Ugh, I hate writing comments where I use a bunch of pull quotes, but there's just too much here to respond to. Let's start with the quote I've highlighted above. You understand that this is a comedy show, right? It's not political activism. If I ask you why the chicken crossed the road, do not expect a perspicacious analysis of avian behaviour.
One of the key problems we face here is that certian people have absorbed the idea that everything needs to be viewed through a political lens. This produces humourless, joyless, boring people with mental health issues. Nobody "knows" good trans jokes. Jokes are good because people laugh. Daphne laughed. 95% (according to Rotten Tomatoes) of the people who watched the show laughed. Again, I'm not saying you're wrong because you didn't. But you have to acknowledge that you aren't an authority on what other people are allowed to find funny. And you're vastly in the minority in believing the show wasn't funny.
(If it makes you feel better, I actually didn't think it was that funny either. A few good moments, but the weakest of all of his specials for sure. And while I understand the point he was making with DaBaby, I think DaBaby’s comments were indefensible.)
"when he's proclaiming himself "Team TERF" and making Blackface comparisons"
It's a little bit late in the game, but this feels like a good moment to make sure; Did you actually watch the special?
Not a few clips or quotes. Did you sit down and watch the 72 minutes? The blackface comparisons were an explanation of how some women feel about trans women. I actually think the comparison is extremely insightful. He didn't say those women were right.
Many women I've seen talking about trans women say pretty much exactly this. That trans women treat womanhood as a costume. Again, I'm not saying I agree with them. Nor is Dave. But he's saying that this is how they feel. He's spot on.
As for the Team TERF thing, Dave argues against North Carolina's anti-trans bathroom bills in the show. So that makes the "Trans Exclusionary" part difficult. He only just learned the definition of the word "feminist" from Websters dictionary. So I suspect he's not very radical. And while he does identify himself as a feminist, many of the people tarred with the label of TERF wouldn't dream of calling themselves feminist.
TERF is a label that's designed to shut down conversation and stigmatise people for disagreeing with every aspect of trans ideology. Nothing more. The idea that Chappelle is a TERF is ludicrous. And the only way I can imagine that anybody took him seriosuly is that they didn't watch the show or they're being deliberstely disingenuous.
"Secondly, Rosa Parks was already an activist long before Till's death"
These replies are already getting very long and this has nothing to do with the subject at hand. So suffice it to say that I didn't say she wasn't. But from Parks' own mouth:
"I thought of Emmett Till, and when the bus driver ordered me to move to the back, I just couldn’t move."
Like I said, I know what I'm talking about.
"if protesting is education, then the "conversation" being had by LGBT folks and allies with the employee walkout over Dave's special is just what is needed right now."
Ha! This is actually a good point! Yes, protesting is education. But maybe you should think about what the general public is being taught by these protests. Consider scenes like this for example. Yes, the general public, most of whom have no conact with trans people, is being educated on what to expect from the community. Is this what you want them to learn? Look at the comments under the video. I'd say these protests have been an absolute disaster for public perceptions of the trans community. And the tragedy is I don't believe for a second that these morons represent the feelings of most trans people.
Dave isn't "cancelled" because nobody wants him to be except a tiny minority of reactionary idiots, most of whom probably didn't even watch the show.
"And yet no such thing was said?"
I'm not sure if you're really this much of a literalist or if it's just a rhetorical trick to avoid admitting fault. You criticised the quote on the basis of the fact that it was said by somebody who has done bad things. That's the point I was making.
But the quote is correct. The man is wrong. There are no grounds to criticise the quote, because the quote communicates ideas that I think the overwhelming majority of decent people would approve of. If a man twists those ideas to justify evil acts, blame the man. The quote has nothing to do with it.
"Lastly, the vocal majority is concerned about trans folks being murdered - like a trans man was just about a week ago"
I've said this a few times, perhaps even to you earlier in this conversation, but it's grotesque how eagerly some trans (and trans "supporting") people parade their dead for emotional impact. Dave jokes about violence against women in the special. God knows how many women were murdered last week. Dave jokes about child molestation. God knows how many children were molested last week. Dave jokes about Israel/Palestine and HIV and anti-Asian violence. Trans people are extraordinarily far from having a monopoly on suffering.
Yet all that other suffering can be joked about, because it can be talked about. This is what acceptance looks like. These elements in the trans community, so determined to stifle discourse and present everything as "you unquestioningly agree with us or you want us dead" are the single biggest obstacle to tarns accpetance. Because if you don't allow any conversation that isn't wholly affirming, if you dismiss any questioning as hatred, the gaps will be filled by people far worse than Dave Chappelle.
