Tuesday, April 26, 2011

"Edgy Comedian" Guy Earle

Altavista anything about the Guy Earle case, the self-professed extremely left-wing physicist/comedian, and you're bound to get a slew of hits to right-wing troglodytes (Steyn, Levant, Shaidle) for whom the man is a hero in the cause of free speech.

Seems that back in 2008, two lesbian women were having drinks on the patio of a Vancouver restaurant when, at 11 pm, they were told that the patio was closing and they'd have to move their drinks inside. According to the human rights tribunal decision, the two women and a friend went inside and sat at a booth near the stage. There was an open mic comedy night being hosted by Earle going on, of which they had been unaware and uninterested. They began discussing with the waitress what their next order of drinks would be and there was some back and forth about whether some brands of beer were available or not. Apparently, this conversation irritated Earle, and when one of the women kissed her partner on the cheek, Earle began to make disparaging comments about "dykes."

Earle then went on to accuse the "dykes" of ruining the night of awesome talent on display that night and made further comments about how the dykes should go home and fuck each other with their strap-ons. This produced some boos from the audience and prompted one of the women to tell Earle that he wasn't funny. (He isn't.)Things escalated to one of the women throwing water at Earle and Earle taking the woman's sunglasses and breaking them. Of course, everything was punctuated with Earle shouting about “fucking cunts”, “stupid cunts”, “stupid dykes”, and “fucking dyke cunts.”

Earle was taken to a human rights tribunal where he was found guilty of discrimination and fined. He intends to take his case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Here's the thing. This case has made me reconsider my free-speech extremism. I still believe that people should be free to write about how much they hate defined groups of people. They can even get together, in, say, a church, and say how much they think homosexuals are evil sinners. Or, they can vent about black people, white people, whatever people, on the internet. So long as they don't start advocating physical violence against them, such hatred should be legal. It's stupid, but it shouldn't be outlawed either. Furthermore, if I'm in a coffe-shop somewhere and somebody makes an outburst about, say, white guys, that's legal. Even if it's the owner or an employee. The customers can even directly tell me that they hate white guys like me. If, however, the owner or the employee does that, ... then that is practical discrimination. And that's where the line should be drawn.

Earle, and a lot of other of his defenders, are saying that art is different. As a comedian up on the stage, Earle's right to free speech is even more important than if he were just some guy ranting on the sidewalk. I don't think so. As a guy performing on a public stage, I think Earle's right to be bigoted and prejudiced is LESS important than somebody ranting in private or to nobody at all.

He's a "comedian" is supposedly a defence. Remember when lame-ass Mark Richards destroyed his career by calling a (genuine) heckler a nigger? Well, why should it be any different, any less monstrous to attack someone for their sexuality? Especially since more gay kids are bullied into suicide than practically any other group of young people?

And here's where the idea of practical discrimination comes in: I'm sure black people aren't surprised when they hear some white racist hsss "nigger" at them. I'm sure they hear stupid shit like that all the time. It probably kills them a little inside, but they're resigned to it to a degree (I think).

But I don't think any black person in Canada today, no matter how much scar tissue they have over their feelings, would tolerate cashiers, waitresses, teachers, landlords, etc., pointedly giving them inferior or no service because they're black.

So why should lesbians be expected to sit back during a night on the town and endure some unfunny dipshit yelling at them for being dyke cunts?

How would Guy Earle like it if he went out to a night of "comedy" and got on the receiving end of being a needle-dicked, rapist, pasty-faced man? Every night? Especially in a world where women were always telling him to whip his cock out and if he doesn't, it's because it must be tiny. Or if every black man told him his small white dick couldn't satisfy a woman and that's why all the white women go for the black guys? [In case it isn't clear; all of this garbage is an attempt to reverse the so-called "edgy" comedic stylings of white, male comedians in a white, racist, patriarchal society. White, heterosexual guys don't have to worry about going to see a comedian and getting personally insulted for being who they are] You see, if Earle went out to hear some comedy, and 4/5ths of the comedians were ALWAYS something other than white males, and it was common to hear insults directed at white, heterosexual guys in daily life, ... like, sometimes, black dyke policewomen were always harassing us and the courts were discriminating against us and we were going to prison more often, for more years, than other groups of people, I'm pretty sure that Earle wouldn't find it "edgy" to have to sit there, once again, and be insulted for who he is. Especially if he didn't expect to find himself at some shitty open-mic comedy show.

No comments: