

Sarah Silverman is brilliant - krav
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/14/ted-organizer-trashes-speaker-fails-social-iq-test/
I so wish I could have seen this talk @ TED.
======
callmeed
Personally, I can't really stand Silverman. She seems like more of a "female
shock jock" than a "brilliant comedian" to me. Maybe I don't know enough about
her, but I really have to wonder: (a) why was she even invited to TED to
speak? and (b) what on earth did people _think_ she was going to talk
about–world hunger and infant mortality?

Furthermore, was Silverman _really_ making a statement about political
correctness and free speech–or was she just going after Palin?

On the actual issue, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, it bothers me when
kids use "retarded" or "gay" or "fag" as an insult. On the other hand,
everyone is way too sensitive about language and being a victim any time
someone else says something careless.

~~~
KirinDave
> Furthermore, was Silverman really making a statement about political
> correctness and free speech–or was she just going after Palin?

Both. So, here's the events in not-quite-chronological order:

1\. Rahm Emanuel calls recalcitrant liberal democrats "retarded."

1.5. Palin is outraged.

2\. Rush Limbaugh mentions the "retard conference."

2.5. Palin is not outraged, because "satire" is okay.

3\. Sarah Silverman accepts this bet and makes a comedy routine that is
incredibly outrageous, but obviously satirical.

Is it okay? Of course it's not okay, because Palin is a hypocrite and only
cares about the issue as far as it is political leverage; she's been accused
of using "the r-word" on multiple occasions from multiple sources.

So then Silverman's satire is a political joke of high caliber and razor wit.
But, it's also highlighting a larger issue that people have with doing
generous things for selfish and calculated reasons. The actual substance of
her talk is basically that she wants a special needs kid because this makes
her an awesome person.

~~~
philwelch
I just don't see how this kind of passing, topical crap that goes on at the
shallowest level of politics is worth discussing somewhere like TED. This is
the kind of crap that blows over in a couple weeks--and if you want to make a
statement about how useless this surface level political dialogue is, there
are better ways of doing it.

~~~
KirinDave
This "shallowest level of politics" is the shape of our entire cultural
landscape being formed, man. Comics just tell it like it is.

Is it worth talking about at TED? I dunno. What really is? Some dude leaping
around going "BAAAM" while the crowd figures out how to sing along? Leaders of
influential companies talking about products? Why don't we discuss how very
much against slavery we really are?

Sarah's commentary on politics and how people with unfortunate genetics people
are unwitting pawns in a disingenuous political dialog that has the potential
to deadlock our government? Seems fine to me.

------
barredo
It's very interesting. It reminds me that here in Spain, we use 'f-words'
constantly. We say "negro" (black) to our black friends and is nothing bad.
Why would I say the ultra-political-correct "african" or "afroamerican"?

Same with gay, homosexual, etc. Doesn't mean anything bad.

I'm quite surprised with all the videoclips/songs, tv shows and videogames
that avoid f-words or are edited (with noises).

People sometimes want to harm with words, words themselves mean nothing.

~~~
qeorge
I end up having an if-by-whiskey argument with myself about this, especially
regarding the "n-word."

If by saying the n-word casually, you mean removing the hatred and power
behind a word which has divided our people for centuries by giving it a new
and friendly connotation, then of course I am for it.

If by saying the n-word casually, you mean flippantly dismissing decades of
institutionalized enslavement and murder, and a constant reminder that for all
our progress we are still very much two nations, then I despise it.

Its clear to me though that the n-word still causes a great deal of pain to
many of my brothers and sisters, and I want no part of that. So even though I
hope that someday the n-word will lose this meaning, you're not going to hear
it coming out of my mouth.

~~~
axod
I don't think being offended by any word is rational. Be offended by actions
and events.

The list of outlawed words is growing by the day which is just ridiculous.

Nigger is used in rap music all the time.

You'd hear it come out of my mouth:

    
    
      1. If singing along to R&B Rap etc
      2. If quoting some comedy or trying to be funny
    

Certainly wouldn't use it in an aggressive/hateful way, and that's what you
have to always bear in mind - context.

~~~
philwelch
Watch out. White people saying the word "nigger" because they're trying to be
funny end up being this guy: [http://www.tmz.com/2006/11/20/kramers-racist-
tirade-caught-o...](http://www.tmz.com/2006/11/20/kramers-racist-tirade-
caught-on-tape/)

~~~
poppysan
I am offended at people using it even on this board.

Yes, I am a rational person and words shouldn't affect me, but the fact of the
matter is that there are deep seeded emotions behind the usage.

Whats so wrong with saying n-word when referring to it?

~~~
astrec
_Whats so wrong with saying n-word when referring to it?_

Because to matter how much lipstick you slap on a pig, it's still a pig.

