Tumblr/Twitter Sonic's latest exploits

[Pauly-kun]

I like Sonic's twitter, is so funny.

Yeah, SJW's doesn't understand jokes, they're offended by everything imo.

[KHCast]

Honestly this seemed much less "offensive" than a single episode of the current season of South Park, and there wasn't much anger or complaining with that show and its whole PC angle. Actually, I saw praise and people saying it was the best season in years. So to me, I don't really consider this simple joke that big a deal. Though I'm not super all PC like some here, so maybe that plays a part in why this doesn't sting me or make me sigh in disappointment.

[Nepenthe]

4 hours ago, Pauly-kun said:

I like Sonic's twitter, is so funny.

Yeah, SJW's doesn't understand jokes, they're offended by everything imo.

Most people don't understand jokes. Hence why a lot of bigoted fuckery gets excused as a joke.

It's hard to tell in the short context of a two-message Twitter conversation who the actual punchline is- trans people or otherkin-like communities that have co-opted trans culture- because of the language being so similar. Without an understanding of this the punchline is ambiguous, ergo it's not a good joke (not to mention there's never been a context where Sonic himself transformed into a chopper, so the punchline is dumb on that front.) I can see why trans people and those who empathize with them would have a problem with the Tweet and Aaron would do good to apologize for messing up.

Comedy is a skill. Saying dumb shit or playing around doesn't constitute comedy anymore than a person accidentally falling over some paint buckets exercises actual understanding of mastery of controlled realism in painting. If you want to be funny and not an asshole, you need to have some understanding of this.

7 hours ago, isCasted said:

As for "check your privilege" thing, it's a phrase designed specifically to not let people speak on certain subjects. It dismisses potentially important opinions based on person's identity, even denying their life experiences. It is an ad hominem at its finest, and it shouldn't just be mocked - it needs to die out.

"I know how to make this new rocket work!"

"Sir who are you?"

"The person going to save this rocket!"

"Sir, are you in any way qualified to perform the physical calculations necessary to solve this problem?"

"I don't need to know that! I'm a human being with good intentions!"

"Have you even stepped into an astrophysics class before?"

"You don't need to experience astrophysics to make a million dollar rocket work!"

"Sir, I'm gonna ask you to leave."

"DON'T DENY MY LIFE EXPERIENCE!"

[J&/MA/MC]

Oooh... Now it's getting royal. Her following tweets about this a pretty good. Should be mandatory to get into this situation.

[Mauro Fonseca]

I haven't laughed this hard because of the sonic twitter in

 

probably since this campaign started

 

oh that's beautiful, what on earth was aaron thinking and how unaware are "normal people" of the volatibility of idpol nowadays if he thought he could fly (like an attack helicopter!) with it

[FriendBot]

I didn't even know that that joke can be viewed as a transphobic joke. And here I am thinking when I saw that tweet was, "lol Sonic the Hedgecopter?! Sounds like the next Thomas/CrazySonic fanhack?"

I mean, does anyone honestly think Aaron will openly mock transgender people?! It's just ridiculous. That's just it, as the saying goes "don't make mountains out of molehills". And I'm guessing this more fuel for those who absolutely despise Aaron's tweets. So yep, this looks pretty dumb to me.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Well I mean, to be fair, and to the people saying it's an otherkin joke, it's a reference to a copypasta literally starting with "I sexually identify as an Attack Helicopter". No ambiguity what it's about :v it's as if he made a joke about removing kebabs, he's not talking about culinary with that, innit?

 

My point of confusion here is just if he thought no-one'd notice, no-one'd care, or genuinely that we don't live in a world of outrage in any corner ready to explode at every shoedrop. Something here doesn't really compute, especially for as internet-savvy as he's appeared to be, but that's half the reason I'm laughing so hard

[Treacher]

So our good 'ol boy Sonic/Aaron has been making San Franciscans angrier than when he toppled over cars and shredded City Escape, I see.

 

 

 

 

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

1 hour ago, AMC/H&M said:

Oooh... Now it's getting royal. Her following tweets about this a pretty good. Should be mandatory to get into this situation.

most of the responses to that are fucking disgusting. but hey it's wrong to point out a problematic joke, huh? 

[Indigo Rush]

I may be the worst person ever but I kind of hope Aaron makes an "Iblis Trigger" joke.

 

 

Spoiler

But really, I don't think he intended to offend anyone, but he should at least apologize.

