From: Rumple (semi-influential legal blogger)
To: CEO's Corporations
RE: Just stop it
The Scene: Burger Fi (we like it green-style with the lettuce replacing the bun)
R: I'll have the burger, green style, with onions, and tomatoes.
Counter person: Ok, burger with onions and tomato, green style. Would you like mushrooms with that?
R: No.
Counterperson: French fries?
R: No.
Counterperson: A shake?
R: Just stop. I have spent a moment reviewing the menu. I can read. I didn't walk in here and order and forget french fries or a shake.
Enough already with the ridiculous up-selling. Not one time has anyone offered us french fries and have we said "OMG thank you so much. I totally forgot to order french fries."
This up-selling demeans your workers and it causes us resentment and makes us less likely to return. And it wastes our time. Thirty years ago cars salesmen were trying to sell us floor mats and undercoating. Today Starbucks won't sell us a small cup of coffee without informing us that for thirty cents more we can get a vente.
Really? We're already paying five bucks for a cup of coffee. Do you think we ordered the small because we didn't want to pay the extra quarter?
Just stop it.
Secretariat.
The Belmont is a mile and half. The test of champions. The long race standing between a good horse and a horse for the ages. Affirmed and Alydar battled it out in a classic stretch run in 1978 before Affirmed stuck out a nose and won the triple crown. No horse has done it since.
And none have done it better than the legendary Secretariat who ran it in a record 2:24. a record that stands today and which broke the prior record by over two seconds. As you will see, Secretariat was so dominant that the camera had to pan back to get the rest of the field in the picture.
RUMPOLE ....I actually am ok with the up sell at Tootsies and at the Bunny Ranch.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I forget what I want and they remind me that for an extra $100, I can get a "shake"!
See this is the type of comment I'm supposed to censor because it mentions. S. E. X. I realiIse you are trying to be funny. And failing. But who am I to be the censor of bad humor? I'm interested in what the readers think. Is this ok or because it mentions places where women are used for sex and objectified should I have not allowed it even though it's clearly just a bad joke ?
ReplyDeleteAnd let's not forget the mother of all upsells: the extended warranty. They spend 15 minutes telling you what a fantastic computer/cell phone/scanner you are buying only to push a useless warranty on you because "you never know."
ReplyDeleteRumpole,
ReplyDeleteYou demean the readers who objected to misogynist posts by characterizing the objections as to S.E.X. Woman like sex as much as men. They don't like misogyny any more than a Jewish person likes anti-semitism or a person of color likes racism.
As I'm certain you're aware, the vast majority of sex workers are economically exploited if not enslaved, and are physically abused by their pimps and their customers. The difference between the McDonald's worker and the sex worker is that the up-selling by the former doesn't involve a non-consensual likely-repulsive physical act with a man who gets off on power imbalance.
Here's a joke: guy goes to a labor pool, hires a black man to load broken bricks into dumpster. Manager of labor pool says, 'for an extra $50, you can whip him.' Here's another: guy goes to a Jewish bakery to buy a loaf of rye. Baker says, 'for an extra $10, I'll climb in the oven too.'
Dr. Gilberto Fort passed away. He wasn't a doctor but, in Cuba, all lawyers are called "doctor." Old timers like me remember when he ran the library on the 8th floor. Nice guy. May he rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteNothing you say is wrong. The exploitive add industry is horrific. So was 9-11. So was the day when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. So was the holocaust. So are the modern hloocausts occurring right now in Africa and Syria. So was slavery in this country. And yet I have heard jokes about all of these subjects. So again I ask you - am I the appointed arbitrar of jokes and taste ? Or do we just agree all subjects are ok except sex and exploration of women. ?
ReplyDeleteThe assassination of Abraham Lincoln was a horrible tragic event. And yet the joke "so other than that how was the play Mrs Lincoln has been Round decades.
That should read sex industry.
ReplyDeleteWho objected to sex and "exploration" of women.
ReplyDeleteIs that a Freudian slip?
Rumple really showing his ignorance with these last few posts.
ReplyDeleteRumpole,
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last time you posted jokes about the holocaust, about slavery, about 9-11. You can certainly say: "I haven't censored such jokes; I just haven't received comments with jokes about those subjects." Once you've said that, ask yourself why you don't receive such jokes but you frequently receive misogynistic jokes; then ask yourself why your women readers implore you not to post them.
Remember the racist jokes that the Ft. Lauderdale and Miami Beach cops were sharing with one another? Remember how that led to disciplining, even firing the cops, and jettisoning some of their cases? That's because people who tell racist jokes, or tolerate them from others, can't be trusted to enforce the law against people of color.
Misogynist joke-telling poisons the air of your blog. Were you not anonymous, you wouldn't be trusted by female criminal attorneys: you curate comments to spare other people from insult, but you behave as if sparing us is a chore to perform grudgingly at best. Just as you've begun "censoring" alleged male conquests of very-young mostly-immigrant women, why not block other misogynist comments. Sure, you'll lose some male readers, they'll scoff that you've been "pussy-whipped" or "hen-pecked" on their way out. But you'll balance that out with new female readers.
