7 ms·

I love this comment. It demonstrates nicely how the web and (mostly American, I think other nationalities react differently) culture has changed over the past 2

I love this comment. It demonstrates nicely how the web and (mostly American, I think other nationalities react differently) culture has changed over the past 20 years. 20 years ago this was simply funny. Nobody took it seriously. It even got an "awards" page. These days, nobody would ever want to be associated with such a site out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever. Not here to judge right or wrong, I think it's somewhere in the middle, but it's an interesting observation.

jahnu 6y ago
I wouldn't want to be associated with such things not because I'm afraid of being lynched but because I've learned that it's demeaning to people. Pitchforks and pile are the excesses of a generally good movement to excise mean spirited or just unintentionally demeaning stuff from our culture but growing and learning to respect others is not a bad impulse. So I wouldn't pile on the author of this site but definitely will not be sharing it amongst my peers.
- captainredbeard 6y ago
  > Pitchforks and pile are the excesses of a generally good movement to excise mean spirited or just unintentionally demeaning stuff from our culture ...just gonna point out this isn’t a universally accepted notion. Were the Salem Witch Trials governed by this “righteous” fury?
  - jahnu 6y ago
    Totally fair.
throwaway45067 6y ago
The other reply already said what needed to be said. I too genuinely find the site distasteful and am not just virtue-signaling for social status. I would just like to add that I'm, in fact, not American (nor Western European) and that we dislike low-key misogyny in other parts of the world too.
maxehmookau 6y ago
No, this isn't correct IMO. 20 years ago, this was funny to the small group of young men who would've been aware of it. "Locker-room talk" if you will. This was never "simply funny" to a lot of people, they just weren't empowered to say or do anything about it. Thankfully, things are changing. Web technology isn't just the reserve of "geeks" making websites in their basements anymore. It fills every corner of our existance. It's no longer in the locker room and it should behave as such.
- criddell 6y ago
  I never thought of it I before but I think you’re right. The demographics of internet users has broadened a great deal since then.
- LocalH 6y ago
  There should honestly be room for both. I bemoan the modern sanitization of every single corner of the internet. Remember what they used to say about TV? "If you don't like it, don't watch it". If you don't like it, don't view the site. People should be empowered to say something about things. But in the vast majority of situation where no actual law is being violated, they really shouldn't be empowered to do anything about it. Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Why are so many people today willing to throw freedom of speech out the window?
  - truculent 6y ago
    > People should be empowered to say something about things. But in the vast majority of situation where no actual law is being violated That's exactly what's happening in this thread. People are discussing this website, sharing criticisms ("saying things" as you put it). Nobody is advocating for legal action, nobody is suppressing the author's speech. > If you don't like it, don't view the site. Sure! But someone posted it here for viewing and discussion. Should the comments only be for sympathetic discussion? What about freedom of speech!
    - LocalH 6y ago
      I was specifically responding to the part of the post where they referenced doing something about it: >This was never "simply funny" to a lot of people, they just weren't empowered to say or do anything about it. Thankfully, things are changing.
teekert 6y ago
It is isn't it? I've been watching StarTrek The Original Series lately and oh boy, have we changed. There is a Netflix Explained episode on Political Correctness, fascinating stuff. To be clear, in my opinion we definitely changed for the better, the position of women at the end of the 60's (which seems so close) is almost mind boggling to me now. It's just 2 generations away from me, but back then my grandmother's mother told my grandmother: "You want to work? What? I'll teach you how to work, in the kitchen, and around the house." I think this caused my grandmother to be very liberal with her kids and as a result my mother was with me and my brothers. As a result I never understood how one can not see men and women as equal. TOS gives some "nice" insights into the matter though...
- p_l 6y ago
  TOS is particularly interesting given how it made a noticeable push for equality and so on, a push that is much harder to notice due to different mores today and lacking context (for example, mini skirts used to be sign of women liberation, and IIRC there's at least one TOS episode with male crewman in a mini!)
  - moron4hire 6y ago
    The male mini skirt is in TNG.
    - p_l 6y ago
      Thank you for correction. Wasn't it per chance in one of the earlier episodes? I haven't watched TNG or TOS in ages and they were kind of watched at nearly the same time :)
      - moron4hire 6y ago
