Well, the point is that when you hold power over another person and you ask them to do something, it's coercive because they may be afraid of what you'll do if they say no.

I mean, I tend to think that the Louis CK example is less egregious than some others we've heard this week, but that doesn't make it an okay behaviour. It's good that we're shedding some light on how subtle sexual harassment can really be, but I don't think we should burn Louis CK to death either.

Capitalism puts everyone on a power continuum. As unlikely as it is that we’re soon to dismantle capitalism, sex is even more entrenched. This is another of many historical rounds of people being afraid of sex.

Adult and consensual.

Should it be illegal for a person to suck dick for favors? What if the dicksucker wants the favor and has decided to suck a dick? It falls back on the question if almost all sex is prostitution inside a capitalist paradigm. It is. It’s better to use a simple rubric - consenting adults - than to get all into the nuances of other people’s sexuality.

Scuzzy is such a puritanical word.

And if you don’t want to see someone’s dick, decline when they ask. Unless the trade off is worth it to you. I’d watch him jack off if I could get something out of it. Which is basically the same as saying I would be afraid to say no. Just two ways to phrase it. Fear of some kind of ruin dictates our every move under capitalism. Hair style. Words we use. Dicks we suck and don’t suck. All of it.

so if i say suck my dick or you’re not getting the job and you suck my dick, that’s okay in your eyes?

btw that isn’t the scuzziest part of the Louis story either imo, the fact that women heard him masturbating over the phone during regular conversations is way grosser. i said this in the news thread already, but i don’t think Louis is a bad person, i think he clearly has some personal issues he needs to work on immediately for the sake of his children and those around him.

i’m way more bothered by the whole Brand New thing coming out now.

Okay, so it's cool if your boss asks you to look at his dick, then? Got it.

My argument is that it’s ok by default unless you object to capitalism.

I’m opposed the existence of capitalism because it reduces everything we do to some kind of exploitation.

To everyone who accepts capitalism this is what you’re accepting.

People want to pick out all these problems but they’re all intrinsic to a power structure they refuse to question.

How would you know? You’re pure neoliberalism.

I'm sure Hillary Clinton would say the same thing.

If Dick is his son, then yeah I guess.
Hmm. Seems like you're kind of ignoring the problem Occult, and just wailing "Capitalism is bad! Capitalism is to blame!" ....
You're on a real Hilary kick tonight, aint'cha?

What’s the problem?

Hillary keeps telling me she'll give me free Apple stock if I lick her pussy and it's becoming tempting.

I’ll lick it for you if we can split the spoils.

50% is a good payday for not licking Hillary Clinton's vagina. I'd have not done it for free.

I knew you’d get me! Stay with the cause, brother!!!

One is the act of a sad man who needs to control himself in the presence of other human beings while the other is a sociopathic exploitation that would require him to be a far more organized and premeditated abuser. Equating the two honestly diminishes just how awful a person you would have to be to run a sweatshop.

I have some stray thoughts about the subject.

1. How does one go about separating an artist from their art? I feel like, if the dam bursts, there isn't going to be anyone respectable left in any field. More and more, this entire thing is just making me feel like people everywhere are rotten ****. I don't judge anybody else for continuing to enjoy someone's work after their unsavoury character has been revealed, but for me every time there's a little twinge, a little bad-taste in my mouth to remind me that something awful happened as a result of this person's behaviour.

I'm all-around frustrated. I'm pissed that people are doing this **** in the first place. I'm pissed that my brain won't let me peacefully enjoy the products these asshats have created over the years. I'm pissed at the ****ing social circus this has become. And I'm pissed at myself for trying to reconcile the behaviour of my favourite artists and actors just so I can go on watching/listening to them without that alarm going off in my mind that shouts "HEY BUT DON'T FORGET THIS GUY'S A RAPIST".

2. I realized during this conversation that I've actually been Louis CK'd before. I just hadn't been thinking of it on the same terms. It's definitely not cool, although I continue to cope with it by making it into its own comedy routine.

