Is there room for satire on Yahoo Answers?

Question

Someone posted this question: "when will some people start to blame mexicans for the hole in the ozone layer, since it seems to be normal for some to blame mexicans for anything in their lives." The question was deleted for inciting hatred.
I just read a question that said: "did you know black people cry racism at everything?" which one incites more hatred? Which question has racism at its root?

Answer 1

You're right on with this one.

Answer 2

I laughed hard at the first example.
Thanks for that xD

The second isn't funny, it seems serious.

I mean, the first is also reagrding a serious topic but it's more obviously ironic-- because 1) Mexicans have little or nothing to do with the hole in the Ozone layer 2) the questioner doesn't ask it without distancing his/herself-- "when will some people..." 3) And pointing to the norm of mexican blameworthiness over ALL facets of life to SOME people is, yet again, another hyperbolic (and wickedly true) statement-- which makes the formulation of "M's are responsible for the hole in the O layer" into a farce.

Ozone depletion isn't the greatest risk anymore, it has started to come back-- but global warming is continuing. The funny thing is, I don't know how much Mexico is responsible for Global Warming. I'm positive the US is mostly.. but if you've ever been to Mexico City, you'd know what I mean, in terms of CO2 emissions.


Last tangent: both questions appear to me with little context. I know the second could be better meaning if there was a backdrop. I've asked 10-15 racist questions in succession to piss everyone off before. But the point was not racism, it was that all the questions were loaded and that in answering them people were revealing their hate speech or unknown biases-- and if they followed the cue they should have seen the absurdity. I made it obvious with the last few questions.


But really it would take alot of context to make the second acceptable. Because it really isn't as it stands. Blaming or berating the victim is a really popular strategy for people to cope with their lack of responsibility.

Answer 3

I think the problem with most satire is that it's poorly performed. The real strength of satire is when you don't HAVE to misrepresent a person's point to make it absurd. A lot of "satire" however takes points that the arguement doesn't actually say but that one "incorrectly extrapolates" from it, and then make that out to be the absurdity. For instance, the satire "a modest proposal" was about how utilitarianists want to eat babies. But that's not true: no utilitarianist wants to eat babies, because it's not utilitarian. He made a big arguement about it, but really, it costs a lot to raise babies, a lot more than to raise cattle. And even if it didn't, there's still the utility lost when the babies die, and don't forget that since there are so many people who think eatting babies is abhorent, you'll find people going nuts against the government that instituted the plan, meaning that it's not utilitarian in that.

My point is, a lot of satire calls itself that to hide behind the fact that it's in actuality just a really bad misrepresentation of the opposite side.

Anyway, both questions ask valid questions, though the second question has a much more specific overgeneralization. Yes, there are a great number of black people who (not consciously more than likely) use racism as a tool to promote their agenda (and more power to them if they can get away with it). And that's what the question wants to say, but what it literally says is that all black people do such, which is of course false.

Answer 4

look I think that the average IQ on yahoo answers is 75 (of course they bring down our high score) and if people don't even know how to use the spell check button here - how do you expect them to understand satire - if lets say you were posting this question around 5 am EST then that would make it the time in England when there would be the best chance of having satire because that's the kind of humor Brits like. As for Americans everything is slapstick and nothing is sublet that's why satire is not a major way of expressing humor

Just FYI they didn't let me post my question Have you ever had phone sex with a telemarketer?

Answer 5

You know a majority of the people on this board are having to look up the word "satire" because it's not a common word used enough in the English language and it's actually kind of hard to remember the defintion to.

Anyways. I suppose the second one would have to have more racism at it's root due to the fact that there is still alot of tension between the african americans and other races.

Answer 6

They both have racism at the root, and it would be a grand thing if all us Humans could realize that we are decieved through the Illusion of Separation, that we are all one consciousness, and that the hatred we spread is a cancer on the beautiful face of our Mother Earth.

Satire...I love Monty Python. Lots of people dislike them for one reason or another, and that really isn't relevent, but it illustrates some people leave no room for satire in their own lives. If it wasn't for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, I would have gone nuts over all this humans killing humans in the name of God BS a long time ago. Let us all pray for peace, and satire!
Blessed Be.

Answer 7

It depends upon the format. Over the last couple of days, there has been a lot of questions concerning Rory Emerald (a probable liar who claims to have been married to both Elizabeth Taylor and Victoria Sellers, daughter of the late Peter Sellers), the sex lives of cartoon characters, and poop.
The above can be humorous at times. My answer to Stinky's (obviously not the poster's real name) question "Why does my poop stink?" was my homage to Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch.
But true racism in ANY format, even disguised as satire, is wrong. Feel free to use the "Report Abuse" link if you come across any.

Answer 8

I think there is room for certain kinds of satire. The problem is that satire is difficult in a forum that also contains a lot of racism.

Answer 9

i think the Mexican question was just to get our goat...ppl post tons of questions that are obviously too radical to be true, and its easy to tell when they just want to laugh at all the enraged responses they get. i think the black question is a little more down-to-earth, though. it is true that some ppl of different ethnic origin are paranoid, and can twist anything you say into something racist... but then, can we really blame them? It is our fault that they were given reason to distrust whites in the first place.
my advice would be to ignore questions like that if they bother you... maybe they should not be allowed, but then again, it IS the internet.

Answer 10

People are so friggen PC and then contradict themselves, it's so friggen annoying. And people want to report posts that "offends" them by pointing out a stereotype they don't agree with, yet let all that Edna shi.t go around for days. A post that attacks a race, a gender, or sexual orientation hatefully, or promotes sex crimes incites hate...not a sarcastic remark.

Later:
I have, prettymama! I think I got her fired.

Answer 11

Both of them. Why can't we see that we are all 'human beings' instead of different? Why can't we all reunite and love each other. I know I sound like a throw back from the sixties, but if we just give love a chance at this time, what could blossum? I think we could reach a real 'golden age'!