3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

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3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby Deathclaw_Puncher » Sat Nov 08, 2014 5:05 pm

http://www.cracked.com/blog/3-shortcuts-to-not-being-terrible-person/
It's essentially the usual Felix Clay vs. whiny desperate manchildren.
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Re: 3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby Marcuse » Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:30 pm

Wow, so yet again we're being bombarded with instruction on how not to be awful people by a site run by David Wong. Sorry, but if you want to talk about defensive, he's pretty much beyond the classic example. It feels a little hypocritical for a site with such pronounced problems with its leadership and administration to be preaching in its articles on conduct. I'll take my advice from people who don't swear at people then delete it so nobody knows about it. I know Clay isn't Wong, but it's kind of a guilt by association thing here, in that I don't feel Cracked really has the credibility to instruct on behaviour when it has such an issue with the behaviour of the people who run the site.

As to respecting boundaries; well, duh. Is it that difficult a logical leap that people will feel more comfortable if you don't trample over their boundaries and take a dump in their personal space? I feel like it isn't. Of course that doesn't mean it's quite as easy as that implies it is. If these things were easy or simple they'd not be problems in the first place. As one astute commenter put:

Sharva91 wrote:This article is garbage, and not because it isn't true (It DEFINITELY is).

It's because it's just restating the obvious for white knight points. The actual nice guys treat women with respect, respect boundaries and handle rejection. Hell there are some guys that are still assholes but slowly transitioning into maturity and show remorse for their mistakes.

Then there are the assholes who don't care, and will continue to behave as such.

What in these kind of articles helps the situation and/or convinces the latter group? Everyone with half a brain already does the few, obvious things Felix suggested and no one who doesn't gives a damn. How about something that resembles a good article?


As to "Help". Well do I really need to dignify that with a response? If you help people it's good herp derp gimme points. Sure. That's nice. Now tell me how that help is to be implemented. Tell me about people who have helped and make a difference. Tell me about anything interesting on the subject of helping others because for fucks sake this brings nothing to the table for me.

In short, this article is a pointless exercise in haranguing an audience that either already hears and understands the extremely simplistic message or doesn't care enough to try. It's a waste of time.
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Re: 3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby Edgar Cabrera » Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:40 pm

What makes me sad about this is that I totally expected this to come from David "I Have All The Answers To Every Problem In Society Now" Wong, but it came from Felix Clay, the one guy who seemed to carry the spirit of the old Cracked articles with his writing.
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Re: 3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby DamianaRaven » Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:27 pm

I have a question - if Cracked has become such a shitty website run by such a totalitarian regime of hypocritical tyrants, why does everyone keep coming back for more? Furthermore, while I agree that Wong is an insufferable asshole who would obviously benefit from a hard punch to the nose, declaring Clay to be "guilty by association" and therefore offensively unqualified to even make jokes about being a decent human being, much less try to offer any offer any actual advice... seriously? Now that Logan's on the payroll, will we be subjecting him to the same contempt by contamination... or is it only cool to do that sort of thing behind a person's back?

In any case, is this thread going to be an actual discussion of the article's content, or just an excuse to talk shit about how shitty it is to write any kind of article about not being a shitty person? I find it disturbing that most reasonable people will admit that women EVERYWHERE are being harassed and attacked, sometimes even murdered, by misogynist fuckwits, yet any time a man publicly speaks out against it - whether they're trying to be serious or just cracking a joke - they get jumped on by a staggering number of actual "nice guys" and accused of trying to score points... as if the safety and respect of women is some sort of game. It's not! Then again, if you don't rape people and you don't have to worry about being raped (and quite possibly blamed for it afterward) then why on Earth should you be tied to a chair and forced at gunpoint to listen to people preach about it?
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Re: 3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby Marcuse » Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:48 pm

I mean, I guess you're replying to me. I'm not sure though.

