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Perhaps punishment was too strong. But it was a forfeit on a bet, and the implication of having to dress up as one of the female cabin crew as a forfeit is dist

by timje1 13y ago

Perhaps punishment was too strong. But it was a forfeit on a bet, and the implication of having to dress up as one of the female cabin crew as a forfeit is distasteful at best, however innocent the intention.

001sky 13y ago
Dressing up in drag is a time honoured tradition for comedy sketches. In places like London or New York city (that have strong arts and theatre traditions) this is a completely normal thing. Nobody would beat an eyelash at a transestite or a drag queen. The Mayor of New York used to do it all the time.[1] By turning this bet into a comedy sketch, branson is just displaying some wit, and he pulls it off. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayoralty_of_Rudy_Giuliani#Drag_appearances https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayoralty_of_Rudy_Giuliani#Dra... That being said, you have every right to be offended. However, It seems a bit rich tho that you need to justify your offense by quoting some 3rd party "explanation" and then trying to sell other people on it. You're not selling your own view, in that case IMHO.
- timje1 13y ago
  That's very true, it was just simply that I had multiple friends (feminists and LBGT+ individuals) that were offended when the original pictures came out - this was the first thing that came to mind when visiting the 404 page. "Oh, I remember this, it offended lots of people". Then I come to this thread on HN and absolutely no-one had commented on the controversy (at the time of my original comment) - I figured this was down to the skewed demographics of the site. So I raised it as a point of discussion, to see what the community thought, and to try to provoke a bit of discussion of the apparently overlooked aspects of this piece. I agree that he pulled it off with great humour, but I can't help but wince at the insensitivity of a rich straight guy losing a bet and having to dress up as a parody of his own female flight staff (who earn 1000x less than him) ...
  - 001sky 13y ago
    I think folks should keep an open mind as to why this works. It works because a 404 page is normally a f@_kup, and here its a gag. Frankly, it still works if you don't know its branson. Trying to "put lipstick on a pig" is the underlying subtext (ie, they are trying to cover-up their fuckup). If you think about pulling that off with...a real person Its not gonna work now is it? Hence...drag.
drone 13y ago
So, by that same token, is not being forced to give cash as a result of losing a bet distasteful and disrespectful of the poor? Shall we all go through a committee to get pre-approval before taking any action to ensure that it offends no one? At what point does the lone last misogynist become our Harrison Bergeron?

by timje1 13y ago

001sky 13y ago

Dressing up in drag is a time honoured tradition for comedy sketches. In places like London or New York city (that have strong arts and theatre traditions) this is a completely normal thing. Nobody would beat an eyelash at a transestite or a drag queen. The Mayor of New York used to do it all the time.[1] By turning this bet into a comedy sketch, branson is just displaying some wit, and he pulls it off. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayoralty_of_Rudy_Giuliani#Drag_appearances https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayoralty_of_Rudy_Giuliani#Dra... That being said, you have every right to be offended. However, It seems a bit rich tho that you need to justify your offense by quoting some 3rd party "explanation" and then trying to sell other people on it. You're not selling your own view, in that case IMHO.

timje1 13y ago
That's very true, it was just simply that I had multiple friends (feminists and LBGT+ individuals) that were offended when the original pictures came out - this was the first thing that came to mind when visiting the 404 page. "Oh, I remember this, it offended lots of people". Then I come to this thread on HN and absolutely no-one had commented on the controversy (at the time of my original comment) - I figured this was down to the skewed demographics of the site. So I raised it as a point of discussion, to see what the community thought, and to try to provoke a bit of discussion of the apparently overlooked aspects of this piece. I agree that he pulled it off with great humour, but I can't help but wince at the insensitivity of a rich straight guy losing a bet and having to dress up as a parody of his own female flight staff (who earn 1000x less than him) ...
- 001sky 13y ago
  I think folks should keep an open mind as to why this works. It works because a 404 page is normally a f@_kup, and here its a gag. Frankly, it still works if you don't know its branson. Trying to "put lipstick on a pig" is the underlying subtext (ie, they are trying to cover-up their fuckup). If you think about pulling that off with...a real person Its not gonna work now is it? Hence...drag.

drone 13y ago

So, by that same token, is not being forced to give cash as a result of losing a bet distasteful and disrespectful of the poor? Shall we all go through a committee to get pre-approval before taking any action to ensure that it offends no one? At what point does the lone last misogynist become our Harrison Bergeron?