(Apologies to my sus brethren.)((Oh, and just be clear, we're talking about
the word and the word only.))

------
gojomo
An interesting question is: will the TED video of Silverman's talk be made
equally available as other talks?

There's a spectrum of things the organizers might do to try to distance
themselves. Most extreme would be to not put Silverman's video up at all, or
bleep it. Milder options would be hiding her talk from indexes, demoting it in
search results, or wrapping it in disclaimers.

(I hope they treat her talk exactly the same as every other TED talk, but they
may not be able to resist the strong social pressure to show 'sensitivity' and
thus shun Silverman at some level.)

~~~
__david__
Well I read an interview with the founder guy and he indicated that only
66%-75% of the talks ever make to videos on the site. Given that 25% to 33% of
talks never make it up then even if Silverman's doesn't appear it's not
necessarily been "singled out" or treated specially.

~~~
amohr
Given the amount of press around this particular talk, I'd say it's too late
to claim that it's not being singled out. But there is a delay, and they might
be able to give it a soft veto if all this blows over.

------
leftnode
Everyone needs to lighten up. I like Sarah, I think part of her standup is
funny. The joke isn't that she's using the word retarded, the joke is the
utter ridiculousness of her approaching an adoption agency and saying, "please
give me your most retarded baby, but I also want them to be terminally ill."

Maybe I'm insensitive or too immature, but that makes me laugh like crazy.
Just imaging the look on the adoption agency person's face is hilarious.

Here's a similar clip of Evil Dave Letterman from the Howard Stern show
calling an adoption agency asking for a black kid:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXrhI2q-EeI>

------
sgoranson
IMO, Silverman had less of a chance of getting away with this at a TED talk
because she's really not that clever. Her schtick is: cute innocent jewish
girl + naughty words = hilarity.

I cringed when the article compared her use of the word 'retard' to Colbert's
routine where he calls Palin a 'fucking retard'. Here's the difference:
Colbert spent about 10 minutes building up to the slur. The political
allusions, the searing sarcasm, and the final shockingly unsubtle slur was
brilliant. And made me cry from laughing.

Silverman, OTOH, has reached the level of humor that I got bored with in 7th
grade. If her routine actually had some intelligence to it, she probably could
have gotten away with much worse.

------
psawaya
It doesn't matter if you're a fundamentalist Christian or a liberal
progressive, the temptation to take something at face value and act morally
superior is stronger than the one to interpret the intent behind what's being
said.

------
retro
The claim about Sarah Silverman's 'brilliance' seems to be this:

 _"Saying the word 'retarded' can only have extreme negative power if you let
it and Sarah Silverman is brave, because she got on stage in front of some
global minds and dropped it over and over and over."_

To call Sarah Silverman 'brave' for repeating this naughty word in front of a
TED audience really is retarded. If this is what it means to be a subversive
comedian in 2010, Richard Pryor must be turning in his grave.

~~~
grandalf
What's subversive about it is that if she'd not used the word "retarded" her
routine would not have had impact.

There is a sense in which PC language suppresses the real struggle that comes
with difficult social issues, sterilizes them for us, and makes them into
abstract problems that everyone can claim to care about but do nothing about.

Silverman's insight was that by breaking out of the PC mold she was able to
shine the spotlight on a difficult social issue.

Is it the highest level of subversive comedy? Probably not, but it's certainly
a courageous form of activism.

------
dantheman
Was this a joke or did someone earnestly write this:
<http://twitter.com/gaberivera/status/8976199410>

I find Sarah Silverman to be hilarious.

~~~
adamhowell
Gabe is the founder of Techmeme and, from what I've read of his, both heavy on
the sarcasm and a little anti-Valley. I'm sure that was how this was intended.

------
gridspy
Amazing comment from original post (BenT):

"

Oh for pete’s sake it’s Sara Silverman! She’s a shock and insult comic! WTF
did they expect!? Had they never seen a show of hers?

"Oh my god I bought this grenade pulled out the pin and it totally blew up my
house! This grenade sucks!"

"

------
jonmc12
Best line in article: "The world needs to take many things seriously and many
things less seriously. The world needs to get its sense of humor back. It
needs to allow people to express themselves without feeling the overwhelming
pressures of society bearing down and being a social pariah."

------
pistoriusp
I wish I could see her performance for myself, as I find her hilarious, but
the description of Sarah's performance made me cringe.

Not because of the word "retarded," but because she said she would adopt a
terminally ill person. I struggle to see how she could make light of something
like that...

~~~
gojomo
She makes light of everything. The things that make you cringe are her
favorite topics. You can get a sense from her movie, 'Sarah Silverman: Jesus
is Magic', or Comedy Central TV series, 'The Sarah Silverman Program'.

If TED organizers didn't expect as much, their planning was _performed in an
intellectually-disabled manner_. (Is that phrasing R-Word-campaign-approved?)

