However you feel about Dave Chappelle, he’s too big for the mainstream to ignore. His special The Closer has broken the cultural dam, unleashing the torrents of questions TRAs have worked so hard to keep us from asking.
It’s about time you got here!
The Flow Of Information
The staff walkout at Netflix made the news. NBC probably spun it the hardest, summarizing the day of protests as, “The media giant [was] forced to listen to its workers.” Because a longtime pillar of the establishment, now owned by Comcast, is just happy to see workers getting their own back, right?
With friends like this, who needs aggressive protesters?
The local Fox affiliate gave us two interviews, one from each side of the fracas. The difference in tone could not be starker: “I’m out here because Dave Chappelle is harming our kids.” Amusingly, the auto-caption has spelled this out as, ‘they should bombing our kids.’ This woman does look terrified!
“He doesn’t realize that the speech that he’s putting out is harmful.” Points for giving him the benefit of the doubt, I guess? “It’s harmful to children.” Chappelle’s material is completely inappropriate for children! “It’s harmful to trans people everywhere, and their allies.”
How this is accomplished by a middle-aged comic using his own thoughts and experiences as grist for the cultural mill is not established. By anyone, anywhere that I could find.
Fox LA’s second interview is with the now-infamous Sign Guy, sign still in hand. “We’re out here to show our support for jokes, comedy, and everything that’s great about America – Free speech!” Holy shit, I think he’s serious! “And I love [that] all these people have free speech, as well, I’m glad we can have a discussion.”
The Jester Tells The Tale
I don’t think Sign Guy was prepared for what he actually encountered that day. His real name is Vito, and his own video regarding the incident is very illuminating.
I can see exactly what’s in front of me!
Billing himself as a Professional Idiot, Vito is more Court Jester than Steve-O. He mostly reviews movies and games, but said he and his friend felt moved to come out in support of Comedy.
“We believe this is an absurd protest. It’s absurd to tell Dave Chappelle not to make jokes about trans people. Transgender issues are huge right now, we’re all talking about it. The idea that a comedian is not gonna talk about it is ridiculous.
“So, we are being equally ridiculous by chanting, ‘We like jokes.’ And the fact that everyone is mad at us just adds to the absurdity of the situation.” If only absurdity were a guarantee of something being funny.
Vito laughs at himself shouting silly slogans, but his buoyancy sputters as he watches the confrontation from a new angle. The full scope of what he experienced comes into view, and it spooks him a bit.
“Later in the day, when they had the trans speakers speaking, I tried to join in the fun. I was going, ‘Trans lives matter.’ But, again, I’m there to support Comedy – I want my sign to be seen, I want people to hear my message.”
This is when Vito came face-to-face with what he was actually dealing with – These people were there to stifle speech, and they don’t give a damn about your rights if you’re on the Wrong Side of History.
No Debate
He lets it roll a little, then stops to narrate a bit, “This dude in blue is real mad. [He] grabs my sign, rips it out of my hand, puts it on the ground, starts stepping on it.
“A couple people came to me and they say, ‘He’s a writer at Netflix.’ I’m not gonna identify him, I don’t wanna be a part of that. But it is a pretty bad look from Netflix.” To put it mildly. Some crude humor aside, Vito impresses me with his composure through all of this.
Oh, snap! Did we find a real one??
He acknowledges that some people may see him as a jerk disrupting a protest, “I have every right to be in this public area as much as anybody else and have my voice heard. And my voice is you guys are nuts, and Dave did nothing wrong.” He suggests they should have protested inside the building if they wanted it private, “But if you’re out on the street, the fat guy’s allowed to be there yelling, ‘We like jokes!'”
Refocusing, he carries on, “Anyway, this Netflix writer destroys my sign…” Vito trails off, momentarily absorbed. Now an observer of his own moment, what he sees begins to bother him. “This guy who broke my sign now goes, ‘He’s got a weapon!’ He knows he broke my sign.
“Literally the only reason I can think of to yell that is that you want immediate harm to come to that person. Luckily, the crowd was not that stupid.” Nor Security quick to respond and, for once, I’m glad!
“When I thought someone random in the crowd yelled that I wasn’t as mad, but now that I know a Netflix writer tried to get me killed, I’m a little not happy. That’s really shitty … I’m having feelings all of a sudden, I am not happy about that.”
“I’ll try to move on, but now I really am like, ‘ Ooh, what the hell?'”
The Fear Of God
As the clip rolls, the high-pitched voice of irony is heard approaching – “Excuse me! Excuse me! Excuse me!” As Thursday Vito launches into a final plea for Comedy, she enters the frame with a large tambourine. In her righteous zeal, Tambourine Lady says the quiet part very loud. Over and over, she shrieks the true mantra of the Trans Rights Movement – “Repent, motherfucker!”
