Can We Stop The Bigoted Name Calling?

I’ve poked at some delicate topics during my brief writing career. I questioned the prevailing narrative that the Atlanta Spa shootings were racially motivated. I accused a black man of overreacting to a “racist” incident. I even described Robin DiAngelo as the “Vanilla Ice” of anti-racism. But none of these have generated as much controversy, in such a short time, as my article about Dave Chappelle’s special, The Closer.

Ironically, the central question in my article, The Selective Nature Of Outrage Culture, is why some things (for example, Dave Chappelle’s jokes about Jews and slavery and child molestation) cause so much less controversy than others (for example, Dave’s Chappelle’s trans jokes).

I asked why we rightly defend the trans community when they speak about their experiences as trans people, but don’t defend people like JK Rowling, who’s been subjected to over a year of vicious, misogynistic abuse for speaking about her experience as a woman.

I asked why Dave Chappelle’s special has provoked so much outrage amongst trans activists, but the treatment of trans people like Daphne Dorman and Isabel Fall, by members of the trans community, barely even raises an eyebrow.

Heather suggested an answer:

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Heather:

He’s inviting us to ask why he can joke about women and religion and slavery with impunity, but his jokes about trans people have set the internet ablaze.

There is a really simple point that I think you, and a lot of people commenting on this are missing.

Dave Chappelle is a very talented comedian. He makes fantastic jokes on slavery and the african american experience, that from what I can observe, african americans find very funny. He's so good, that even white people, who are often rather negatively portrayed in those jokes find them funny.

He's clearly not a woman, and you're right, he tells jokes about women with "impunity" because many women find them funny. He understands their lives enough that his humour is mostly relateable and insightful.

But, when it comes to trans jokes. He doesn't understand. Trans people don't find them funny. He is poking fun at the shallowest assumptions with no understanding of what daily life is like for them. He might have known a trans comedian, but he clearly didn't pick up any good material from her. Cis people laugh, cis people rush online to defend him. But trans people don't laugh because the humour is directed at them, not for them.

All trans people ever get is the same "chick has a dick" joke, repeated for hundreds of hours by every shade of cis comedian. I know you want to call that challenging and insightful, but it isn't.

Contrapoints did an excellent video about this, attacking specifically Ricky Gervais, someone I'm sure you'd be much happier seeing critiqued than Dave Chappelle. It's called "The Darkness".

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“someone I'm sure you'd be much happier seeing critiqued than Dave Chappelle.”

I’ll admit that I was blindsided by that soupçon of racism (we get to that in my reply), but that aside, Heather makes a fair point here. Dave clearly doesn't understand daily life for trans women well.

Of course, this is partly because there’s no such thing as “daily life for trans women”. Trans women, like everybody else, have a broad range of experiences that it’s not possible for anyone to “understand”.

But it’s also because Dave didn’t spend enough time learning about trans issues and terminology to speak about them precisely. It’s all very well to say that he’s just making jokes (and don’t get me wrong, I do say this), but on the occasions where he digs a little deeper, it would have been nice if he’d had a better idea of what he was talking about.

But what I think a lot of the people criticising the special are missing is that Dave’s understanding of trans issues is far better than most people’s. Most people know precisely 0 trans people in real life. And have spent precisely 0 minutes thinking about the issues they face. Yes, Dave cracks jokes about Adam’s apples and genitalia, but he also encourages the audience to think about trans people’s lives in ways that I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other celebrity do.

For example, one of the highlights of the show is when Dave tells the story of his first show with Daphne Dorman (a transgender comedian and friend), where they discuss her experiences as a trans person:

At the end of the show I go, ‘Daphne, ooh, that was fun, I love you to death, but I have no fu**ing idea what you’re talking about.’

And the whole crowd laughed, except for Daphne. Now she looks at me like I’m not her friend anymore. Like I’m something bigger than me. Like I’m the whole world in a guy.

And she said, ‘I don’t need you to understand me. I just need you to believe that I’m having a human experience!

Trans issues are so often framed as debates. “What do you mean you’re a woman?” “Aren’t you reinforcing gender stereotypes?” “Why can’t you just be a tomboy?” But I thought this framed them in precisely the right way.

Of course, if you really want to get a good rage going, it’s important that you ignore moments like these.

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Steve QJ:

someone I'm sure you'd be much happier seeing critiqued than Dave Chappelle

I'm really hoping you didn't mean what I think you meant by this. If you did, I don't think you're qualified to speak on questions of how to not come across as a bigot...

Moving on, my issue with the criticism of Chappelle has absolutely nothing to do with the color of his skin. In fact, I could easily criticise parts of the show myself. Dave clearly isn't especially well educated on these issues and it would have been much better, and perhaps funnier, if he were.

