictures, like posing the corpse with stuffed animals and the like, or sharing the experience with another child too young to comprehend. That's disturbing, too.

And the commentary by the site host is disturbing in its own way, too, in its total dismissal of humanity. That's probably the most disturbing element for me.

If sgt.serenity actually expected a treacly FPP like that to get better treatment, I'd be shocked.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 7:44 AM on July 16, 2004


Me : ... Best of the web my arse!

rushmc : Since it wasn't posted on the front page, I think this criticism is off-target.

Me : that comment implies that the posts should near to the best of the web but the contents of the thread can be any old shit. I thought the aspiration if there was one was that the threads would also represent the best of the web.
Either way I think it was clear what I meant, off-target or not.
posted by kenaman at 7:49 AM on July 16, 2004


you know, I hate these short links as openers to threads, with no explanation of what they lead to. It's just lazy, I tell you, lazy.
posted by crunchland at 7:50 AM on July 16, 2004


Answering your rhetorical question, seanyboy: zero. Me, I tend to stay out of the Newsfilter debates, although they are fun to read.

But this? This was a MetaTalk joke, and those jokes aren't that funny in MeFi. I'm not at all surprised at some of the crap that people chose to use in their reactive comments, and I blame the post itself.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 7:50 AM on July 16, 2004


I'm not sure of the good sgt.'s motives in posting - absolute sincerity is doubtful, seemed more playful to me.

the genesis of sgt serenity's heartwarming thread. what do you know? another whiney, pissy, moany metatalk! talk about your full circle! picture sgt serenity, standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier under a huge "mission accomplished" banner.
posted by quonsar at 7:52 AM on July 16, 2004


go get the pliers, seanyboy. you look stupid with that fishhook in your mouth.
posted by quonsar at 7:57 AM on July 16, 2004


Sometimes shit posts elicit shit comments. And that post was pretty much a double dog dare for shit comments. IMHO quonsar's comment is the most appropriote one.
posted by y6y6y6 at 7:57 AM on July 16, 2004


Yeah, what's the big deal about posting a injokey MeTa-inspired post to the blue? Chill. Can't we all just get alonghave fun?
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 7:59 AM on July 16, 2004


A crappy post is a crappy post, EB. Its source of inspiration doesn't enter into it.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 8:04 AM on July 16, 2004


Chill

Better yet, cold-lamp. With flava.
posted by Ufez Jones at 8:09 AM on July 16, 2004


Yeah, but if there is one thing I hate, it is pictures of dead babies.
posted by Quartermass at 8:14 AM on July 16, 2004


picture sgt serenity, standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier under a huge "mission accomplished" banner.

What should be picture quonsar atop, celebrating his accomplishment? Dead babies?
posted by kenaman at 8:18 AM on July 16, 2004


It's best not to picture quonsar at all.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 8:26 AM on July 16, 2004


Is it almost time for the Dead Baby jokes to begin? Okay!

What's the safest way to play with a dead baby?

With a condom!
posted by Stan Chin at 8:27 AM on July 16, 2004


I think I'd find pig foetuses in a pickle jar about as unpleasant.
posted by troutfishing at 8:39 AM on July 16, 2004


But I prefer to think of puppies and fluffy bunnies instead.


posted by troutfishing at 8:42 AM on July 16, 2004


Crunchy kitty!
posted by DrJohnEvans at 8:49 AM on July 16, 2004


What's worse that finding a dead baby nailed to a tree?

Taking it down.
posted by Mayor Curley at 8:59 AM on July 16, 2004


How many dead babies does it take to roof a house?

Depends on how thin you slice 'em.
posted by Stan Chin at 9:14 AM on July 16, 2004


Those dead baby jokes are perfect cos if people find them funny then they have worked and if people are disgusted by them they can also be said to have worked.

But what if people think them neither funny nor disgusting just retarded AND said so would that elicit your best retard jokes.......
posted by kenaman at 9:20 AM on July 16, 2004


Well, what's better than winning the gold medal at the Special Olympics?
posted by Stan Chin at 9:31 AM on July 16, 2004


Not being Stan Chin?

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSNAP!
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:40 AM on July 16, 2004


Also, and this would be a helluva stretch to be taken as an actual defense of quonsar but is at least interesting to think about:

The pictures featured on this page are collected from various pages such as this one [warning: dead baby; MIDI] that are absolutely, positively intended to be heartwarming by the (IMHO whacked-out) parents who create them and share them with each other.