 

 

 

[Mauro Fonseca]

oh that'd be the cherry on the cake. I'd forgive my hate of corporativist meme usage for a while and admit to loving the account if he'd dare to take things that far. It'd also be really dumb of him, mind

 

EDIT: I wonder if he just mixed it with the "In every levels except physical I identify as an [X]" maymay

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

One last thing, here is where that "I identify as an attack helicopter"" joke came from.

[Treacher]

• 2 minutes ago, Mikyeong said:

  most of the responses to that are fucking disgusting. but hey it's wrong to point out a problematic joke, huh? 

• Retweets 3,740
• Likes 5,172

• Wow, very receptive. Some homo and transsexuals defending the joke there, too. I think there's some...displeased towards Wu, believe it or not.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

I know. I'm just saying that I think it was wrong of the Sonic Twitter to use a offensive 4-chan meme.... that's all. I even linked it's origin so people can understand where I'm getting at. 

[Mauro Fonseca]

The only part that should be a problem here is the "offensive", if you're going to claim it's wrong for the sonic twitter to use memes originating from imageboards you're effectively firing poor aaron

[Treacher]

2 minutes ago, The KKM said:

The only part that should be a problem here is the "offensive", if you're going to claim it's wrong for the sonic twitter to use memes originating from imageboards you're effectively firing poor aaron

There's also much worse material Aaron could draw from imageboards, much worse. Though I must admit, I'd laugh pretty heavily if he shoops a picture of Sonic with Mac Tonight.

[Mauro Fonseca]

"Doc Eggman's here to give you your daily dose!"

 

EDIT: wait no fuck I mean aaron stop shoving being a memelord shoving memes into the mainstream that's awful it's awful enough to see marvel make covers with deadpool badly misquoting the doubles checking rituals

[isCasted]

6 hours ago, Nepenthe said:

Most people don't understand jokes. Hence why a lot of bigoted fuckery gets excused as a joke.

It's hard to tell in the short context of a two-message Twitter conversation who the actual punchline is- trans people or otherkin-like communities that have co-opted trans culture- because of the language being so similar. Without an understanding of this the punchline is ambiguous, ergo it's not a good joke (not to mention there's never been a context where Sonic himself transformed into a chopper, so the punchline is dumb on that front.) I can see why trans people and those who empathize with them would have a problem with the Tweet and Aaron would do good to apologize for messing up.

Comedy is a skill. Saying dumb shit or playing around doesn't constitute comedy anymore than a person accidentally falling over some paint buckets exercises actual understanding of mastery of controlled realism in painting. If you want to be funny and not an asshole, you need to have some understanding of this.

They were talking about hedgehogs and attack helicopters - there was nothing ambiguous about it. "Offended" people had to got out of their way to draw this parallel. When people are specifically looking into things to be offended at, it's clear they either haven't gone through an actual offense or plainly enjoy victimhood status. I am all against actual offense, I'm not willing to tolerate hatred, but believing in emotions of random people on the Internet who can't stand things that are perfectly normal for others (including other trans individuals) is naive at best and harmful at worst.

Also, apparently people like John Cleese and Stephen Fry have no sense of humor. Who would have thought?

6 hours ago, Nepenthe said:

*weird strawman mockery about rocketships*

Sorry, but I expected better from a person who generally tries to keep discussions civil here.

[Nepenthe]

48 minutes ago, isCasted said:

They were talking about hedgehogs and attack helicopters - there was nothing ambiguous about it. "Offended" people had to got out of their way to draw this parallel. When people are specifically looking into things to be offended at, it's clear they either haven't gone through an actual offense or plainly enjoy victimhood status. I am all against actual offense, I'm not willing to tolerate hatred, but believing in emotions of random people on the Internet who can't stand things that are perfectly normal for others (including other trans individuals) is naive at best and harmful at worst.

Also, apparently people like John Cleese and Stephen Fry have no sense of humor. Who would have thought?

Saying the joke is about hedgehogs and helicopters is a surface-level reading because you're taking the symbols at face value. The subtext of the joke (and it can't even be called subtext because of how the question was framed) was obviously about how people choose to identify themselves, with the first tweet asking the question about if Sonic identified as a hedgehog and Aaron making up another identifier instead complete with a eyeroll-worthy "check your privilege." There is a serious lack of understanding about transgender identities that has allowed its community to be co-opted both by online subcultures and ignorant bigots through the use of unscientific identities ("I identify as a god/fox/car herpaderp"), and it's this kind of nonsense that fosters ignorance and transphobic attitudes. As a result of this kind of cross-contamination and ignorance, the joke in play is a very difficult one to nail without accidentally punching down on transgender people in the process.