I have a question - if Cracked has become such a shitty website run by such a totalitarian regime of hypocritical tyrants, why does everyone keep coming back for more? Furthermore, while I agree that Wong is an insufferable asshole who would obviously benefit from a hard punch to the nose, declaring Clay to be "guilty by association" and therefore offensively unqualified to even make jokes about being a decent human being, much less try to offer any offer any actual advice... seriously? Now that Logan's on the payroll, will we be subjecting him to the same contempt by contamination... or is it only cool to do that sort of thing behind a person's back?


Point the first, I rarely read Cracked, and only on prompting from someone linking it here.

Secondly, I wasn't declaring him personally guilty by association but the site itself. When one's organisation is rotten at the top you really do lose all credibility in my book. Whether other people wish to take life advice from Cracked isn't really my interest or concern. Logan can do whatever he likes, just as Nisi does and Orange did. I just hope they don't get the same kind of treatment Orange did. If Logan writes a shitty article then if I read it I'll say so.

In any case, is this thread going to be an actual discussion of the article's content, or just an excuse to talk shit about how shitty it is to write any kind of article about not being a shitty person? I find it disturbing that most reasonable people will admit that women EVERYWHERE are being harassed and attacked, sometimes even murdered, by misogynist fuckwits, yet any time a man publicly speaks out against it - whether they're trying to be serious or just cracking a joke - they get jumped on by a staggering number of actual "nice guys" and accused of trying to score points... as if the safety and respect of women is some sort of game. It's not! Then again, if you don't rape people and you don't have to worry about being raped (and quite possibly blamed for it afterward) then why on Earth should you be tied to a chair and forced at gunpoint to listen to people preach about it?


Hmm, I guess you missed the section of my post where I did that then.
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Re: 3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby NathanLoiselle » Sat Nov 08, 2014 9:32 pm

Edgar Cabrera wrote:What makes me sad about this is that I totally expected this to come from David "I Have All The Answers To Every Problem In Society Now" Wong, but it came from Felix Clay, the one guy who seemed to carry the spirit of the old Cracked articles with his writing.


Well, David did write the bible you know.
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Re: 3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby Cordslash » Sat Nov 08, 2014 10:07 pm

This isn't really the correct thread for this, but since we seem to be on the subject: I like Cracked. Still read most of the articles too even though I don't ever comment. I came here back in the day because the Cracked comment section felt like good people.

That said I dislike Wong. And Cheese and O'Brian. But others, whether columnists or contributors, are usually good. And when they aren't we call them on it.

Felix is usually one of the funny guys. He got this one wrong. He's entitled to a miss every now and then.

Disliking an entire site because of the guys at the top seems like an overreaction to me. It would be like me disliking TCS because of Lindvaettr*.

Though that's not a joke. Seriously CJ it's time to throw down mutha!
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Re: 3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby DashaBlade » Sat Nov 08, 2014 11:16 pm

CmdrVimes wrote:This isn't really the correct thread for this, but since we seem to be on the subject: I like Cracked.


I'ma throw in my two cents too. I like Cracked as well. But I have to be careful to look at who the author is, otherwise it's like I'm back at twelve years old, sitting in church listening to the preacher talk about how we shouldn't do shit I never did (and in many cases, have still never done, even after stopping the church thing).

I like the articles about historical stuff. I like the articles about creepy animals and places. I even find the articles about how the media is stupid hilariously ironic.

But, ya know, I'm definitely not the target audience, otherwise I wouldn't have to skip past articles about stuff "ruining my childhood" and it refers to stuff that didn't exist until I was an adult. So hey, maybe there's a big group of people who read Cracked who need advice on how not to act like dicks to their fellow man. If so, I'm afraid those people are gonna ignore the message anyway, much like I now avoid church because I don't want to be told I'm going to hell because I'm a skeptic.

That's sort of the problem with sermons. The only people listening are the ones already in the pew, nodding and saying "Amen, brother". Everyone else in the building is playing with their phones, doodling, or reading Punisher comics (*cough*).
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Re: 3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby FaceTheCitizen » Sat Nov 08, 2014 11:42 pm

...
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Re: 3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby Tesseracts » Sat Nov 08, 2014 11:50 pm

I've never been fond of Cracked's "don't be a bad person" articles. However there seems to be a huge demand for those articles, and I'm aware some people actually find that advice useful.