Which leads into my favorite part of Vito’s commentary: “I could not even tell what this chick was yelling at me. I hear it now. What am I repenting for?” He rubs his eyes in exasperation. “This is becoming like a cult. ‘Repent!’ What religion is this??”
Oh, merciful Gender, Please just let me stay out of the kitchen! Athem!
The wording may be different, but we all know the feeling of someone trying to put the fear of God in us. The US has always been home to strange and unique religious interpretations, having already experienced four ‘Great Awakenings’ where we rediscovered Puritan fervor. This latest Woke wave is nothing but another authoritarian wolf in secular clothing.
“I don’t know what I did. I made a sign I thought was funny and I showed up to support comedians. I was kinda mad that more comedians weren’t out there, instead it’s me and Dick Masterson. I feel like every comedian in Hollywood shoulda showed up.” Sorry Vito, but if Chappelle is threatened by this, everyone else is probably terrified.
He comes to the end of the clip and fumbles halfway through his lighthearted recap, tripping on his words. “I’m all flustered cause I found out a Netflix employee tried to kill me!”
He’s being glib here, but his hyperbole falls flat between nervous chuckles. In an environment where a British transwoman calling himself Phoebe felt *safe* threatening to make The Spectator “the next Charlie Hebdo” for the Movement, we should all be nervous.
Fear Is Exhausting
Vito relates a couple more incidents – One where his friend was pushed down hard enough that his head hit the pavement, and then someone chased their car as they left. “The whole day was crazy. People were going a little too hard here!”
He thanks his audience for their support, since he’s probably not getting a mainstream media job any time soon. “The fact that I’m on the side of Dave Chappelle is gonna get me blacklisted. Think about how crazy that is – Because I’m on the side of one of the greatest comedians of all time, they’re now gonna say that I’m a crazy bigot. It’s madness! We live in madness.”
Don’t worry, we’ll help you – We’ve been stuck here for a while!
Yep. What the average person does with this information will make all the difference. I hope more of them react like Vito does.
“They’re trying to cancel comedians! They don’t want us to make comedy.” Vito flinches at his own words, “They fucking hate us. They hate that I can go online and find an audience. They would love if they could control it all, like they always used to. But they don’t anymore. You have the fucking control, and that’s beautiful.
“Thank you so much, I need to lie down.”
I bet! Vito has stepped through the Looking Glass into Bizarro World, and there’s no going back.
I’m surprised to find someone like him in the thick of this, a lost lamb who seems to actually believe what he’s saying. But the wolves are in charge, and the mask is slipping in their greedy haste.
Blurring The Party Line
The popular spin on the walkout is outrage over the firing of the rabble-rouser. But not only was she leaking internal company stats, she also turns out to have an axe to grind against Asians, for whatever reason. The Poor Victim of racist execs is actually quite the prolific racist herself!
The universal weakness of the narrative is causing loyal adherents to question the movement’s leadership, if not the movement itself.
I wager that’s still too close to home for many. This whole scandal – The walkout, the outrage, the repetitive spin – looks like one giant exercise in distraction. We are told to be angry that Dave Chappelle poked fun at trans people, so angry we won’t listen to the point he’s making.
I call upon my dark powers to keep you off-balance!
Dave tells us in detail how the so-called Trans Community is destructive. It’s destructive to women, to culture, and to its own members.
Vito learned this the hard way, seeing first-hand that freedom is not their priority. The hypocrisy of people claiming to treasure safety physically attacking someone – For simply disagreeing with them in public – is shockingly bold.
But we have Reuters’ coverage giving us gems like, “We are here today, not because we don’t know how to take a joke, we’re here because we’re concerned that the jokes are taking lives.”
How’s that work, exactly? I’m still waiting for a good explanation, but I’ve heard a man’s greatest fear is being laughed at. I suppose it’s the old affirmation-or-suicide threat, and we’re expected to understand that hurting trans people’s feelings is a step away from murder.
Never mind the hundreds of women actually murdered every year. At least those privileged cis bitches got to have a period!
Heretics Get The Wall
This movement that claims the title Feminist for itself, screeching about supporting the marginalized, ignores the struggles of anyone who isn’t Trans. Never mind that they can’t agree on what exactly that means! Their comfort is vital – More important than the safety of women and girls, or even fat comedians.
Their comfort is more important than free speech, that precious principle those who lived through the last authoritarian flareup warned us to guard with our lives. It’s more important than comedy. More important than the truth.
The truth is, if we’ve reached a point where one person is favorably comparing Trans Rights to Islamic fundamentalism, you can bet he’s not the only one. They are on a righteous mission to convert the whole world, and you’d better be ready to Repent, Motherfucker!
Or prepare to have all your signs destroyed.
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