I don't not post them. I don't receive them. Let me know- do you find the other than that how was the play mrs Lincoln offensive?
ReplyDeleteAndy Kaufamn said but maybe didn't originate that humor was topic plus time. Is it ok now to joke about 9:11 or slavery or the hloocaust? I am not supporting jokes about women or strip clubs or prostitutes. What I am asking is whether everyone thinks those are always off limits but I can post jokes about skavery or the hloocaust or famine in Africa ? Or is there a humor board by which I have to run every joke and see what the consensus is ? My point is that it is very against my nature to censor something merely because it offends people. And yet I understand that somehow some humor is always off limits. What I don't know is where to draw the line. What bothers me in this discussion is that people on the other side immediately try and paint me as a defender of mysogny. It's dirty fighting.
So a blogger a stripper a rabbi and an Ethiopian orphan walk into a bar ......
ReplyDeleteJust do to The REN (a venue). At midnight the DJ plays Shut up and Dance about ten times in a row and everyone has a good time. A new miami tradition. Plus the Kobe beef sliders are the best in Miami.
ReplyDeletesorry folks but not all sex workers are exploited victims. especially at your average strip bar where fools pay lots of money for a woman to gyrate in front of them. these woman make alot of money, much more money than they could make given the other skills they have. many women choose this line of work, are not forced into it by pimps, were not molested as kids. read some of the stories on the internet about why some women choose to become sex workers. comparing them to Jews in the holocaust or slaves is just plain ignorant.
ReplyDeleteWell let me be the first to respond that no little girl says "I want to be a stripper when I grow up ". There are women that make the work work for them. But the majority of the women are on a downward spiral. Now that doesn't mean that strip clubs should be outlawed. It just means you need to view the work with open eyes. It's demeaning and usually doesn't end anywhere good for the worker. Not always. But usually.
ReplyDeleteI never bothered to learn the various "waves" of feminism (third wave, fourth wave, etc), but the commentator above is a rare example of about two waves previous.
ReplyDeleteFeminists don't wring their hands over strippers or sex workers anymore and their "powerlessness". They don't see sex workers as tragic damsels in a downward spiral needing saving.
And they certainly don't need old lawyers on a lawyers blog combating their "exploitation" by censoring jokes.
RUMPOLE .... I thought my comment was funny. Especially the "Shake".
ReplyDeleteIt is called humor. Even Howard Stern says people are too sensitive and politically correct. Where do you draw the line?
Is Henny Youngman saying "take my wife, please" not right in today's climate?
Come on people. The world is collapsing. We are on the verge of isolationism, nuclear war, cyber attack where we could look at our life savings disappear.
Please. Just be a moderator. Use your discretion if there is someone directly attacked. Be compassionate. Don't allow hate speech. Don't use the N word.
Other than that, let's have fun, laugh and enjoy intelligent satire....
If the Blog gets to much of a censored site .... the time has come for you to retire, a job well done and enjoy your retirement in Truckee!
WOW, that Secretariat was one hell of a horse.
ReplyDeleteAccording to DHS, half the strippers in South Florida clubs are underaged. Same with the 'women' on the back pages of the publications to which 3:05 subscribes. With a little math and imagination, you can figure that many of those who are not now underaged were when they started. And they don't keep the money 3:05 stuffs in their g-strings, their pimps do.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, how many of you have defended or prosecuted middle-class sex workers who like what they do. How many of you have defended or prosecuted johns? Do you see the connection?
And Rumpole, ask yourself why you don't receive racist and anti-semitic jokes. It's not because none of your readers are racist or anti-semitic. It's because they know that comments like that on this blog would outrage all of your readers. Even if you received such a comment, you wouldn't publish it, or, if you did, you'd frame it with an expression of your own outrage. Words do wound. Although you understand that principle in other contexts, you don't seem to get it in this one.
Your Abraham Lincoln hypo doesn't work. No one's oxe is gored by that joke; but imagine if it were told by and for racists still fuming that the south lost the war. Context is everything.
Here's some context: like the fuming secessionists, your misogynist joke-tellers don't want to see women as equals or authority figures in the courtroom. Women who read your blog are exposed to a variety of rageful paroxysms every day. The misogynist jokes are an opportunity for insult that your male readers can't indulge in court. You shouldn't indulge them here.
If words wound - and I'm not saying they don't - how do you handle the multiple of African American comics who use the N word in their acts ? It's a repugnant word. And yet they use it all the time.
ReplyDeleteMy point is not that you are wrong. My point is that there is a useful aspect of humor.
George Carlin knew words hurt. And yet he developed an act around the seven deadly words because he was attacking government censorship.
If you want censorship about women's issues then you are agreeing to the principle of censorship and you are just hoping that the people you give the power of ideas to won't censor something you want to talk about. I'm not comfortable about that. I don't want to live in a world where people appointed by president Marco Rubio or Rick Santorum tell me what is funny and what isn't. Sorry but you are so wrapped up in the issue of women that you can't see the bigger principle.
Censorship is bad. Period.
ReplyDeleteRumpole,
ReplyDelete(1) The First A applies only to govt - it isn't censorship unless the govt does it.