The internet has changed in the past few years. I don't think it's a Cracked thing. The internet has gotten really preachy and super political. Everyone has an obligation to have an opinion about everything. It doesn't matter if you don't know anything about the subject. It doesn't matter if you're saying the same thing we have all heard 1000 times before. Social pressure wants you to say it anyway.

If you speak up and say you don't like it, you're immediately accused of being on the opposite side of whatever the cause is, and everyone's yelling at you to check your privilege or what the fuck ever.

#CancelInternet

Anyway...

I don't like these preachy Cracked articles, because not only are they pointless, but they're condescending. They're talking down to me. For example, this is from the section on #NotAllMen.

The word of the day is empathy. You really need to try to see things from the perspective of women, rather than fighting against them to assure them you're not a degenerate scumbag. By and large, women won't think you are a degenerate scumbag until you give them a reason to. How often do you meet people and instantly assume they're monsters until they angrily tell you on Twitter that they're not?


First of all, WHO the hell is going on Twitter and saying #NotAllMen? I'm not. I hate Twitter. I don't care what Twitter thinks about men. I assume it's a small portion of the population who are using this hashtag. I assume it's an even smaller portion of the people who use Twitter, who both use this hashtag and are open to articles explaining to them why they shouldn't use that hashtag. I assume it's a much smaller (or perhaps non-existant) portion of the Twitter-using population who use that hashtag, are open to criticism, and are willing to accept that criticism when it comes in the form of accusing them of lacking all empathy.

THIS is exactly why I don't like this sort of article and everything else like it, on Cracked or elsewhere: It's NOT about helping people. It's not about solving problems. It's about being more-progressive-than-thou. It's about patting yourself on the back, saying "I'm a good person." And you know what, I'm not perfect and I indulge in that behavior myself sometimes. I used to spend hours a day on these sorts of Cracked articles, just so I could make fun of stupid MRAs in the comments. But I also get a little tired of seeing these sorts of articles happening all the damn time. Cracked is entertainment, and this kind of thing is losing it's entertainment value with me.
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Re: 3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby Tesseracts » Tue Nov 11, 2014 4:01 pm

Today, Cracked came out with an article explaining sexism that, shockingly, isn't condescending or annoying. I actually thought the analogies were really good. Unsurprisingly, it's by Bucholz.
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Re: 3 Shortcuts To Not Being A Terrible Person

Postby Jack Road » Thu Nov 13, 2014 12:41 pm

DamianaRaven wrote:I have a question - if Cracked has become such a shitty website run by such a totalitarian regime of hypocritical tyrants, why does everyone keep coming back for more?


Cracked's tag line, since time immemorial, has been "America's Only Comedy Website"

That bothers some, who point to other great comedy sites. But I think it is very accurate, when you add in a few things.

"Cracked: America's only current events (non-satirical) comedy site"

Although owned by an ad revenue company, and afflicted by an "us vs. them" mentality, Cracked remains the premier (and almost exclusive) site for prolific, accurate current event articles with comedic tendencies. After merging with PWOT, one of the oldest remaining bastions of Web 1.0, Cracked has the members, clout, respect and process to turn out timely, impactful comedic gold.

This site split off from Cracked for many reasons, one of the predominate being the threat of comment section removal. But most of us started there, and I think I can say that I really enjoy Cracked, but don't like some of the directions the site is taking. And when I say I don't like that direction, it does not reflect on me liking the site as a whole.

Consider Animal Farm. Remember that the farm started with good ideals. Remember that many of the characters retained optimism about the farm, and protested corruption, even when it became clear that corruption was more than 50% of what the farm had become. At what point is Cracked irredeemable? I don't know. I don't think it has happened yet, and hold high hopes that it might return to what I once loved wholly. But I am a bit of a Boxer, to borrow Orwellian vernacular. Somewhat a Clover, in that I have joined a site I hope might take place in the vacuum left by Cracked's absence, should Cracked finally abdicate its position.
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