Check out the guestbook.

(On preview: Stan, is the answer "Not being retarded?" Haven't heard that one before, actually.)
posted by cortex at 9:41 AM on July 16, 2004


Basically 'things' alternate between funny and unfunny. It just takes someone not finding something funny to make someone else's persisting with it funny.... persist for a spell and then in time it will become truly unfunny again then repeat...

This process works with weak and offensive/retarded units of humour.......

On a related note : Arguing on metafilter is like the special olympics, even if you win you are still retarded...
posted by kenaman at 9:43 AM on July 16, 2004


Not Being Stan Chin.

Now there's a screenplay that writes itself.
posted by chicobangs at 9:47 AM on July 16, 2004


i think the heart-warming thread is an example of everything that's right with metafilter. thanks, sarge!
posted by The God Complex at 10:00 AM on July 16, 2004


It's best not to picture quonsar at all.

On the contrary, my desk is adorned with a lovely photo of the entire quonsar family.
posted by soyjoy at 11:02 AM on July 16, 2004


Actually there is a site I know of (no I never posted it here ) of vintage photos of dead people. It used to be traditional to take a "final portrait" in those days.

Funny how sensibilities change. We are shocked and offended at pics of the deceased, and they would be shocked and offended at all the sexual content of OUR day.

In this case, not clicking on Quonsar's link should be enough. It isn't like it was a girl in a tub or something.
posted by konolia at 11:15 AM on July 16, 2004


How do you get 50 dead babies onto a pickup-truck?

With a pitchfork.

How do you get 50 dead babies into a ceral bowl?

With a blender.

How do you get 50 dead babies out of a cereal bowl?

With a spoon.

[all I could remember, and I'm terrified to google for more.]
posted by ChasFile at 11:35 AM on July 16, 2004


I'm kind of with Ghost in the Machine... I'm fascinated by this act of taking pictures of stillborn children, especially some of the pictures of babies who don't look like they were particularly close to term. The really apalling part of the pictures to me aren't the dead children (although that's terrible) but that the parents of a dead child would want to dress its still undeveloped body up in clothes and take photos. With stuffed animals. And then display those photos on a website.

I have, thank everything there is to thank, never suffered such a loss, so I can't say that I wouldn't react in a similar fashion. Nor do I want to find out how I would react. But the link that cortex posted... the parents had plaster casts taken of their stillborn child's head and feet and display them in a glass case in their home.

It seems like there should be a healthy balance between honoring the dead and moving forward, and many of these pictures seem to indicate a lack of that balance.

Anyway, as shockingly horrible as the link quonsar posted was, I was kind of hoping discussion would turn towards it, just because, like I said, I would like to understand what drives people to pose their stillborn children for pictures. I can't imagine wanting to remember my child in that way--a lot of those photos were not only horrible for their subject matter, but downright gross, too.
posted by jennyb at 11:41 AM on July 16, 2004


Actually several years ago, we had an entire FPP thread on the dead baby topic....I can't remember, but it might have been before 9/11.
posted by konolia at 12:06 PM on July 16, 2004


MetaFilter: [warning: dead baby; MIDI]
posted by Pretty_Generic at 12:11 PM on July 16, 2004


konolia, it's right here. I actually stumbled across it completely accidentally early today. Kind of frightening.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:15 PM on July 16, 2004


go get the pliers, seanyboy. you look stupid with that fishhook in your mouth.

Unlike somebody else whose fishhook is in the eye.
posted by jmd82 at 12:50 PM on July 16, 2004


That's the only good thing I think quonsar has done for me. Thank you! I've been looking for that link for years.
posted by Keyser Soze at 1:00 PM on July 16, 2004


So, wait. quonsar is David Dark? Jeebus it's hard to keep up around here . . .
posted by tr33hggr at 1:40 PM on July 16, 2004


Thanks, konolia. Now that you mention it, I remember that. I think I'll read it tomorrow, though. I've had enough dead babies for one day.
posted by jennyb at 2:37 PM on July 16, 2004


semi-ontopic: I just heard that Senator Santorum actually did that with a stillborn kid of his, and took it home to meet his/her/its brothers and sisters. (and what's worse, his wife's life was endangered througout the pregnancy and there was a chance she wouldn't live thru delivery, but he made her carry it until the stillbirth.)
posted by amberglow at 3:47 PM on July 16, 2004