~~~
Devilboy
TED has special needs

------
protomyth
Season 1 - Episode 4 of Dinner for Five has Sarah Silverman as one of the
guests. One of the "segments" has a discussion of a similar incident with
Sarah Silverman and another word. Kevin Pollak and Ron Livingston's commentary
is pretty interesting.

------
antidaily
While I agree with the headline, the word "brilliant" isn't used in the
article.

------
fexl
retard, v. To slow the progress of; impede or delay

retarded, adj. Slow or backward in mental or emotional development

Those sound innocuous enough to me, but "challenged" is the vogue and should
be safe for 20 years or so.

------
covercash
Based on the reaction Sarah Silverman got, I'm pretty sure the TED audience
would have lynched Bill Hicks.

------
scythe
>It pisses me off to no end that I can’t use that word out of fear for my own
life

This is easily the most offensive sentence in the article. Black people are
not mythical stabby monsters.

------
joe-mccann
There are essentially two types of comedians: "intelligent humor" and "dick
and fart jokes". Silverman falls into the latter; Bill Hicks in the former...

------
rogermugs
disagree.

words have power, and that aint going anywhere.

------
jcmhn
Now I'm just plain confused. I had finally figured out that the tooth fairy,
bigfoot, jimmy carter, and women with a genuine sense of humor were all just
made up by my parents. And now you tell me that at least some of them are
real?

------
dwwoelfel
Making fun of mentally retarded people isn't funny. They are victims of
circumstance, and its sad that they'll never be productive, self-supporting
individuals.

Making fun of people like Sarah Palin, who believe that they are virtuous
because they choose to bring mentally retarded people into this world, is
funny. In this case, the comedian attacks a cruel ideology that puts pain and
suffering on a pedestal.

Sarah Silverman should have made it more clear who she was making fun of. Her
audience was uncomfortable because they thought that she was making fun of
retarded people.

~~~
dwwoelfel
To anyone who down-voted, I'm curious to know why. There have been at least 5
down-votes, but no replies.

~~~
fnid2
My guess, no one thinks she was making fun of retarded people and everyone
_knows_ she was making fun of Sarah Palin and her campaign to neuter the
english language.

~~~
pistoriusp
I'm not from North America and as such wasn't aware of Sarah Palin's campaign
against the word "retard."

In fact, we happen to find Sarah Palin a bit of a comedian herself... And
don't take her seriously.

~~~
elblanco
Yes, she's a joke.

But you won't be laughing when/if someday she ends up President with the nuke
codes on her desk.

~~~
sethg
In a poll taken earlier this month, 55 percent of the people surveyed had an
unfavorable opinion of Palin, and 71 percent said she was not qualified to be
President. I don't know why the media still treats her every tweet as
newsworthy, because as a national political figure, she's a joke.

And I'm not sure she _wants_ to become President. She can continue to have a
lucrative career on the lecture/pundit circuit, playing to that sliver of the
population that does consider her to speak for Real True American Common-Sense
Values. Why ruin such a good thing by seeking votes from more moderate voters
or, heck, actually trying to run a country?

~~~
elblanco
Turn those statistics around,

The disturbing thing is that some 30% of the electorate think she's so great
she should run the country, 45% think she's pretty swell and some similar
number didn't think she wasn't an automatic disqualification for the McCain
campaign. More amazing is that these numbers are the numbers _after_ the
election, when she was revealed to be a dimwitted, incurious, manipulative,
unethical and generally dishonest person of the highest caliber.

She's had the traditional upward trajectory of a shooting-star politician:
local council, mayor, governor, and VP candidate (notice mostly executive
positions, not legislative). At each stage she could have backed out and gone
to the simple life of fishing and hunting while her husband ran snowmobile
races or whatever in between trying to get Alaska to succeed from the Union.
But she didn't, she kept stepping up and up and up, demonstrating a near
limitless ambition. This is not the kind of thing one can indefinitely keep at
bay with a few speaking gigs and some TV time on Fox.

She's not an ideals person (she can't even get through an interview without
reading notes off of her hand), or somebody of a unifying or consistent
internal vision, what she has is limitless ambition.

Considering that most people had never even heard of her before the election,
and she still has this kind of following afterwards (despite these obvious
shortcomings) would make me want to get her out on speaking engagements and
doing favorable TV spots as much as possible for the next couple of years.

 _Mark my words, she will be a candidate for President in the next election
cycle starting in a year or two._

~~~
sethg
Sorry, I forgot to post the link to the poll numbers themselves:

<http://www.pollingreport.com/p.htm#Palin>

Observe how her unfavorable ratings have been going almost monotonically
upward since the election. The more people hear about Palin, the less they
like her.

~~~
elblanco
Thank you. You've singlehandedly renewed my faith in humanity.

