(no subject)

[lollardfish]

Can anyone more knowledgeable than I point out any examples of the Vilification Tennis show doing productive social satire - that is, making fun of something in order to demonstrate its impropriety or nonsensical nature?

I'm seeing excuses that I shouldn't be offended at their upcoming show because it's productive social satire.

I think it's just an excuse and the show isn't about satire, it's about getting laughs by being as mean as possible. They are really good at it. They get a lot of laughs. I think they're kidding themselves about the satire, but I'm not that familiar with their shows.

Comments

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

For the second point - my contention has nothing to do with the show. I would not go to such a show. If I ended up at one accidentally, I would leave. But I believe that anyone going to a Vilification Tennis show checks their outrage and offense at the door.

I believe that to participate in, attend, or even just condone the existence of a comedy show called "Going Full Retard:- a Vilification Tennis Salute to the Handicapped. Because they have the ADA and we don't" is to help perpetuate the notion that it is appropriate and harmless to mock and marginalize the disabled on account of their disabilities. Moreover, the disabled are, by definition, often unable to defend themselves, and here they are rendered as targets.

This is a little bit abstract, though I believe it. There's also, I'm told (I haven't read it. I could, if it mattered), research into the word "retard" as an insult-phrase and the consequences of exposure to that word for people (especially teens) who have intellectual disabilities. It's devastating on them.