You think it was hard reading that thread ?
- try posting osmonds links in it baby.
personally i thought it was a vey entertaining thread and it certainly threw up some pretty unusual links , even if they were tacky.
So , aye , a meta thread about the mefi post about the meta thread about the askme post.........
and people think i have no life.

konse is a big star and a fine seaman.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:17 PM on July 16, 2004


I thought that quonsar's comment was the best part of the thread. It always surprises me how wound up people get up by death.
posted by daveg at 4:57 PM on July 16, 2004


The best part of that dead baby thread is mathowie gettin' his snark on : 'FAB4GIRL, thanks for adding that amazingly deep perspective. Really, thanks. You're adding to the signal here, really.'

Classic.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:08 PM on July 16, 2004


pussies.
posted by angry modem at 7:00 PM on July 16, 2004


Dammit, I just don't feel like I'm getting my quonsar's worth!
posted by majick at 7:05 PM on July 16, 2004


Not Being Stan Chin.

Now there's a screenplay that writes itself.


And it's other working title is Escape From Stan Chin .

High concept: They're in his head and paying, and I mean, paying to get out. First it's rented to the administration as a detention center for ghost prisoners, becoming a parking garage for car bombers on June 30th and then, from the rubble, a dead baby sex tourist bordello until the Rapture, upon which occasion....
posted by y2karl at 11:43 PM on July 16, 2004


how do you make a dead baby float?

well, you start with two scoops of ice cream and some rootbeer...
posted by centrs at 5:20 AM on July 17, 2004


amberglow - ohmygawd....

It's a Frank Zappa song come to life!

" I just heard that Senator Santorum actually did that with a stillborn kid of his, and took it home to meet his/her/its brothers and sisters"

"The idiot bastard son

(the father's a nazi in congress today
The mother's a hooker somewhere in l.a.)
The idiot bastard son

(abandoned to perish in back of a car
Kenny will stash him away in a jar)
The idiot boy!

(all the time he would spend at the church he'd attend...
Warming his pew)
Kenny will feed him & ronnie will watch
The child will thrive & grow
And enter the world
Of liars & cheaters & people like you
Who smile & think you know
What this is about


(you think you know everything... maybe so)
The song we sing, do you know?
We're listening...
The idiot boy!

(all the time he would spend all the colors he?d blend...
Where are they now? )
posted by troutfishing at 8:42 PM on July 17, 2004


Oh well, I guess the time has come for a major policy decision to be made. Okay Internet.. here's the new rule to be added to the annals of netiquette!

If someone depraved and vile like 'picture of two men raping a goat up the crapflap' is going to be linked on the Internet, you must actually point out that a picture of two men raping a goat up the poop shoot might be considered offensive, and that it might not be safe for work, because there are some naive folk who might think it's as harmless as apple pie.

I informally christen this, Quonsar's Law.
posted by wackybrit at 10:52 PM on July 17, 2004


Only the strong survive.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:24 PM on July 17, 2004


Laughing at indignation is a great way to start a Sunday morning. ;-P
posted by mischief at 2:15 AM on July 18, 2004


Hell, quonsar clearly labeled the link Pictures of dead babies. I didn't care to see them, so I skipped it just as I skipped all the heartwarming links. I'd have skipped the whole thread if not for this MeTa post pointing to it...

I have pictures of my grandparents in their caskets from roughly 1960. Not that I want 'em.
posted by StOne at 12:03 AM on July 19, 2004


One morning, Kegan walked into the temple to find twelve monks in great agitation. There had been a vandalism in the night—three bowls lay broken and scattered across the floor, a rotting lotus blossom nailed to the doorframe. Kegan failed to suppress a smile at the twelve monks’ distress and disquiet. This was met with a quick blow to the back of Kegan’s head.

“Kegan”, the Master asked, “Do you find the broken shards at your feet and the sting at the back your head to be essentially similar?”

“I do, Master”, replied Kegan with great equanimity.

And in an instant, the Master with a small knife had cut Kegan’s smallest finger from his right hand and threw it upon the fire.

“Then tomorrow morning, and each morning thereafter, you shall find the bones of your finger, there among the ashes, cause for joy and contemplation.”

Kegan ran screaming from the temple.