(2) You block comments all the time - to avoid spreading what might be unfounded rumors, to avoid publicizing someone's illness or embarrassment, to avoid letting your space become a ring for grudge-matches or a source of slander. You probably cannot count the number of comments you have blocked in order to spare feelings or preserve a certain tone.
(3) You are, I am assuming, a white man. You really are not in a position to decide what words wound minority members or women. Context is everything. A black comic is a different context from a white comic when it comes to racial jokes; white comics don't make them (save for sarah silverman or steven colbert, who do so only to mock racists). It's like your Abraham Lincoln joke -- different coming from a mouth-breathing knuckle-dragging secessionist than from you or me.
(4) "Sorry but you are so wrapped up in the issue of women that you can't see the bigger principle." Say that to your daughter or wife or mother or niece when they return from a work day filled with casual misogyny. Yeah you're right, people shouldn't be "so wrapped up in the issue of" race that they mind being targeted with racist epithets. They shouldn't be "so wrapped up in the issue of" anti-semitism that they mind the appearance of swastikas at their workplace.
(5) Ghandi said: first they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. You've already lost by blocking the asserted sexual conquests of very-young mostly-immigrant women. (Although personally I think that's a win for you.)
We are all just dumber for having read the 9:14 post.
ReplyDeleteWhen did I cite to the first amendment ? I didn't. I know it doesn't apply. This is about someone posting something that they thought was funny and someone else's chastising me for not being the conscience of the community which they want me to be assuming my conscience is their conscience. And they don't seem to understand a bigger principle than whose ox was gored is at stake.
ReplyDeleteRump, Ignore the thought police. We've gotten to a place in this country where every impolitic or offensive or even just different word or thought or belief is "hate" or "anti" this or that. And it seems to me it comes from the very same people, who thirty years ago wanted an open dialogue and freedom of expression and the free exchange of ideas and all wrapped in progressive and enlightened pretense. But now, if they don't agree with it -- shut it down. How can this country not fail when we spin our wheels expend our energy on such nonsense and closed-mindedness.
ReplyDeleteRumpole, you've assumed the role as conscience of the community of criminal lawyers. You routinely call out conduct that demeans the profession, and promote conduct that ennobles it. Your blog is about nothing if not your own personal sense of professional value. Do you really think there's no inconsistency between the role you've assumed and spewing misogynist spittle in the face of your female colleagues?
ReplyDeleteIf there's no inconsistency, what's the "bigger principle" you serve in spewing misogynist spittle in the face of your female colleagues? Since you agree it isn't the First Amendment, then it doesn't matter what Marco Rubio would censor if he could, which is the principle you cited earlier. What other principle are you trying to protect? If it's the general freedom to express oneself anonymously, why do you block any comments?
914 you really have no idea what you are saying
ReplyDeleteRumpole, you have no doubt found yourself in a conundrum. I do not know when the blog was first created, or what your intentions for it were when it was started, or what you intend to do with it from this point forward, but I can assure you that must think carefully about the latter. This blog has become a what is akin to a news/media outlet. We learn about changes in our little bubble (The REG), happenings at the SAO/PD/Corrections, FACDL, etc. YOU are the self appointed moderator of this news/media outlet. Imagine that every time you post/allow to be posted something that is misogynistic you are hearing the anonymous speaker first, then you hand your microphone to them and tell them "say that so the entire audience can hear you." No matter how you shake it, YOU as the moderator have given that person the floor on your forum. I may be incorrect, but I don't believe you would allow the same person to enter your home and spew the same misogynistic comments to female members of your family.
ReplyDeleteTo say that you don't believe in censorship is not accurate since you do censor some material, and most people agree that the type of posts you do censor should be censored. To that end I believe most sensible readers of the blog applaud you. You obviously don't believe in total censorship or this would just be a blog with only your posts! So there is a fine delicate line, and for the most part you have done a good job in determining where that line belongs. A growing number of people (or at least a number of people) who read your blog have been offended by comments made by others that you have allowed to be posted. You have defended your posting/allowing the posts to appear based on your personal beliefs/moral/idealistic compass. That you put thought and effort into it is great, and often more than the original poster.
My advice to you is that you should determine what type of blog you want to run and go with it come hell or high water. Do you want a Jerry Springer type blog, or a Dr. Phil type blog? They both have their purpose, devoted audiences, and bring in viewers. If you want comments such as "l......g..." being made freely, openly, and often off topic from your post knowing it will offend and alienate the females who read your blog then go ahead. It will cost you some readers, you may gain a few, but the show will still go on. If you want a blog where topics are discussed intelligently and civilly then go ahead. You may lose some readers (however I doubt it), you may gain a few, but the show will still go on.
Your comment is the best and most persuasive so far and I am inclined to agree with you. I have reservations but I think you're right and will not allow those comments. Well done and thank you. Next time you see let me know and I will buy you a cup of coffee.
ReplyDeleteYou censor almost everything I try to post. And I still like you.
ReplyDeleteNo one wants to wake up to this kind of thing, sprayed on your car or spewed in your reading material:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article23613079.html