News:

If you have any trouble logging in, please contact admins via email. tankathaf *at* gmail.com or
recusantathaf *at* gmail.com

Main Menu

"Got a quickie Aborsh"

Started by AnimatedDirt, April 16, 2012, 10:14:15 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

AnimatedDirt

Got a Quickie Aborsh

While I am a supporter of the rights of women and therefore a pro-choice stance (with a lean to the pro-life side in that I don't necessarily support abortion as a type of birth control), I found this to be insensitive.  I don't think abortion is anything that should be made as a joke.  While the stunt brings the debate into the news, it also does a disservice to the pro-choice side making it to be just another day at the park type action. 

Ali

I don't think the point was to make abortion out to be a walk in the park or no big deal.

Sarah Silverman is well known for making jokes out of uncomfortable issues, like race or abortion.  I don't think she's actually making fun of abortion, I think she's making fun of Mitt Romney and coservatives who think that's what women who get abortions are like.

It's like when the Onion ran that article about some huge abortion-plex and conservatives were all up in arms thinking it was real.

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/02/06/jokes-on-you-congressman-uses-onion-article-as-factual-source/

DeterminedJuliet

Yeah, I think the fact that she's a comedian is an important contextual consideration. Comedians aren't exactly known for their, um, tact? Part of me kind of enjoys that she's poked nutso conservatives with a stick, but another part of me grimaces because I'm sure some people think this actually IS how most women who get abortions approach the issue.

Soooooooo I'm on the fence.
"We've thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you're dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played.

AnimatedDirt

I must not be up-to-date on the comedy scene as I've never heard of Sarah Silverman as a comedian.

I understood from the article that it was a stunt to bring the issue to the forefront, I'm just not too enthused about the tactic itself.  I was utterly appalled until I read it was a stunt/hoax.  Even then it still left a foul feeling in my gut.

I support just about any candidate other than the Obummer in office now.  I don't support over turning RvW...but then there's a lot of things I don't necessarily support from a leader I DO support.

Firebird

She's all about the uncomfortable humor. Check out the great schlep:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgHHX9R4Qtk

Or this one, which is one of my favorites :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSfoF6MhgLA&feature=related
"Great, replace one book about an abusive, needy asshole with another." - Will (moderator) on replacing hotel Bibles with "Fifty Shades of Grey"

Whitney

I think you would probably find almost everything Sarah Silverman says and does to be untackful....she crosses most people's lines as her humor is largely based on being shockingly not pc. 

Sweetdeath

Someone posted this on fb and i couldnt stop laughing. Maybe you should actually research Silverman?
She is a great comedian. People take abortion jokes too seriously.
Law 35- "You got to go with what works." - Robin Lefler

Wiggum:"You have that much faith in me, Homer?"
Homer:"No! Faith is what you have in things that don't exist. Your awesomeness is real."

"I was thinking that perhaps this thing called God does not exist. Because He cannot save any one of us. No matter how we pray, He doesn't mend our wounds.

McQ

Personally not a fan. I just don't think she's funny.
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

Tank

Humour can go where serious discussion can't, and that's a good thing as it creates discussion. Silverman has her moments. But the first time I saw her was when she was in Star Trek Voyager where she played a scientist looking for ETs. So I didn't know she was also a comedian.

If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Stevil

Seems to me she was making a point using satire.

"Being" the person that these potential law makers are worried about, you know, a superficial ditzy casually having a "quick" abortion, on a whim.
I think the point was to show how silly it is to be worried about casual abortions, when visualising it (as portrayed in the joke) it doesn't seem realistic, it seems more like a very bad joke. Yeah, sure there will be extreme cases of abuse in real life, but should that ruin freedom for all women?

If religious groups are serious about anti-abortion, rather than legislate it they are better off getting into sex education.
Showing the success/failure rate of certain contraceptives and hence the likelihood of unwanted pregnancies, showing what abortion actually entails. Educating people of the development of the foetus, maybe philosophically debating at what point is a person considered a living person and how the act of abortion intentionally kills the foetus.

Education is the key, not legislation.

DeterminedJuliet

Also, I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a "quickie" abortion. I've never had one, but I'm pretty sure you don't just walk in and out in 20 minutes like nothing has ever happened. I'm pretty sure it involves some pain/bleeding/recovery, etc.
"We've thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you're dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played.

Ali

Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on April 17, 2012, 03:18:11 PM
Also, I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a "quickie" abortion. I've never had one, but I'm pretty sure you don't just walk in and out in 20 minutes like nothing has ever happened. I'm pretty sure it involves some pain/bleeding/recovery, etc.

Yes.  I've never had an actual abortion (removing a living fetus) but I've had close enough, and it's a surgical procedure that does involve pain, bleeding, recovery, et cetera.

I totally agree that she was making fun of people that think that women just frivolously have abortions.

It's like how even pro-choice people always seem to feel the need to make a distinction "I don't think abortion should be used as birth control, but...."  Like how many women use abortion as birth control that we always need to make that distinction?  There may be a few out there, but I honestly cannot imagine a sane woman out there that prefers a costly painful surgical procedure to popping a pill or using a rubber.  I think it's just this prevailing suspicion out there that has sunk into our subconsciousness that secretly suspects that some women don't take it seriously enough.  I think Sarah Silverman was kind of highlighting that.

DeterminedJuliet

Quote from: Ali on April 17, 2012, 03:52:01 PM
It's like how even pro-choice people always seem to feel the need to make a distinction "I don't think abortion should be used as birth control, but...."  Like how many women use abortion as birth control that we always need to make that distinction?  There may be a few out there, but I honestly cannot imagine a sane woman out there that prefers a costly painful surgical procedure to popping a pill or using a rubber.  I think it's just this prevailing suspicion out there that has sunk into our subconsciousness that secretly suspects that some women don't take it seriously enough.  I think Sarah Silverman was kind of highlighting that.

Yeah, I agree. It reminds me of the "post-birth abortion" thread that was going around earlier. All I could think was who in their right mind would ever CHOOSE to go through the trouble of pregnancy/childbirth for absolutely no reason other than they were too lazy to "deal" with it beforehand.
"We've thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you're dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played.

En_Route

Quote from: Stevil on April 17, 2012, 11:32:50 AM
Seems to me she was making a point using satire.

"Being" the person that these potential law makers are worried about, you know, a superficial ditzy casually having a "quick" abortion, on a whim.
I think the point was to show how silly it is to be worried about casual abortions, when visualising it (as portrayed in the joke) it doesn't seem realistic, it seems more like a very bad joke. Yeah, sure there will be extreme cases of abuse in real life, but should that ruin freedom for all women?

If religious groups are serious about anti-abortion, rather than legislate it they are better off getting into sex education.
Showing the success/failure rate of certain contraceptives and hence the likelihood of unwanted pregnancies, showing what abortion actually entails. Educating people of the development of the foetus, maybe philosophically debating at what point is a person considered a living person and how the act of abortion intentionally kills the foetus.

Education is the key, not legislation.

The satire for me was a bit too oblique and even when one could see the thrust of it, the point being made not especially convincing (some women do appear to have a fairly casual attitude towards abortion but then so what?). I did enjoy the tastelessness and absurdism of it though.
Some ideas are so stupid only an intellectual could believe them (Orwell).