The Master smiled.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:32 AM on July 19, 2004


Laughing at indignation is a great way to start a Sunday

To those of you who found people's being offended of pictures dead babies being used as either (a) a joke (b) antidote to cutesy slush funny.

Ever suffer from indignation?
Is there anything that they wont joke about?
Is there any line?
posted by kenaman at 3:33 AM on July 19, 2004


bork off, you overly-serious, self-important schnertlep.
posted by quonsar at 5:12 AM on July 19, 2004


It was a genuine set of questions.. and I am still curious.
posted by kenaman at 5:23 AM on July 19, 2004


Yes. No. Yes.
posted by dg at 5:26 AM on July 19, 2004


Is there anything that they wont joke about? No.

Is there any line? Yes.

So you would joke about anything, but there is a line.
Any examples of where the line is.
I am not gathering evidence for a point btw.
posted by kenaman at 5:34 AM on July 19, 2004


The line is whatever upsets them. D'uh. Quonsar's daughter, perhaps. I heard she...

...oh, well, I shouldn't say.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 6:08 AM on July 19, 2004


that's a weirdly masochistic yet cowardly thing to say, EB.
posted by crunchland at 8:31 AM on July 19, 2004


D'uh.

Excuse me, but I think you mean "Duh." Your apostrophe is illegally imported from "D'oh."

Also, the word "schnertlep" all by itself justifies quonsar's existence.
posted by languagehat at 8:34 AM on July 19, 2004


Holy cow, is this thread still going?

Ever suffer from indignation?

A strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base? Not really, other than discriminatory practices I guess. I suffer from disinterest well before reaching indignation.

Is there anything that they wont joke about?

Who's this "they" of which you speak? Or are you speaking in the general, universal sense? If that's the case, I think anything can be funny, depending on the context.

Is there any line?

Again, rather vague wording, but I'm going to assume it's along the same lines as the previous one, in which case the same answer holds.

Humour and beauty and taste are what you make of them. The appeal is not universal, and any "standard" is merely codification of the lowest common denominator rather than a glimpse of universal truth.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 8:48 AM on July 19, 2004


Ethereal Bligh corrected for misplacing an apostrophe!

Excuse me, but I think you mean "Duh." Your apostrophe is illegally imported from "D'oh."

quonsar's existence justified by a word which I assume is made up or else has no meaning outside his coterie/fan club.

Also, the word "schnertlep" all by itself justifies quonsar's existence.

You must be joking, else your existence will be justified by the word sycophant.
posted by kenaman at 8:52 AM on July 19, 2004


Nope. I wrote "d'uh" and I meant "d'uh".

Crunchland: why is it "masochistic" or "cowardly"? It was moral restraint and not fear that kept me from making my point in the most graphic manner possible.

Every person laughing at another's indignation has their own vulnerability. It's merely a question of finding it. If giving offense is its own justification, then offending the offensive is not only recommended—it's required. And a whole lot of fun.

I'm not the least offended by dead babies. Hell, I keep a few in my closet for good luck. I am, however, offended by smug and mocking dismissals of other people's sensibilities.

Quonsar's the class clown, I'm fond of him. Speculation as to the nature of what would provoke his indignation is intended as idle fun and not malign. His provocations are always irreverent but rarely smug—a saving virtue other commenters lack.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 9:08 AM on July 19, 2004


"They" are those of you who found people's being offended of pictures dead babies being used as either (a) a joke (b) antidote to cutesy slush, funny.

I just thought people would be more understanding of those who are a more sensitive than themselves.

(on preview)
What EB said.....
posted by kenaman at 9:13 AM on July 19, 2004


So you're saying you thought that people less sensitive than you would be sensitive enough to be more sensitive?
posted by crunchland at 9:21 AM on July 19, 2004


I just thought people would be more understanding of those who are a more sensitive than themselves.

I am aware of those more sensitive than myself. I certainly wouldn't make jokes about dead babies around my mother, for example. But that doesn't mean dead baby jokes aren't funny; they're just not funny in that context.

But to be understanding of said people, in your context, means avoiding any comment that anyone on MetaFilter might find offensive. And that would eliminate virtually every comment and link. I'm adult enough to make my own judgements on whether or not something is offensive to me; I don't need others doing so on my behalf.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 9:42 AM on July 19, 2004


Yawn! If you want to reduce this to utter pedantry then :

I have not made reference to my sensitivity in any comment in this thread and so the reference you make to
people less sensitive than you represents a misunderstanding on your part and is not 'what I am saying'.

