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News & ArtsTuesday, December 11, 2012
Books / Teh Internets The Oatmeal Strikes Back
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 12:21 PM
While I'm generally a fan of Matthew Inman's comics, I can understand people who don't like The Oatmeal. Not all of the comics are funny—his most recent book is just made up of really obvious cat cartoons—and Inman's attempts to offend are often pretty sad. (Dead hooker jokes should have died with Andrew Dice Clay's career.)
But Inman's response to a BuzzFeed hit piece by Jack Stuef is just about perfect. He runs Stuef's whole article and then points out all the stretches that Stuef had to make in order to assemble his piece. Factual errors abound. In Stuef's defense, Inman refused to comment, which makes the piece a lot more difficult to write, but some of these errors were entirely avoidable. It's an exceptional response to a mediocre hit piece, and you should go read it.
3
Christ Paul, talk about encouraging the exact wrong response to the situation. Inman could have just written, 'Rape jokes aren't funny. I apologize to anyone I may have offended.' And that would've been the end of it!
On the other hand, I'm sure it's driving hundreds of a certain kind of bloody-minded jackass (the kind that willingly eats Chick-Fil-A to promote some kind of hazy anti-equality agenda) to Inman's site to read lulz about Tesla and dead hookers.
And nowhere in Inman's response did he even simply write, "I was wrong. I'm sorry." Instead he lists his financial contributions to a woman's shelter. Yeah, that oughta do it, thanks very much Matthew.
On the other hand, I'm sure it's driving hundreds of a certain kind of bloody-minded jackass (the kind that willingly eats Chick-Fil-A to promote some kind of hazy anti-equality agenda) to Inman's site to read lulz about Tesla and dead hookers.
And nowhere in Inman's response did he even simply write, "I was wrong. I'm sorry." Instead he lists his financial contributions to a woman's shelter. Yeah, that oughta do it, thanks very much Matthew.
4
I refuse to read a poorly done hit piece as it would just be frustrating. I find The Oatmeal the opposite of funny, yet can't seem to get any of my otherwise discerning friends to agree. Please, someone, write a scathing and effective hit piece.
5
Mmm not down with rape humor or the first non-apology. That said, hats off to someone who is great at SEO/clickbait/running his own business I guess. 50 million Inman fans can't be wrong. I'm still taking down my kitty poster so my coworkers don't think I'm pro-rape jokes.
6
Surely the worst part of the Buzzfeed article, from the parochial point of view of this board, is this:
his hometown alt weekly, the Seattle WeeklyThe Weekly hasn't really been a hometown operation for at least a decade, it's a zombie enterprise controlled by Village Voice Media; its tone was Establishment rather than "alt" long before the Village Voice Media bought them out; and even if you decide it still qualifies as an "alt weekly", it's hardly "his alt weekly" as in his only one, and likely not his preferred one.
7
The importance of a dispute between a niche web comic and an unknown web-critic featured on a site mostly known for kitten gifs can not be understated.
For there was an offensive joke told ON THE INTERNET and it must be discussed until all jokes are rendered inert - for the safety of our babies and the continuance of civilization.
I hereby proclaim let the internet tubes be filled with this, the most important topic of our day!
Let this tempest grind down the transference of electrons across the ether of information to a halt until this matter is settled, at the very least, by the spilling of blood.
For there was an offensive joke told ON THE INTERNET and it must be discussed until all jokes are rendered inert - for the safety of our babies and the continuance of civilization.
I hereby proclaim let the internet tubes be filled with this, the most important topic of our day!
Let this tempest grind down the transference of electrons across the ether of information to a halt until this matter is settled, at the very least, by the spilling of blood.
10
The bigger issue is that The Oatmeal is webcomics' lowest-common-denominator incarnation of Garfield: inoffensively offensive pablum - poop-jokes and snuggley dogs in equal measure. SMBC does science-y observational humor better, Toothpaste For Dinner does stoner-y non-sequitor weirdness better, Perry Bible Fellowship does (did) vile dark comedy better.