Ergo, to say people were "looking to be offended" is to basically throw a middle finger to the obvious sociopolitical context that made the joke possible in the first place. It's also to give credence to a joke with a shitty punchline because- as I said- it's completely ambiguous who the actual target is: transgender people or the online sub-communities/bigots co-opting trans culture for their own benefit. Without elaboration it's nearly impossible to tell, and any joke that needs elaboration is, mechanically, a bad joke. It's also just a shitty thing to say in general because it presumes a hell of a lot about a person's motives. Does anyone honestly believe in some conspiratorial nonsense that people are scouting the Sonic The Hedgehog Twitter account, of all accounts, looking for sociopolitical stuff to be offended by (to what end, honestly? Like, seriously, what is the end goal of these people "looking to be offended"?), or is it more likely that Aaron simply made a bad joke and people reacted naturally to it?

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Sorry, but I expected better from a person who generally tries to keep discussions civil here.

Complaining that the phrase "check your privilege" means "not allowed to talk at all" isn't civil discourse at this point. It's whining. I don't tolerate whining.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Nepenthe

[shdowhunt60]

Please tell me you're not implying that Arron Webber is making sociopolitical commentary, and is actually seeking to offend people.

[Nepenthe]

15 minutes ago, shdowhunt60 said:

Please tell me you're not implying that Arron Webber is making sociopolitical commentary, and is actually seeking to offend people.

Aaron made a joke that is obviously rooted in a sociopolitical issue, that being identity politics (this is different from making commentary where the intent is to make a point).

Whether or not he was intending to offend people doesn't actually matter, no more than Nakamura's intent to make Sonic 06 good actually means the game is good. Indeed, intent is always a misdirection of issues concerning institutional and cultural problems because harm is separate from intent. You can unintentionally harm someone or you intentionally harm someone. While your character is different in each scenario, the harm is nonetheless present in both. So again, Aaron's lack of intent to offend people doesn't actually matter. He still caused harm by making a joke that does little more than reinforce stereotypes and ignorance aimed at transgender people.

All of this goes back to the fact that, again, there are actual rules and structure to comedy. Anything can be funny, but that only happens once you've mastered what the ultimate punchline of the joke is. Hell, I've laughed at Louis CK's pedophilia joke and stand by his mastery of being able to take a subject so gross and turn it into something I could openly laugh at. What Aaron did was simply a failure based on the bare foundations of comedy, which he has actually done before because A.) He's an imperfect human being and B.) People keep bitching and whining about his use of memes so clearly we're all aware that the man doesn't always hit home runs when he's joking. It just so happened that, this time, the joke reinforced actual issues that transgender people face daily.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Nepenthe

[isCasted]

4 hours ago, Nepenthe said:

Saying the joke is about hedgehogs and helicopters is a surface-level reading because you're taking the symbols at face value. The subtext of the joke (and it can't even be called subtext because of how the question was framed) was obviously about how people choose to identify themselves

Subtexts are subjective, and they are achieved through a series of associations. Every person sees different subtext in things that have them. But, as you said, it can't even be called "sub"-text, but not for a reason you listed. The reason is that Internet memes are pretty much never used in any context deeper than meaning of said meme, so there's no reason to think about anything that wasn't said directly in the tweet.

Also, as I said before, GID is a well-known disorder, meanwhile people like otherkin are just highly likely to be pretending. This parallel isn't just not apparent - it's wrong.

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Does anyone honestly believe in some conspiratorial nonsense that people are scouting the Sonic The Hedgehog Twitter account, of all accounts, looking for sociopolitical stuff to be offended by (to what end, honestly? Like, seriously, what is the end goal of these people "looking to be offended"?), or is it more likely that Aaron simply made a bad joke and people reacted naturally to it?

This is Internet. Someone retweets it, then someone posts it on Imgur, then it goes to places like Facebook, Reddit, this forum... Heck, wanna an example of someone deliberately looking for offense? Have it.

Reasons to be a pretend victim? Attention seeking (one of the better reasons), abuse/exploitation of people's emotions (and, sometimes, laws too) for emotional and material profit. Do you wanna be famous, but can't sing/dance/create anything? Then professional victimhood is for you! There are thousands of people doing that, and plenty of naive types blindly believe them (and plenty of people get outraged when authorities like judges decide not to).

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Complaining that the phrase "check your privilege" means "not allowed to talk at all" isn't civil discourse at this point. It's whining. I don't tolerate whining.

At which point is that? Did something special happen in the history of this world that made everyone believe exact same things, share exact same views? I see this talk about the joke being transphobic as no more than whining, yet I actually care to explain why those people are wrong. And you can't tolerate my view, because it contradicts yours. Obviously you are right, and clearly I am wrong, there's no other way! You know what that's called? Bigotry.