(on preview)
What happens if your mother gets a metafilter membership?
posted by kenaman at 9:48 AM on July 19, 2004


Ethereal Bligh:

a) that koan is weak and irrelevant. Try these instead.

b) this comment is cowardly because it looks like it really wants to pick a fight, but then backs down. Moral restraint, nothing: if you're going to fight, fight; if you're going to play, play. If you like fighting and consider it play, then do what quonsar would do: fight and enjoy it.

c) You should know by now that what truly offends quonsar is George W. Bush. All you need to do find something positive to say about the current administration and you can have your own hook in his cheek. I grant that doing this can be tricky, but it has been done.
posted by wobh at 9:54 AM on July 19, 2004


What happens if your mother gets a metafilter membership?

Then she'll have to take her lumps with everyone else. If she made a conscious decision to be part of a community with very little supervision, then she would have to learn to deal with the repercussions of that decision.

You have to consider your audience. When that audience equals my mother and me, dead baby jokes are rarely appropriate, mostly because you tell jokes to make others laugh, and she, being the only other person present, would not laugh. When the audience is a larger number, then the likelihood of finding another like-minded individual who would appreciate the humour of it increases. That's not universal, of course, since it's likely you wouldn't find a large group of expectant mothers especially receptive to dead baby jokes. But a large group, representing a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences (which I believe describes MeFi well, if imperfectly), likely contains people who love dead baby jokes and others who hate them.

One could almost say that linking to the Care Bears website provoked indignation from the dead baby joke lovers here. Why should sgt.serenity et al not have been sensitive to the opinions of quonsar and his ilk?
posted by GhostintheMachine at 10:33 AM on July 19, 2004

I certainly wouldn't make jokes about dead babies around my mother, for example. But that doesn't mean dead baby jokes aren't funny; they're just not funny in that context.
I think dead baby jokes in the presence of your mother are very funny. Even funnier is when they're told by someone else in the presence of both you and your mother—and you become offended at the disregard for her feelings. Now that's comedy.

Transgressive behaviors are banal—every toddler shits his pants and enjoys a quasi-erotic thrill in doing so. Ho-hum.

Wobh: no, it's mostly that I like Quonsar. I think he can be a jerk, but he's not (in relative terms) mean-spirited. My aim was to be understood, not to injure.

On preview, GitM: one could almost say that, yes—if "one" were an intelligent sociopath in a drunken stupor. Or a sophist. Or, um, a professional clown wearing big, flappy shoes and a painted-on smile. Take your pick.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 10:54 AM on July 19, 2004


Even funnier is when they're told by someone else in the presence of both you and your mother—and you become offended at the disregard for her feelings.

EB, what exactly is your point here? Do you think I would become upset if someone else disregarded my mother's feelings? That basically runs counter to everything I've said here. I wasn't trying to say my mother is anti-dead baby joke or anything. Hell, I've been around when one of my brothers has cracked some pretty risque jokes around my mother, and she's laughed at them. Comedy is context-sensitive. And the context here on MeFi is, basically, anything goes, so it's no good for anyone to get offended at anything. OK?

(and I resent the implication I'm an intelligent sociopath in a drunken stupor... I think I've remained sensible of my surroundings throughout this thread. Or are you saying my shoes are flappy?)
posted by GhostintheMachine at 1:02 PM on July 19, 2004


lets beat off the dog! RED ROCKET!!!!!!!
posted by quonsar at 3:20 PM on July 19, 2004


So you would joke about anything, but there is a line.
Any examples of where the line is.
I am not gathering evidence for a point btw.

Well, the line varies with each individual and with the specific situation, which complicates matters somewhat. As GhostintheMachine pointed out, becoming a member of a community means accepting the standards of the community, however low you may perceive them to be. For me, the line in this case would be if quonsar had described his link as "pictures of cute babies". But he didn't - he wrote "pictures of dead babies" and the link was to sickopath.com. There was no doubt as to what the link was about and you have no right to complain if you followed the link and were offended by the content.

In a setting where many people are prone to posting links to questionable content, you should always be careful about the links you follow - if there is any question as to the nature of the link, there is almost always evidence to tell you this, either in the decription of the link, the URL, or in title tags. Evaluate that information before you click the link.
posted by dg at 3:35 PM on July 19, 2004


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