        Yeah, doesn't show up again after the first season. Might even be only in the first episode of first season of TNG.
- dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
mickof 6y ago
> out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever People like to claim this all the time, with very little evidence of it actually happening. Also the web is full of sexist shit, even 20 years later. I really don't see the point you are making. In reality you are WAY more likely to get fired for union organizing or for being the victim of sexual harassment, rather than for being an edge lord on the internet.
michaelt 6y ago
> These days, nobody would ever want to be associated with such a site out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever. To an extent - but 20 years ago was also pre-Facebook when use of psudeonyms was widely accepted internet safety advice.
deepstack 6y ago
Hmm sounds like a bit too PC now days.
truculent 6y ago
I think this comment says more about you than about the website, to be frank. The distribution of people and cultures represented on the internet may have changed, but I think plenty of people would have seen this as objectionable at the time, even if you weren't as aware of them as you are now. > These days, nobody would ever want to be associated with such a site out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever. Would the fact that the website is still up, _with_ a "contact me" link, undermine your point somewhat?
krapp 6y ago
>These days, nobody would ever want to be associated with such a site out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever. Is it really because "nobody would ever want to be associated with such a site out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever" or because the web has matured beyond its "shitposting teenage edgelord" phase and many people now legitimately don't find that sort of thing funny?
kristopolous 6y ago
The jokes fall flat because it's no longer taboo, it feels derivative even if it was original, and the context is gone. This is why Bob Hope is lame to us. He may have popularized the "tight 5" standup format but everyone copied him and many do it better. This is also why Amos & Andy is just a fairly uninteresting half hour of blackface racism or why Mr Yunioshi in breakfast at tiffany's just looks stupid now. Sure these are racist but when you look past that, they're also not funny any more. They're pointing at some, bringing focus to it, but it has no more symbolic resonance. It's also why if someone made say mrs doubtfire today it'd look like an outdated flop. There's a societal context that gave these things a dynamic which no longer exists. It's actually the same reason Monica lewinsky and draft card jokes wouldn't work today. There's no longer a supportive scaffolding to give it the context. Race and sex based comedy can still be done, it just needs to live in the 2021 context. It's still racist and sexist, which are both morally objectionable, but unlike this site, it could probably still also be funny. For instance, you could do a black Mr. Magoo who gets treated with constant dangerous racial prejudice but in the magoo character, always assumes good intentions and miraculously survives everything. Runs into klansman, thinks it's a costume party, etc.. You might also be able to pull off the 3s company dynamic (in the original, straight guy needed to convince everyone he was gay so the premise was "straight man in the closet") but using a different spectrum that's more relevant to today's conflicts.
api 6y ago
It's mirrored an overall change in the culture. The left has become much more critical and sensitive, while the right has entered Satanic Panic 2.0 and decided that anything remotely edgy is evidence of Satanic baby eating and sees pedophilia absolutely everywhere. 20-30 years ago it was perfectly acceptable to make incredibly lewd or offensive jokes or have your band LARP as Satanists. The culture was far more tolerant of coarseness and taboo-breaking. Here's an example that would drive the present-day left and right bonkers if it was released today: https://www.metrolyrics.com/my-sharona-lyrics-the-knack.html https://www.metrolyrics.com/my-sharona-lyrics-the-knack.html
rsynnott 6y ago
> These days, nobody would ever want to be associated with such a site out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever. Or, er, maybe they wouldn't want to be associated with it out of other motivations, such as common decency?
- alimw 6y ago
  I'm confused. If it is the photos that you consider indecent, surely you should be taking issue with the publicity machine that produced them? As far as I can see, this website has done little more than add a spurious connection to semiconductor physics.
  - afavour 6y ago
    Why can't you take issue with both?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - alimw 6y ago
      Both of what? Both the publicity machine for producing the photos and the website for republishing them? Or both the photos themselves and the spurious connection to semiconductor physics?
leetcrew 6y ago
is it that different than the scene in the big short where margot robbie explains subprime loans (presumably) naked in a bathtub? that was in 2015. I guess margot robbie consented to that depiction at least, but the punchline is essentially the same.