That said, and while I'm a fan of Contrapoints, every comedian doesn't do the same "chick has a dick" joke. This show contained a huge number of jokes most of which had nothing to do with trans people. And, in fact, the one point where he does make a "chick has a dick joke" is the part where he's arguing against North Carolina's anti-trans bathroom bill. When an audience member "whoops" as he mentions North Carolina's bathroom bill, he stops them. He says no. He says that it's a bad law and then explains why. I've not seen a single article that mentions this.

You're making the mistake of trying to speak for the trans community when you say that trans people don't find the jokes funny. Daphne Dorman did for example and I've seen a number of other trans people speak in defence of the special. But that aside, some black people find his use of the n-word offensive. Some women find his use of the word b*tch offensive. We're all allowed to be offended. We're all allowed not to like Dave Chappelle and his comedy.

But the standard for "this is hate speech and will get people killed and should be removed from the airwaves," isn't " I didnt find it funny," or even "I was offended by some of it." Because whether you like it or not, Dave Chappelle's understanding of trans issues is actually far better than most people's. You can't pretend that some of the more simplistic points of view don't exist just because you don't like them. You can't just call everybody who doesn't agree with you a transphobe. Well, you can, but it's a surefire way to actually create transphobes.

I'd be all for actual, substantive criticism of his special. As I say, I could critique parts of it myself. But instead, it's been pretty much wall-to-wall bad-faith attacks, outright lies, and hyperbole about how everybody who enjoyed the special "wants trans people to not be alive". This isn't criticism. It's hysteria. And it undermines the valid criticisms and clarifications that could be made.

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Heather:

What I meant, was that your commentary in this case appears to be based as much around your support for Dave Chappelle as a comedian due to his history and contribution, and that given as you say, there has been hyperbolic criticism about him, and both the attacks and defences of the special have been somewhat ad hominem, you might appreciate someone else taking the heat for a change. I can see how it came across, I apologise.

I don’t know if you noticed, but I never called anyone a transphobe. I don’t particularly believe Dave Chappelle is one, although calling himself “Team TERF” wasn’t a great start on that, and the “but I have a friend who is …” defence has been widely debunked elsewhere. But, I do take both those in context, and I don’t believe you are. So can we stop the bigoted name calling?

But your arguments appear to be based on the notion that because one trans woman previously found his jokes funny and you can “what about…” a couple more in defence, that therefore there must be widespread support within the trans community. They can’t speak for all trans people either, nobody can. And the idea that someone’s friend is going to be the most objective voice on the quality of their work, is not normally how this works.

Meanwhile you completely ignore the possibility that all the commentary from the trans community against the special, as being a pretty strong indication that they didn’t find it funny. I brought attention to that the fact that at least one of his jokes fell into a tired trope that trans commentators have spoken out against in the past.

I’m encouraging you look at it another way. You say that he should be allowed his jokes because that’s how we talk about difficult topics, that it’s some sort of universal defence. I’m saying that normally people don’t attack Dave Chappelle for talking about difficult topics in his shows and specials because the jokes are funny and well received by the audience he’s talking about. On this issue, both in the past, and in this special they haven’t been. Which you can either believe is because of some widespread conspiracy from one particular community that wants to cancel him, or alternatively is a sign he and his jokes continuously miss the mark in this area and as a result didn’t afford him the latitude he usually receives.

That is my substantive criticism. that perhaps if he’d spoken more to Daphne, and other funny trans women, he could have found a way to make jokes about trans people that made them feel included and relevant. That didn’t more than use the most simplistic and objective references to their bodies as a punch line. That maybe a lot of this problem is that whilst he might be better than “most people” in his understanding of trans issues, we can both agree, that’s a pretty low bar. And that perhaps his unwillingness to “do the work” before committing the special to tape makes him somewhat responsible for the heat he is taking.

I am aware he made other jokes in the special, and they were funny and mostly well received. That is very much my point. But I am speaking exclusively, as you were, about the ones he made at the expense of trans people, particularly trans women.

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“I’m saying that normally people don’t attack Dave Chappelle for talking about difficult topics in his shows and specials because the jokes are funny.”

I’m not sure where Heather has been, but Dave has been being criticised for his jokes for pretty much his entire career. And rightly so! Nobody could criticise the black people who are offended at his gratuitous use of the n-word (or the sometimes questionable depictions of black people that eventually led to him walking away from Chappelle’s show).

Nobody could criticise the women who are offended at his repeated references to pimps and sexual abuse (not to mention his gratuitous use of the b-word).

Criticism is a good thing. Especially for comedians. Comedians, by necessity, walk close to that line of what it’s okay to say. And sometimes they need feedback to tell them that they’ve stepped over it. Of course, the primary source of that feedback is laughter (if nobody’s laughing you’ve gone too far). But direct criticism can be valuable too.

