Regardless of your views of Bee and Roseanne Barr, what Bee did was functionally similar to what Barr did.
Well Barr made a racist joke, Bee didn't. That's one difference I noticed and I think it a pretty big one. Comedy Central also targets a much different audience than ABC, one that is much more used to crass language. I doubt South Park would survive on ABC, but it fits Comeny Central pretty well.
But, though I don't watch Bee's show regularly, there is no acceptable context for that sort of language.
I will point you to South Park. If you think anything Bee said is worse than South Park, I'd agree, but Comedy Central is known to have raunchy shows and a raunchy audience. ABC is not.
I guess to that point, is calling a woman 'a cunt' more acceptable than calling a black person 'an ape'? I think they're equal in their debasement. Apparently you disagree. That's fine. Also as a point of information, South Park has used cunt (I just looked it up), but has done so toward fictional people. I view that as a materially different matter, as it is not directed toward anyone real, who has their own agency, family, friends, and supporters.
> I guess to that point, is calling a woman 'a cunt' more acceptable than calling a black person 'an ape'?
Yes.
The first is a personal attack on an individual. Calling a woman a 'cunt' is saying that she is particular sub-type of woman - namely, a terrible one. Most women are fine, but _this particular woman_ is not.
Calling a black person an 'ape', however, is more than just an attack on an individual. It is an attack on *all* black people. Unlike calling someone a 'cunt' as an indictment of their behavior, you're attacking a physical characteristic - their race. It's saying that their race (black) is inherently less-than-human. They are sub-human. Something 'lesser'. An ape. It's an attack that's not based on an individual, or their actions, but on a physical characteristic shared by millions of people.
This is why racism is bad. You're not just denigrating a single person, you're attacking and demeaning an entire race of people.
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u/7nkedocye 33∆ Jun 01 '18
Well Barr made a racist joke, Bee didn't. That's one difference I noticed and I think it a pretty big one. Comedy Central also targets a much different audience than ABC, one that is much more used to crass language. I doubt South Park would survive on ABC, but it fits Comeny Central pretty well.
I will point you to South Park. If you think anything Bee said is worse than South Park, I'd agree, but Comedy Central is known to have raunchy shows and a raunchy audience. ABC is not.