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Scousers urged to 'for pity's sake let it go' by everyone
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I find this very offensive, but that's because it's a shit joke.
I think most people, especially football fans, are still very sympathetic to the Liverpool fans over what happened and the subsequent smear campaign. So this isn't even an observational joke. It's just words on a page that are trying to be funny, but aren't. Just out of interest, and maybe to try to be a bit constructive and make it funny, who is the target of this joke?Posted 8 months ago # -
deceangli
offlineMemberLens - I don't think it's a shit joke. Spectacularly poor taste, given that the disaster happened in living memory, but it's also somewhat funny, because Scousers are a bit "cry me a river".
I'm with the Liverpudlians on boycotting The Sun. Just wish our fucking politicians would develop some dignity and do likewise.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Sorry, you're right. All these Liverpudlians with constant moaning. 'Nearly 100 people died because of fatal errors made then the police tried to cover it up moan moan moan, now we boycott a paper that said it was the dead's fault whilst accusing them of pissing on the dead and stealing their wallets moan moan moan'. When will they just stop going on about it, hey.
I think the boycott shows a decent sense of a community coming together in awful circumstance regardless of loyalties to show how they feel. Maybe, had they taken your advice years ago we would never have known about the systematic cover up and smear campaign leaving the police and other authorities to carry on acting like that against anyone else, not just them.
But fuck 'em, moan moan moan.
I didn't find it offensive in the way you think. However I disagree that humour has to be. Humour has to make you laugh first and foremost. It can make you think, it can provoke a reaction inside you after the laugh, but it should never be offensive. If it is offensive, it's not humour and fails to be satire. Laugh first, think second. If you offend you fail to get your point across in a humorous way, you just alienate.
Posted 8 months ago # -
I'm not offended. Cameron may be offended, but he is also responsible for the decisions that affect people's lives and so is therefore a fair target of satire. People fighting for the truth regarding the death of loved ones, a truth that after 25 years still isn't fully out there, are not. It's about asking does the target deserve it?
Posted 8 months ago # -
deceangli
offlineMemberhas to make you laugh first and foremost.
That's the problem - I laughed. Agree that Hillsborough was a tragedy, that the families deserve justice, and I'm delighted that they're being taken far more seriously - after what must seem an interminable wait.
Still made me laugh, though. I'll get me coat.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Top eight. Not enough comments on anything else so not ten items in there. I can't help feel a sweeping generalisation isn't much better and that the original piece was about the moaning about the Sun because of Hillsborough, but as you say, we won't agree
Posted 8 months ago # -
For reference, submissions need to be less than ten days old and have at least 5 votes to be eligible for the top ten
Due to the current low number of voting visitors to the Newsbiscuit writers' room, only 8 submissions are eligible.
At the moment, all you need is five votes to get on the list, positive or negative.
Posted 8 months ago # -
The All New Jeni B
offlineMemberIf the test is if something made you laugh, then this still fails.
Let's try it from another angle: 9/11 families urged to 'for pity's sake let it go' by everyone?
Or: Christian's urged to 'for pity's sake let it go' by everyone?
Maybe: Holocaust survivors urged to 'for pity's sake let it go' by everyone?
Hmmm....
Posted 8 months ago # -
MADJEZ
offlineMember9/11 families urged to 'for pity's sake let it go' by everyone?
Holocaust survivors urged to 'for pity's sake let it go' by everyone?
As Rob already said the target was NOT the Hillsborough families but the City of Liverpool and the anti-Sun campaign. OK the paper had some appalling headlines early on (when it wasn't clear what had happened), other papers and TV were full of similar stories at the time I recall.
People have made jokes about Zeebrugge or Piper Alpha and numerous air crashes without everyone jumping on them for making fun of the victims or their families. I don't agree that we should have sacred cows that no-one's allowed to touch.
Posted 8 months ago # -
RobArmstrong
offlineMemberI think this one should be allowed to die Madjez! I absolutely haven't learned my lesson however and agree with your points. In fact the guidance for the room specifically says there are no restrictions on subject matter. Anyhoo, let me think about something to do with Scottish independence next, I fancy being firebombed.
Posted 8 months ago # -
throngsman
offlineMemberThe good thing about bloody Sunday is that it took their mind off that bloody potato famine.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Titus
offlineMember"Let's try it from another angle: 9/11 families urged to 'for pity's sake let it go' by everyone?"
Demonstrates an utter failure to get the point. New Yorkers are not notorious for being a whining, whingeing bunch of self-pitying losers. Nor do they keep going on and on and on about a hideous tragedy which happened in their city - even though it affected vastly more people. The New Yorkers have managed to let it go and move on, and the world respects them for that.
All that humour needs to be is funny. It certainly doesn't need to avoid being offensive.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Titus, you have shown that maybe, just maybe, you don't understand the point. I'm sure that they won't go 'on and on about a hideous tragedy which happened in their city', and wouldn't be a 'whining, whingeing bunch of self-pitying losers' if they didn't have to fight with the police and government and coroner's office and every other authority to get the truth and recognition that the people who died didn't die because of their own actions, but by the actions of those that were supposed to protect them. Regardless of the numbers, had the families of those who died on 9/11 been told that it was their own fault and not only that, survivors were acting like uncontrollable animals then I think it would have been a different story. If the truth was made known straight away there would be respectful tributes once a year and that would be it, but the fact is they still haven't got final verdicts and closure. The boycotting of The Sun was because, as I have said above, the sun said fans acting like hooligans, fighting police, pissing on the dead and stealing their wallets was 'the truth'. They have had their dead sons, fathers and grandfathers and other relatives names dragged through the dirt in an attempt to protect a few in the police and then government. So can you blame them. If you were in their shoes, even if it was only one dead person, would you just sit back and say nothing or fight tooth and nail and be as loud and irritating as possible to get the real truth.
As I said, the target, be it the families, or the communities that have fought by their side isn't the right one. It may be about the boycotting of The Sun, but the reasons for that make them the wrong target. Some things will be offensive, I agree, but the offense if it has to be there has to be targeted to the people that deserve it, in this story the authorities or the paper. Here the offense, intended or not, is aimed at the families and friends of the dead people that were then smeared.
Posted 8 months ago # -
The All New Jeni B
offlineMemberAs Rob already said the target was NOT the Hillsborough families but the City of Liverpool and the anti-Sun campaign.
Regardless, he had to explain that, since many of us saw his target as being the families fighting to clear the name of their dead loved ones and to hold to account the papers and police who deliberately defiled their names and then covered it up to save their own skins.
That the target was the city of Liverpool (a city whose two teams' supporters have been united over this) is not apparent, therefore, imo, the joke fails.Anyhoo, let me think about something to do with Scottish independence next, I fancy being firebombed.
Give it a go, but try to make it funny, I dare you. By the way, "I fancy being firebombed." you're mixing up a democratic referendum with how the Welsh Liberation chaps deal with independence. There are no instances of firebombing during this campaign.Demonstrates an utter failure to get the point.
Titus, Titus, Titus, no it doesn't. It really, really doesn't. It demonstrates that you've chosen not to get the point that I was making about perspective. Utterly.This joke is relying entirely on being offensive. Offensive is fine, if it is funny. This isn't, it's just offensive.
I'm not at all surprised to see the usual suspects leaping to the defence of a tasteless sub. It's the same ones who think that rape jokes are a gas.
Posted 8 months ago #
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