11
Wha...? Rape joke? Seriously?
I had to go back and reread the comic with the "rape joke" in it. Look, I'm all for looking out for misogyny and rape culture. I'm a rape survivor and involved in a lot of activism related to this. And you know what?
That joke didn't even register to me until it was described as a "rape joke." It's about a button getting pushed over and over again. Not a human being being raped. Good fucking god. Get a little perspective.
I had to go back and reread the comic with the "rape joke" in it. Look, I'm all for looking out for misogyny and rape culture. I'm a rape survivor and involved in a lot of activism related to this. And you know what?
That joke didn't even register to me until it was described as a "rape joke." It's about a button getting pushed over and over again. Not a human being being raped. Good fucking god. Get a little perspective.
12
Wow WAY too much drama from everyone on the whole topic for me to give a shit; muchness spend 20 minutes reading about it. Moving along...
13
The only thing by Inman I found even remotely offensive was a panel in his famous tribute to Sriracha Sauce, in which he describes squirting a bunch of the stuff onto his Pad Thai to keep his friends from sampling it, and refers to this as "napalming the jungle."
14
@5
So, I'm guessing you read the Buzzfeed hit piece but not Inman's response, right? "I did SEO for 6 months in my early 20s, sucked at it, and got banned by Google. End of SEO."
I agree that the rape joke was in quite poor taste and that his initial response to the backlash was rather inadequate, but in his defense, he did apologize more completely later on and did remove the offending panel.
But, seriously, this is just some guy trying to make a living on the internet by making cartoons he thinks people will like, and he's obviously quite successful at it. Those cartoons are often lewd and probably offensive to some group or another (other than the rape joke). This is not new. He went overboard this time, true, but this Buzzfeed piece is nothing short of a poorly researched hatchet job meant to further the writer's own career and generate click views for Buzzfeed, ironically one of the very claims leveled at Inman.
So, I'm guessing you read the Buzzfeed hit piece but not Inman's response, right? "I did SEO for 6 months in my early 20s, sucked at it, and got banned by Google. End of SEO."
I agree that the rape joke was in quite poor taste and that his initial response to the backlash was rather inadequate, but in his defense, he did apologize more completely later on and did remove the offending panel.
But, seriously, this is just some guy trying to make a living on the internet by making cartoons he thinks people will like, and he's obviously quite successful at it. Those cartoons are often lewd and probably offensive to some group or another (other than the rape joke). This is not new. He went overboard this time, true, but this Buzzfeed piece is nothing short of a poorly researched hatchet job meant to further the writer's own career and generate click views for Buzzfeed, ironically one of the very claims leveled at Inman.
15
It would be more interesting, and more difficult perhaps, to write an objective article on why Inman is so successful. I mean, any college freshman can make dead hooker jokes. And there are plenty of terrible comedians, professional & amateur, that delight in offensive material. Personally, I love tasteless jokes, because they really are the most difficult form of humor. Difficult in that there's a very fine line between actually funny and just plain stupid and mean. I'm not saying Inman is particularly brilliant, but he can pull off offensive humor better than most. Sure, some jokes fall flat: that's a trait that belongs to every comic, no exceptions. So I find it lazy & pointless for people to champion these jokes as somehow representative. What I'm more interested in is his tasteless jokes that work, and why he's able to score more hits than misses.
17
If I were Matthew Inman, and I am not, I would not have bothered to respond, or to take the rape joke panel down, or engaged in any of it. These sorts of things have legs for, at most, two or three days. And then it's gone, and everyone finds some new fucking non-controversy to be pissed off about. By responding he only prolongs the agony. But then again, this guy's smart... he's learned how lucrative controversy can be. Surely, then, this is an attempt to milk it for what it's worth.
18
Screw the presumptuous, humorless douchebags who decree which subject matter can and cannot be included in a joke.
Screw the passive-aggressive, chronically offended asshats who feign hurt feelings to manipulate and control others.