jahnu 6y ago

I wouldn't want to be associated with such things not because I'm afraid of being lynched but because I've learned that it's demeaning to people. Pitchforks and pile are the excesses of a generally good movement to excise mean spirited or just unintentionally demeaning stuff from our culture but growing and learning to respect others is not a bad impulse. So I wouldn't pile on the author of this site but definitely will not be sharing it amongst my peers.

captainredbeard 6y ago
> Pitchforks and pile are the excesses of a generally good movement to excise mean spirited or just unintentionally demeaning stuff from our culture ...just gonna point out this isn’t a universally accepted notion. Were the Salem Witch Trials governed by this “righteous” fury?
- jahnu 6y ago
  Totally fair.

throwaway45067 6y ago

The other reply already said what needed to be said. I too genuinely find the site distasteful and am not just virtue-signaling for social status. I would just like to add that I'm, in fact, not American (nor Western European) and that we dislike low-key misogyny in other parts of the world too.

maxehmookau 6y ago

No, this isn't correct IMO. 20 years ago, this was funny to the small group of young men who would've been aware of it. "Locker-room talk" if you will. This was never "simply funny" to a lot of people, they just weren't empowered to say or do anything about it. Thankfully, things are changing. Web technology isn't just the reserve of "geeks" making websites in their basements anymore. It fills every corner of our existance. It's no longer in the locker room and it should behave as such.

criddell 6y ago
I never thought of it I before but I think you’re right. The demographics of internet users has broadened a great deal since then.
LocalH 6y ago
There should honestly be room for both. I bemoan the modern sanitization of every single corner of the internet. Remember what they used to say about TV? "If you don't like it, don't watch it". If you don't like it, don't view the site. People should be empowered to say something about things. But in the vast majority of situation where no actual law is being violated, they really shouldn't be empowered to do anything about it. Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Why are so many people today willing to throw freedom of speech out the window?
- truculent 6y ago
  > People should be empowered to say something about things. But in the vast majority of situation where no actual law is being violated That's exactly what's happening in this thread. People are discussing this website, sharing criticisms ("saying things" as you put it). Nobody is advocating for legal action, nobody is suppressing the author's speech. > If you don't like it, don't view the site. Sure! But someone posted it here for viewing and discussion. Should the comments only be for sympathetic discussion? What about freedom of speech!
  - LocalH 6y ago
    I was specifically responding to the part of the post where they referenced doing something about it: >This was never "simply funny" to a lot of people, they just weren't empowered to say or do anything about it. Thankfully, things are changing.

teekert 6y ago

It is isn't it? I've been watching StarTrek The Original Series lately and oh boy, have we changed. There is a Netflix Explained episode on Political Correctness, fascinating stuff. To be clear, in my opinion we definitely changed for the better, the position of women at the end of the 60's (which seems so close) is almost mind boggling to me now. It's just 2 generations away from me, but back then my grandmother's mother told my grandmother: "You want to work? What? I'll teach you how to work, in the kitchen, and around the house." I think this caused my grandmother to be very liberal with her kids and as a result my mother was with me and my brothers. As a result I never understood how one can not see men and women as equal. TOS gives some "nice" insights into the matter though...

p_l 6y ago
TOS is particularly interesting given how it made a noticeable push for equality and so on, a push that is much harder to notice due to different mores today and lacking context (for example, mini skirts used to be sign of women liberation, and IIRC there's at least one TOS episode with male crewman in a mini!)
- moron4hire 6y ago
  The male mini skirt is in TNG.
  - p_l 6y ago
    Thank you for correction. Wasn't it per chance in one of the earlier episodes? I haven't watched TNG or TOS in ages and they were kind of watched at nearly the same time :)
    - moron4hire 6y ago
      Yeah, doesn't show up again after the first season. Might even be only in the first episode of first season of TNG.
dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago

mickof 6y ago

> out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever People like to claim this all the time, with very little evidence of it actually happening. Also the web is full of sexist shit, even 20 years later. I really don't see the point you are making. In reality you are WAY more likely to get fired for union organizing or for being the victim of sexual harassment, rather than for being an edge lord on the internet.

