IThe biggest problem I have is that some of the people who were "offended" actually have nothing to do with the group in question either (5'4 90 pound girls on Twitter posting that they want to punch Seth McFarlane for a fat joke).
You like to make a lot of assumptions about other people and tell other people what they can and cannot be offended by for someone who says they don't. You've drawn a line in the sand defined by your own lived experiences and expect everyone else to live up to it, and you cannot comprehend the idea that other people's lives don't conform to it. That a lot of those jokes might offend those girls because they're offensive to women in general (not necessarily every woman, but women), or because they have/had eating disorders and/or body image issues, or because they were fat once, or because they just plain think it was mean and wrong and don't like body shaming and that you don't have to be targeted by name by something to have speak out against something you think is wrong (this involves empathy, or just listening to other people's perspectives and trying to see it their way). I know the last one is terribly revolutionary.
I said I wouldn't engage -- I really, truly didn't want to derail the thread and start up a fuss, although the discussion continued independently of me anyway -- but then you literally told me as someone who had just announced themselves as an eating disorder survivor to sit back and enjoy eating disorder jokes (you didn't know that I grew up and live surrounded by domestic abuse, either, and I don't hold you accountable for that, but I still expressed my discomfort and you talked down to me about it), so I thought sticking up for myself was in order. Not to make a point to you, because I don't expect you to change your mind, but because my perspective is actually really relevant as an eating disorder survivor. Someone who has actually been through severe eating disorder relapses and required medical attention for them in the past.
The McDonalds thing is a false equivalency because, regardless of your fanboyish assertions about Seth MacFarlane, most people don't watch the Academy Awards for Seth MacFarlane. They watch them for the Academy Awards, and it's not unreasonable to say that something offends you. I had McNuggets and they fucking sucked. And then I went home and threw them up because lol eating disorders, right? If the world is really inclusive to you and you don't have to worry about things like that, then it can be really easy to not realise what it's like. But if things that have no reason to be unwelcoming to you are hostile to you for no apparent reason, then you would speak out against it too.
This has nothing to do with the Academy Awards, but it's a comparison (not perfect, but
food for thought): I'm disabled, I have a walking frame and many special needs, and the world is only in part physically accessible to me. A lot of it is actually quite dangerous to me for no good reason. Are you going to tell me I should stay at home and not participate in things that have nothing to do with my disabilities? Maybe the world should consider being inclusive of me and people like me. It's not possible for me to be an abled person, and there are things that the world cannot just 'get rid of', but there are things that the world can do better so that I can participate in society. Maybe we can reach a compromise. Just maybe. It's the same thing here, and please don't even start to imply it's different here because I
choose to be offended and don't
choose to be disabled. It's ignorant and misses the point of what I was trying to say entirely (also you'll make me have to explain eating disorders and how they work to you, and that has nothing to do with the Academy Awards either).
Yes, I know the world isn't going to change itself for me. As arrogant as this is, I probably know it a lot better than you do because of those experiences. But it doesn't mean I can't say something bothers me, because it deserves to be said, and I think as individuals we can stand to rethink our actions when someone says 'hey, that hurts' and listen and try to understand their point and maybe learn from it, and that humour isn't immune to criticism. I just want to go about my life, and I shouldn't have to do it silently, biting my lip rather than saying respectfully that something might be a bit of an issue.
If you make it hard for people to say they don't like something, then you can't pretend that because they don't speak up about it that everyone likes it. And if you go 'la la la not listening' or dismiss it when people say they don't like something based on your own assumptions about their lives / motivations or your own criteria about whether they 'get' to be offended or not (who made you the authority?), then your judgment of the situation is terribly flawed. A lot of people enjoyed Seth's humour. That's not surprising, and it shouldn't be surprising to anyone. It's actually not all that edgy or courageous, really. But some people didn't, and that's valid too.
P.S. I watched like five episodes of Family Guy in my life, ever. I'm truly not on a mission to destroy the guy. I'm not sure why you can't fathom that people might have a problem with these things that's divorced entirely from Seth MacFarlane...