@10: The Oatmeal is usually intelligent and funny, whereas SMBC, Toothpaste, and Perry Bible are usually not.
Screw the passive-aggressive, chronically offended asshats who feign hurt feelings to manipulate and control others.
@10: The Oatmeal is usually intelligent and funny, whereas SMBC, Toothpaste, and Perry Bible are usually not.
19
Fucking hell. What people usually label "tl:dr" is ridiculously short, but
tl:dr
After dinner, I promise.
tl:dr
After dinner, I promise.
21
@18 - absolutely correct. The rights of upper middle class straight white men to make tasteless, unfunny jokes about horrors they will almost certainly never experience must be defended against the most modest internet criticism at all costs. Clearly, it's the rape victims and those who fear rape that are in the wrong here, what with their fake hurt feelings and manipulation and such. I bet most of their so-called rapes weren't even legitimate.
For the billionth freaking time, he has every right to make stupid, shitty jokes. And everyone else has just as much right to say, hey, your jokes are stupid and shitty.
For the billionth freaking time, he has every right to make stupid, shitty jokes. And everyone else has just as much right to say, hey, your jokes are stupid and shitty.
23
Inman again goes out of his way to be the bigger asshole.
Inman's recurring conflict cycle drives traffic.
I'm just going to assume that Inman paid Stuef for the profile.
Inman's recurring conflict cycle drives traffic.
I'm just going to assume that Inman paid Stuef for the profile.
24
@21 So it's better that everything has to be filtered through your check-list ideology in order to avoid crowd shaming?
Literally EVERYBODY has something that pisses them off. So when everybody get's an equal chance to shout somebody down you realize that leads witch hunts which essentially kills anything artistically edgy or innovative. And before you say it everybody thinks their outrage is justified. Everybody feel righteous.
See what you DON'T have a right to do is create a knee-jerk internet posse and declare liberal fatwa and demand "There has to be CONSEQUENCES!" to get people fired or shamed every time you think some joke is shitty. Because some times - more than you seem to admit to - you're wrong. The internet makes this shit all too easy. And too easy to spiral out of control.
There is such a thing as being reasonable, rational and assuming the best intentions of other people before leaping to red alert. That's the very definition of BEING progressive. And the criticism of this dumb web comic doesn't come close to crossing that threshold. Nobody is getting raped because of the Oatmeal. So calm the fuck down. the only thing getting violated is logic.
There is a large portion of the web - your posts among them - that feel's the compulsive need to takes sides over petty cultural minutiae and scream about an offense literally every day. And in media scape so loud your views deserve no more a fair hearing than the rest of the noise.
Literally EVERYBODY has something that pisses them off. So when everybody get's an equal chance to shout somebody down you realize that leads witch hunts which essentially kills anything artistically edgy or innovative. And before you say it everybody thinks their outrage is justified. Everybody feel righteous.
See what you DON'T have a right to do is create a knee-jerk internet posse and declare liberal fatwa and demand "There has to be CONSEQUENCES!" to get people fired or shamed every time you think some joke is shitty. Because some times - more than you seem to admit to - you're wrong. The internet makes this shit all too easy. And too easy to spiral out of control.
There is such a thing as being reasonable, rational and assuming the best intentions of other people before leaping to red alert. That's the very definition of BEING progressive. And the criticism of this dumb web comic doesn't come close to crossing that threshold. Nobody is getting raped because of the Oatmeal. So calm the fuck down. the only thing getting violated is logic.
There is a large portion of the web - your posts among them - that feel's the compulsive need to takes sides over petty cultural minutiae and scream about an offense literally every day. And in media scape so loud your views deserve no more a fair hearing than the rest of the noise.
25
"Inman's recurring conflict cycle drives traffic."
Inman makes a very small amount of money from advertising, and most advertising that pays well requires people to take actions. Simply bringing people to his site who then leave isn't valuable.
Inman makes the majority of his revenue from people who like his stuff buying merchandise. People who do drive-by visits because of a controversy are unlikely to buy his merchandise.
