If the joke I cited as an example trivalizes rape then this board game trivalizes war. It should be banned. Same goes for FPS games. Film and television is going to need to be seriously censored.

I honestly didn't get yours. Maybe I'm being dense, but I'm going to need it explained to me to be able to comment on it with any credibility.

In any case, unless there are people here who actually think megalomaniacal backstabbing, cheating and dominating of other people en route to subjugating entire continents through violent conquest is okay, your analogy breaks down.

And calling for bans on such things is silly, just like how no one here is saying that some entity should ban rape jokes. The idea is self-moderation.

Furthermore, and without a doubt most important to the point, I reject the idea that all depictions of violence trivialize violence. FPS games can present war and shootings in extremely graphic ways, not to trivialize war and shootings, but precisely to remind people why they're so horrible in the first place. Same with film and television.

And, I suppose in theory, same with a hypothetical rape joke... but the fact that it's a *joke* is important, because jokes are meant to instill amusement and be humorous, not haunting reminders of how horrible their subject matter is. At a bare minimum I can guaran-fucking-tee you that the majority of people who throw out "LOL GET RAPED"/"I raped that test"/etc. are *not* doing it to remind people of how bad rape is. In those uses it's an analogy to "owned" and its derivations, which of course does make the point that rape is the violation of self-ownership... but instead of demonizing it, it's glorified. "I raped that test" is a self-congratulation. "LOL GET RAPED" is a mocking taunt to someone who failed in a multiplayer contest, and thus a congratulation of a victorious opponent by mocking his fallen foe. These are *not* ethical depictions of rape. The difference between that and a graphic war film reminding an all-too-desensitized audience that war isn't a good thing should be crystal clear.

Also, Thucy, did you write this, or did you find it somewhere on the 'net? I intend to share this with quite a few acquaintances of mine and would appreciate knowing who to credit for it.

oops, I'm dumb, missed the title. hah.

who wrote it?

"To all those men who don't think rape jokes are a problem (NOT my work!)"

trololololololololololo

YOU ALL DON'T KNOW SANTORUM ABOUT RAPE!
THEY FUCK PEOPLE ALIVE DOWN THERE DON'T EAT ME!!!

And here's a fun read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape

"'ve seen men get the shit kicked out of them for saying much less about women. Maybe that's the trouble with today's kids, they don't know what men just don't do or joke about. "

Oh give me a break. Old men are the worst offenders when it comes to this. My wife gets sexually harassed every day by your generation working at a hospital. The only reason this became a 'youth issue' is because the 30+s want to believe absolutely nothing is ever offensive and they somehow don't live in a society that has a horrific rape culture.

So, As far as I know I'm about a half generation younger than most of the people here, and while I have heard the prison soap type joke once in a very long while, i don't think i've ever heard any other rape jokes. Also weighing in on the side of people saying it's abhorrent.

As for rape being used like owned, I'd say i have heard that more frequently, but still not very often. (and mostly in FPS multiplayer games, interesting why things like xbox live seem to bring the worst out of people, conversationally).

most of the younger*

Most of the time in MMORPGs we just say pwnd or ganked. I can honestly say the onely time we hear rape it is preceded with ass as in assraped and is intended to express just how painful the surprise attack was.

Well I am still not 100% sure what we are talking about here. I definitely don't think the joke I gave as an example was offensive. It's an old joke and its a dumb joke but it is not malicious.PE, for your information, the joke is a play on notions of nun sexuality. The first nun asks the lord for forgiveness, the second nun is enjoying the sex "this one knows what he is doing." It's a silly joke.

There are jokes which are demeaning and are intended to be demeaning - those are wrong. But I am not keen on blanket statements which reek of political correctness.

PE I wasn't saying that you were suggesting that the forum be moderated. The point I was making is that almost anything can be construed as being possibly offensive to someone somewhere. If we take that as our guide, not to offend anyone, we won't be left with much. My favourite comedians are offensive - take Bill Hicks for example. There were no taboos with that guy, but look below the surface of his humour and you will find the underlying message was interesting (or maybe not and that is fine too, we don't all have to agree on everything).

