Tuesday, July 17, 2012

All Apologies (Daniel Tosh)


I have chosen after some careful thinking not to lead a boycott against Daniel Tosh. However, I just won’t support him. That’s my right to do so. Unfortunately, my disgust is towards the standup community as a whole. I mean, I was previously disgusted by this cestpool where to have a leg up is to be a man, a cookie cutter copy, a total wannabe. But now I am disgusted on a whole new level.

Everyone was saying I was silencing Daniel Tosh and his free speech. Yes, I stated several times he was free to say what he said. However, I was free to disagree. Boycotting is part of free speech. Free speech comes with a price. You are free to say what you want but I am free to disagree. I am free to say that you are wrong. I am free to speak out against you. But when I do it I am censoring. Hardly. I call a double standard when I see it.

The worst part is, most of my dissenters, male which was no accident, kept missing the point. I am free to disagree if I so please and I will continue to do so.

Someone, who shall remain nameless and who I have blacklisted, told me I should be on their side. Why? Because I am a comic too? That’s like saying just because a person is black they should support Obama. Therefore, they shouldn’t look at the whole picture or all the issues before making an informed decision. Then someone pointed out that there were female comics who demanded Daniel Tosh rescind his (shallow) apology and therefore I should join the party. Just because these women feel the need to support someone who endorses wanton violence against women doesn’t mean I have to as well.

Oh wait, I am an individual with her own thoughts. Apparently that’s not allowed in an “art form” where so many pride themselves in pushing the envelope and being original. However, when someone is original and pushes the envelope they aren’t celebrated but rather made a pariah. The whole thing is a fallacy.

I actually hesitate to call standup an art form really. Sculpture, poetry, novel  writing and painting are art. Those require talent. Being talentless doesn’t stop most from being comedians. From what I have seen the less talent one has sometimes the farther they go. The more of a follower you are the farther you will go.

Of course most of my dissenters are male. It’s because these issues don’t affect them in the least. Someone brought up that the woman in question should not have interrupted the show. This might be true. At the same time, it’s still no excuse for the normalization of sexual violence against women.

I ended up blocking the blacklisted booker. He’s someone I have no interest in working with anyway. If this costs me certain club dates they were no loss. I probably didn’t want them anyway. At the end of it all, standup is a dead art form. No one really goes to see live comedy when they can watch youtube or their television. For a long time, the fact youtube celebs were getting bookings they didn’t earn pissed me off. I worked hard and did the right things.

Now I know why the youtubers and reality stars are taking over. It’s because standup is deceased. It is the idiots in the so called community, one with a double standard of free speech only if you agree with the majority. One with the double standard that men can say whatever they please but whenever a woman has a dissenting opinion she is punished. One where race jokes are greeted with a cringe but it is okay to be as sexist as you want. One where male club owners and comedians prey on young female talent, and if you stick up for yourself they make it their business to ruin you. Yes, standup is dead.

The idiots in the village have killed it.

Love,

April

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