michaelt 6y ago

> These days, nobody would ever want to be associated with such a site out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever. To an extent - but 20 years ago was also pre-Facebook when use of psudeonyms was widely accepted internet safety advice.

deepstack 6y ago

Hmm sounds like a bit too PC now days.

truculent 6y ago

I think this comment says more about you than about the website, to be frank. The distribution of people and cultures represented on the internet may have changed, but I think plenty of people would have seen this as objectionable at the time, even if you weren't as aware of them as you are now. > These days, nobody would ever want to be associated with such a site out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever. Would the fact that the website is still up, _with_ a "contact me" link, undermine your point somewhat?

krapp 6y ago

>These days, nobody would ever want to be associated with such a site out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever. Is it really because "nobody would ever want to be associated with such a site out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever" or because the web has matured beyond its "shitposting teenage edgelord" phase and many people now legitimately don't find that sort of thing funny?

kristopolous 6y ago

The jokes fall flat because it's no longer taboo, it feels derivative even if it was original, and the context is gone. This is why Bob Hope is lame to us. He may have popularized the "tight 5" standup format but everyone copied him and many do it better. This is also why Amos & Andy is just a fairly uninteresting half hour of blackface racism or why Mr Yunioshi in breakfast at tiffany's just looks stupid now. Sure these are racist but when you look past that, they're also not funny any more. They're pointing at some, bringing focus to it, but it has no more symbolic resonance. It's also why if someone made say mrs doubtfire today it'd look like an outdated flop. There's a societal context that gave these things a dynamic which no longer exists. It's actually the same reason Monica lewinsky and draft card jokes wouldn't work today. There's no longer a supportive scaffolding to give it the context. Race and sex based comedy can still be done, it just needs to live in the 2021 context. It's still racist and sexist, which are both morally objectionable, but unlike this site, it could probably still also be funny. For instance, you could do a black Mr. Magoo who gets treated with constant dangerous racial prejudice but in the magoo character, always assumes good intentions and miraculously survives everything. Runs into klansman, thinks it's a costume party, etc.. You might also be able to pull off the 3s company dynamic (in the original, straight guy needed to convince everyone he was gay so the premise was "straight man in the closet") but using a different spectrum that's more relevant to today's conflicts.

api 6y ago

It's mirrored an overall change in the culture. The left has become much more critical and sensitive, while the right has entered Satanic Panic 2.0 and decided that anything remotely edgy is evidence of Satanic baby eating and sees pedophilia absolutely everywhere. 20-30 years ago it was perfectly acceptable to make incredibly lewd or offensive jokes or have your band LARP as Satanists. The culture was far more tolerant of coarseness and taboo-breaking. Here's an example that would drive the present-day left and right bonkers if it was released today: https://www.metrolyrics.com/my-sharona-lyrics-the-knack.html https://www.metrolyrics.com/my-sharona-lyrics-the-knack.html

rsynnott 6y ago

> These days, nobody would ever want to be associated with such a site out of fear of press and social media jumping at them and ruining their career forever. Or, er, maybe they wouldn't want to be associated with it out of other motivations, such as common decency?

alimw 6y ago
I'm confused. If it is the photos that you consider indecent, surely you should be taking issue with the publicity machine that produced them? As far as I can see, this website has done little more than add a spurious connection to semiconductor physics.
- afavour 6y ago
  Why can't you take issue with both?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - alimw 6y ago
    Both of what? Both the publicity machine for producing the photos and the website for republishing them? Or both the photos themselves and the spurious connection to semiconductor physics?

leetcrew 6y ago

is it that different than the scene in the big short where margot robbie explains subprime loans (presumably) naked in a bathtub? that was in 2015. I guess margot robbie consented to that depiction at least, but the punchline is essentially the same.