Here is a link to a George Carlin routine about rape.
http://www.myspace.com/video/michael/george-carlin-rape-can-be-funny/8512313
George Carlin was a decent guy. But he didn't hold back. Anything goes with George Carlin (same with Bill Hicks),

@Draugnar- you lucky lucky man. you ever played COD? hear it all the time there.

Bill Hicks didn't joke about rape or humiliate women in any routine I've ever seen.

"The point I was making is that almost anything can be construed as being possibly offensive to someone somewhere."

And that's the line that is going to be used every time somebody is bullied and humiliated by speech. Everything is offensive therefore we shouldn't even try to avoid racially or sexually abusing someone with our words.

No, I play WoW, STO, and SWTOR.

Maybe not rape but he told plenty of jokes that lots of people found offensive.

Because they attacked established power structures, like religion for example.

"And that's the line that is going to be used every time somebody is bullied and humiliated by speech."

Yes but need to look at the actual message. What is the sub-text? Not read into everything a non-existent message.

"Because they attacked established power structures, like religion for example."

So existing structures are fair game then. Its okay to bully Christians?

You can't bully people who have everything. It's ok to mock the rich & powerful, yes. It's not ok to degrade people who are already treated like garbage by society. I thought that was a truism but this forum makes me question every assumption. I guess people will start to argue that making fun of people with cancer is no worse than making fun of Wall Street traders.

@Draug- that would be why than! haha.

Take this routine from Bill Hicks:

"You never see positive drug stories on the news, do you? Isn’t that weird, since most of the experiences I’ve had on drugs…were real fuckin’ positive."

Someone somewhere is going to hear that joke and think "Bills Hicks says drugs are okay. Bill Hicks is encouraging children to do drugs".

"Always that same LSD story, you’ve all seen it, “Young man on acid thought he could fly, jumped out of a building. What a tragedy.” What a dick! Fuck him, he’s an idiot. If he thought he could fly, why didn’t he take off on the ground first? Check it out. You don’t see ducks lined up to catch elevators to fly south – they fly from the ground, ya moron, quit ruining it for everybody. He’s a moron, he’s dead – good, we lost a moron, fuckin’ celebrate. Wow, I just felt the world get lighter. We lost a moron! I don’t mean to sound cold, or cruel, or vicious…but I am, so that’s the way it comes out."

Someone somewhere knows someone who died because of drugs. Is Bill Hicks supposed to hold back because he *might* offend that person?

""We live in a country where John Lennon takes six bullets to the chest, Yoko Ono is standing right next to him. Not one fuckin' bullet!"

Racist against Japanese people? Someone somewhere will see that joke as racist. By the rule the profess to support, Putin, that joke is out of bounds.

"hanging out with friends and their friends, playing Halo with a bunch of guys online, in a WoW guild, in a pick-up game of basketball, at a bar, or elsewhere, you were talking to a rapist. " .... I've seen guys belong to a "World of Warcraft guild"....I don't think they could rape a paper bag.

Actually that last one, about Yoko Ono, was that Bill Hicks or Denis Leary?

What if it were a wet paper bag. You know, moist and ....

Was that an example of mocking rape?

@ulytau -- if you think "pwn" is a rape joke....then you are one sick fucker who must look for rape in whatever you see. That's pathetic.

I don't think ulytau is saying that. I think he means the kids say "rape" where they once said "pwn". That was my impression anyway. I have no idea. I don't use either term.

Milos Forman made two films which largely deal with the question of how far you can take a joke, "Man on the Moon" and "The People Vs. Larry Flynt". Both excellent films IMHO.

Racist against Japanese people? Someone somewhere will see that joke as racist. By the rule the profess to support, Putin, that joke is out of bounds."

You're really reaching here to make your point. I wish a free speech absolutist could make their argument without resorting to the slippery slope fallacy or nonsensical hypotheticals. I get it that you don't think any speech is offensive, and that people who are abused on the basis of their race, gender, or orientation should just suck it up, but the fact is we can make common sense distinctions between abusive & non-abusive speech. Somehow many countries around the world manage to do this every day. Hell, even the media recognizes the need for self-regulating abusive speech, forcing people to apologize for insensitive remarks, etc. The choice is not between common sense regulation and banning everything. I'm tired of that argument.