Inman makes a very small amount of money from advertising, and most advertising that pays well requires people to take actions. Simply bringing people to his site who then leave isn't valuable.
Inman makes the majority of his revenue from people who like his stuff buying merchandise. People who do drive-by visits because of a controversy are unlikely to buy his merchandise.
26
When people who make edgy and innovative jokes about rape get scolded for being offensive, it ruins the entire internet for everyone.
27
I'm with 11. As a rape survivor i've never really been offended by anything on the oatmeal. It's all really light hearted in general.
28
The amount of time spent on this site worrying about whether a particular joke is or isn't offensive is like rape to my ears.
29
Anyone who can draw a masturbating goblin holding a spoon with stupid look on its face is alright in my book.
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/miracle_whip
Come on, that's funny! If you don't find it funny then you need to stop being a pretentious prick and give yourself permission to laugh at silly absurdities.
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/miracle_whip
Come on, that's funny! If you don't find it funny then you need to stop being a pretentious prick and give yourself permission to laugh at silly absurdities.
31
@21: "For the billionth freaking time, he has every right to make stupid, shitty jokes. And everyone else has just as much right to say, hey, your jokes are stupid and shitty. "
Just as everybody has the right to tell you to take your faux outrage and self-serving pose as defender of the oppressed and shove it. And you have the right to say "No, I don't think I will shove it, thank you very much." And then they have the right to say "Well, screw you, buddy!"
Ad infinitum.
Just as everybody has the right to tell you to take your faux outrage and self-serving pose as defender of the oppressed and shove it. And you have the right to say "No, I don't think I will shove it, thank you very much." And then they have the right to say "Well, screw you, buddy!"
Ad infinitum.
32
Eesh. It hardly seemed like a hitpiece, and Inman refused to comment when contacted and then repeatedly rails on Buzzfeed for not fact-checking. You say it's perfect, I think it just makes him look so much worse than just posting a simple straightforward apology for the offending comic.
33
Inman is a cunt, this isn't the first time he's shown it, and his 'oh poor widdle me' act every time he gets criticised is getting old.
34
As Inman points out, he didn't refuse to comment, he never knew about the request in the first place because his "publicist" (AKA, his mom) had never heard of Buzzfeed and deleted it.
35
well, that's a fine point. Buzzfeed tried to contact him and he didn't respond. It's kind of lame that he also refuses to take responsibility for this mistake this and instead kind of throws his mother under the bus.
36
@35: It's hardly a fine point when one is describing something as an active refusal when it was a passive unawareness. Also, his failure to comment (oooh, see how that phrase neither suggests an active refusal nor absolves him of wrongdoing? that's your fine point, sir) doesn't excuse the total nonsense published in the original article. The writer found some random profile on the internet, titled "Matthew (Oatmeal)" and copied what it said verbatim, with no fact checking whatsoever. I'm not a giant Oatmeal fan, and I'm pretty quick to admit that Matthew Inman can be a total cunt, and his point-by-point takedown of the article was a bit much, and whiny, however, the original article was such a piece of shit, I feel the need to defend some of his action in responding to it. Applying malice to actions (or inactions) willy-nilly doesn't help anybody in this argument, and I was simply clarifying a point that has been misstated several times.
37
Perfect? It was a tl;dr whinefest dedicated to how seriously Matt Inman takes the internet. His comic used to be funny, and then he became an online vigilante with his words. Yawn.
38
@26 Not all jokes merely referencing the term or concept of rape are endorsing rape. Not all humor is monolithic in intent. Lindy West did an interesting piece on this.
So. Link to this specific joke. If it's so offensive link to it rather than have us rely on your word of how bad it is. Or at least describe it in detail - since it might have pulled down. Let us judge what was so offensive.
Shit. I bet you never even SAW it the first place.
So. Link to this specific joke. If it's so offensive link to it rather than have us rely on your word of how bad it is. Or at least describe it in detail - since it might have pulled down. Let us judge what was so offensive.
Shit. I bet you never even SAW it the first place.
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