Yeah but she just means Apple Records, Bat.

Back to my earlier point, everything can be reduced to **** if that’s your criteria. Whatever it is you like, people guilty of nasty nasties made it exist.

Maybe EVERYONE hasn’t done crappy lame ass cruel **** but almost everyone has.

If I posted my ugliest confessions people would be like damn but that’s the same for most everybody.

I know people are garbage. I just prefer not thinking about it.

Everyone has sexual feelings and the vast majority of people have sexual feelings of some sort that aren't pretty, and plenty of those people have expressed those feelings in a way that wouldn't be viewed favorably in a McCarthy-esque witch hunt. So just accept that sexuality is not pretty and can not be made pretty. It is a primal instinct that is meant to continue our species and that ultimate necessity, which evolutionarily speaking is more important than any moral consideration, has made it something that can be horrifying and complicated no matter how nice any individual person might be, both in public and in private.

If the art doesn't explicitly (or implicitly) condone the artist's wrongdoing, I view it as a separate entity, the same way I try to view ideas and arguments as separate from those who advance them (ad hominem). Everybody's flawed and I believe that even the more severely flawed of us can do admirable things. That's why I don't agree with the whole witch-burning going on today with people such as John A. MacDonald—sure, he might have done some unsavoury things when held up to current moral standards, but you can still admire his legacy without condoning every aspect of his life. There's no inconsistency in celebrating the good aspects of a person while condemning the bad ones, in my opinion.

this could be naive to think, but i wonder if a person's past experiences and how they relate to what a person does affects their ability to ignore it. for example, as someone who has never been the victim of a racist attack, I can ignore Varg Vikernes bizarre political ideologies and laugh them off. or - i can look at what Louis CK did and reason that while it's gross it "isn't that bad" because i've never been the victim of something like that.

i don't think there's anything wrong with separating, or conflating the art and the artist. i've just personally never had a problem overcoming awful people who've done awful things to enjoy great art.

i can definitely say that during my high school years there were times where my actions probably overstepped the boundaries of what is and isn't okay in terms of making advances. as it was typically with girls i either already knew or was aware that they were interested in me, i don't believe i ever made them uncomfortable or pressured. however, there was one time where i was undoubtedly out of line with my actions with one person, and it still makes me feel sick to this day. it wasn't anything close to what any of the recently accused individuals have done, and i'm still very good friends with her, but it bothers me a lot that it happened, no matter how many times she has told me it was fine.

Yes, brother. The man won't allow us to make statements of substance. Deep.

Damn, I didn't edit it quickly enough. Oh well. I don't really understand your reply to it though.

Having Substance in the content of what you say is now Illegal because the Man doesn't want us to have any Freedom.

I mean, to use the Lostprophets as an example of trying to separate the art from the artist, no matter how I think about it rationally, there's a voice that shouts "That guy raped a baby!" every time I think their name.

the new Roman Polanski accusations are really hard for me to stomach. i had wrote off his past as a 1 time very upsetting and disgusting mistake. but because of this i just feel kinda betrayed for letting myself think that he was better than anyone else who has done things like that.

ross_and_chandler_waiting_for_joey_to_undertsand_t he_situation.gif

Why aren't we talking about the acceptance speech Amy Schumer gave where she described raping a man while she was in college?

Seriously?

https://thoughtcatalog.com/anonymous...er-rape-a-guy/

She was sober, recognized that he was fall-down, black-out drunk, and she took advantage of it because she was not popular with men in college.

she's probably my least favourite comedian of all-time. i've seen most of her specials out of curiosity and they all just make me feel uncomfortable. it's the kind of stuff that if just about anyone else was to say it, it wouldn't be accepted.

What a narcissistic ****.

Thank you.

I did not know this.

I could see Larry David, yeah.

Bill Murray

AL FRANKEN got popped.