But of course, you are doing this for the greater good, for the well-being of trans folk. However, let me remind you something: you are the one equating people with serious disorder to childish Internet animal-pretenders, not me, not Ruby, not all those people who liked the tweet. The only reason why all of us are now going to have such associations in our heads now is because people like you implied this connection. The joke is not reinforcing any stereotypes, only you do.

[Nepenthe]

1 hour ago, isCasted said:

Subtexts are subjective, and they are achieved through a series of associations.

A subtext is "subjective" inasmuch as the size and visibility of its consensus; have fun arguing that The Crucible isn't about McCarthyism. But again, this isn't even subtext because the joke is instead a literary allusion: a direct reference to something without naming it. In this case, it's identity politics. You cannot logically separate "Do you identify as a hedgehog?" from "Do you identify as a man/woman?" if you are even remotely aware of the sociopolitical reality concerning transgenderism.

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The reason is that Internet memes are pretty much never used in any context deeper than meaning of said meme.

Identity issues and "check your privilege" aren't only a meme though and I've gone into extensive detail as to why. But this is regardless of the fact that- again- intent is separate from harm and has nothing to do with any harm perpetuated by the language and images we use that references minority groups in an inaccurate or meanspirited way. A meme with a blackface character being used to instead react to a surprising video game announcement is still- objectively- a meme with a blackface character.

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Reasons to be a pretend victim? Attention seeking (one of the better reasons), abuse/exploitation of people's emotions (and, sometimes, laws too) for emotional and material profit. Do you wanna be famous, but can't sing/dance/create anything? Then professional victimhood is for you! There are thousands of people doing that, and plenty of naive types blindly believe them (and plenty of people get outraged when authorities like judges decide not to).

None of these unsubstantiated accusations actually answer my question. Do you believe it's more likely that A.) Every single individual, including me, who has seen this joke in a bad light is part of a conspiracy to trawl the Sonic The Hedgehog Twitter account and to find things to be angry about because they believe that this will actually give them financial profit for some reason (something no one has ever outlined in the history of Internet backlash how this is exactly done btw), or B.) Aaron made a bad joke, and some of the people who read it didn't like it?

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At which point is that? Did something special happen in the history of this world that made everyone believe exact same things, share exact same views?

Not sure where you got the impression that I said everyone who has a problem with the phrase is some hive-mind. I made the specifics of that statement pretty clear but here they are in detail: if you get so riled up at the idea that your life experiences are not all-encompassing of the human experience and thus you have no ethical ground to talk over minorities explaining their point-of-view, and you consider having to listen to them as "being silenced," then you are whining. You are, indeed, more than likely the person who needs to take a step back and re-examine their beliefs and mental schemas, aka "check your privilege."

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I see this talk about the joke being transphobic as no more than whining, yet I actually care to explain why those people are wrong.

"It doesn't exist because I personally don't see it that way" is not an explanation; it's a dismissal.

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And you can't tolerate my view, because it contradicts yours. Obviously you are right, and clearly I am wrong, there's no other way! You know what that's called? Bigotry.

The ol' "Intolerance of intolerance is still intolerance" bit. Haven't seen that in forever. Fact of the matter is you're not doing a whole lot of tolerating yourself because you literally just said everyone who disagrees with you is whining. This is a textbook hand-wave that bigots do. I at least gave the joke the benefit of the doubt and noted the punchline is ambiguous in who it's really targeting, and have subsequently dedicated part of my argument to explaining how comedy works.

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But of course, you are doing this for the greater good, for the well-being of trans folk.

You seem strangely annoyed that I actively choose to empathize with people different from me and see their side of things.

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The only reason why all of us are now going to have such associations in our heads now is because people like you implied this connection. The joke is not reinforcing any stereotypes, only you do.

"If you niggers just stopped talking about racism it would go away," in a nutshell.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Nepenthe

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

all and all, just because this is the Sonic Twitter doesn't mean they are immune to make any joke they want. Especially jokes like this and we have every right to call ou the joke just like all the white cisgendered people who defend the joke have the freedom to bash us for being upset to shut us up. It's a both way street. 

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Personally, I feel confident that Aaron wouldn't willingly make an offensive joke and that referencing a copypasta was really all he was doing. But the way he phrased it...well, let's just say it's not difficult for me to see why many people would take issue with it. I feel it's pretty unfortunate, but I'm not going to place all the blame on the people who are offended. The joke can appear to be belittling and derogatory, regardless of its likely innocent intent. So yeah, overall I feel like this is just an unfortunate happening all around and a lesson in being careful what you say, I guess.