The problem with most of the criticism of The Closer, is that there’s been nothing to engage with. Instead of telling him how he could have improved the show, or expressing how the jokes were hurtful, protestors demanded that the show be removed from Netflix. A trans Netflix employee paraded the names of 38 dead trans people (none of whom, I hope it goes without saying, had anything to do with Dave’s show) for emotional impact. Dave was accused of everything from hate speech to white supremacy.

How exactly do you engage with “criticism” like this?

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Steve QJ:

your commentary in this case appears to be based as much around your support for Dave Chappelle as a comedian due to his history and contribution

I have no idea where you got that from. I say absolutely nothing about his history and contribution. I'm not even sure what "contribution" you mean. But even then, why would not assume I'm also a fan of Ricky Gervais (which I am)? Anyway, I'll take you at your word if you say that's not what you meant. Reeeally poorly framed though.

Dave calling himself team TERF and a transphobic comedian was so obviously a joke that it's embarrassing that some people are claiming to take him seriously. But I think it's also an attempt to highlight how ridiculous the term TERF is in its current usage.

Don't think that males should compete against females in professional sport (including combat sport)? You're a TERF. Do you understand why terms like "menstruator" and "person with ovaries" might feel reductionist and offensive to some women? You're a TERF! Have you grown up your entire life (not to mention the entirety of human history) with the idea that, for example, women give birth? And are struggling to accept the idea that men can suddenly do it too? You're a TERF! It's ridiculous.

Never mind the fact that Dave agrues against North Carolina's anti-trans bathroom bill in the special (which makes the Trans Exclusionary part hard to square). Never mind the fact that nobody who only just learned what the word "feminist" means from Websters dictionary could possibly be described as "radical". Never mind that most of the people who the term is applied to wouldn't be caught dead describing themselves as feminists. TERF is just a label thrown at anybody who doesn't unquestioningly accept everything that modern gender ideology demands. It's become a tool to demonise people and shut down discussion. Nothing more.

No, my argument isn't based on one trans person. All I'm trying to say is that neither of us can speak for the trans community or women or black people or any other group. Some people found the special funny. Some didn't. Going by the audience approval ratings (95% last time I checked), it seems the overwhelming majority of people did. "All the commentary" from the trans community (by which we almost exclusively mean trans activists on Twitter) on any topic, is pretty much universally hysterical and extremist and in my experience hardly ever reflects the feelings and opinions of ordinary trans people (actually the same is true of a lot of online anti-racist rhetoric, but that's another conversation).

But that said, I'm not trying to say that the opinion of those who were offended by the special doesn't matter. I'm not saying that they're wrong. I'm saying that the answer to a difference of opinon is to talk, preferably reasonably and without hyperbole, about your issue. There is vanishingly little of this in the discourse about the special. Pretending that a few jokes pose an existential threat to trans people. Demanding that a wildly popular comedy special is pulled because a tiny minority didn't find it funny. Deliberately and repeatedly lying about or misrepresenting its content. All of this just makes those objecting seem unreasonable and untrustworthy and drains any available sympathy.

Yes, Dave Chappelle has been getting flack his entire career for his jokes. And don't get me wrong, I have no problem with that. Even a small-fry like me gets plenty of flack for some of the things I write. If you put your thoughts out into the world in 2021 you're an idiot not to expect at least some criticism. That's how it should be. It's just that the online trans activist community always turns it up to 11. It's just that no other community is so willing and ready to parade its dead every time somebody expresses an opinion they don't like. It's kind of grotesque (and even more grotesque, as I point out, is how that concern for their dead doesn't apply if a trans person expresses the wrong opinion).

The place where your substantive criticism falls down is that clearly Dave did speak to Daphne and I'd suspect other funny trans women as well. And clearly his jokes did make her feel included and relevant. She loved them. She defended them! The important difference here is that Daphne knew how to laugh at herself.

So yes, the bodies of trans people are the punchline in some cases. Just as the centuries of brutal racial oppression that black people have faced is the punchline in some cases. Just like the centuries-old conflict that has killed so many Jews is the punchline in some cases. Just as rape and child molestation and murder are the punchline in some cases.

Dave's question, and I think it's a good one, is why is only one of those causing all of this outcry?

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I didn’t hear back from Heather, so I guess she couldn’t answer Dave’s question. And I’m not surprised. There are many layers to all this.

There’s the question of why we do (and whether we should) treat jokes about the trans community so differently to jokes about everybody else. There are the ways of thinking about sex and gender that are new and challenging (and therefore frightening) to most people. There are the social issues—primarily related to the intersection of trans and women’s rights—that we’re still blundering our way through.

But most importantly, there’s the difficulty of having good-faith, productive conversations about any of these things.

For reasons I still don’t understand, even after this chat with Heather, conversations about trans issues are especially taboo. Even compared to slavery and rape and child abuse. But while it can be difficult, we can talk about these other issues. If we want to achieve trans acceptance, we’re going to have to figure out how to talk (and laugh) about trans issues too.