It was a shocking thing to say and I knew it was a shocking thing to say. But no one has the right to live without being shocked. No one has the right to spend their life without being offended. Nobody has to read this book. Nobody has to pick it up. Nobody has to open it. And if you open it and read it, you don't have to like it. And if you read it and you dislike it, you don't have to remain silent about it. You can write to me, you can complain about it, you can write to the publisher, you can write to the papers, you can write your own book. You can do all those things, but there your rights stop. No one has the right to stop me writing this book. No one has the right to stop it being published, or bought, or sold or read. That's all I have to say on that subject.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
"No one has the right to not be offended"
Apropos of complaining about things, here is a video of a British author saying some things. This is what he is saying:
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LEAVE RANDALL ALONE, HE'S A HUMAN BEING
ReplyDeletesooo.. what do you wanna tell us here exactly? are you the writer in that case.. or is it randall...? please enlighten me
ReplyDeletein so many words: if you don't like something, complain about it
ReplyDeleteThat's... pretty neat, actually.
ReplyDeleteSo, Randall can churn his mediocre comics, we can still ragefully complain, and no one has to stop doing what they want to.
Life is awesome, ain't it?
So, Randall can churn his mediocre comics, we can still ragefully complain, others can complain about the shit we're writing here, and no one has to stop doing what they want to.
ReplyDeleteLife is awesome.
Anonymous1: You are an idiot if you cannot understand the point we're trying to make here.
ReplyDeleteSo, Randall can churn his mediocre comics, we can still ragefully complain, others can complain about the shit we're writing here, we can tell them they're being retarded, and no one has to stop doing what they want to.
ReplyDeleteLife is awesome, ain't it?
nope. the text implies criticism of the "book", not the author!!!!!111.
ReplyDeleteSo, Randall can churn his mediocre comics, we can still ragefully complain, others can complain about the shit we're writing here, we can tell them they're being retarded, they can develop creepy fantroll fetishes about our attempts to tell them they're retarded, and no one has to stop doing what they want to.
ReplyDeleteLife is awesome, ain't it?
Rob, while I agree with the sentiment expressed to an extent, and heartily agree with the defense of free speech, I feel that the a person could make the argument here is not what one CAN do, or what others cannot prevent one from doing, but what one SHOULD do.
ReplyDeleteThe other says that no one has the right to live without being shocked, that no one has the right to prevent him from not publishing his book, and that no one has the right to stifle complaints etc. etc.
This certainly does not mean one 'should' actively shock others or be shocked without purpose, that one should attempt to publish controversial material without reason, or create complaints without due reason.
As always, ability mustbe tempered with responsibility.
This means that the post contributes little to the argument for or against the site, as it will still leave the very large question of the merit of the site in doubt. It will only stifle the cuddlefish who believes that the site does not have the RIGHT to exist. I think (and hope) that contingent of users is small and it is likely that those few who do exist are actively avoiding accidentally ingesting their keyboards (because they are dumb, I don't know if that was clear) and thus are beneath meriting such a post.
' I feel that the a person' -> 'I feel that a person'
ReplyDelete'The other says' -> 'the author says'
'ability mustbe' -> 'ability must be'
Goddam my tiny blackberry keyboard and my rugged, manly fingers.
well, first, I'm not trying to prove anything, I just thought it was interesting and relevant.
ReplyDelete(apparently I make one-item lists now)
ReplyDeleteI like making one-item lists. Or ending your post with "funny story, actually". It keeps people guessing.
ReplyDeleteI have bad breath.
ReplyDeleteHey Rob, keep this in mind: You may have the right to write what you want, but I have the ability to take away your posting privileges at anytime! So don't clog my blog up with shit like this. YOU FUCKER.
ReplyDeletealso, do you want me to delete that post you put here by mistake last week? i can do that
carl, I could just post the word 'butts' over and over again and it would be better than the shit you put up.
ReplyDeleteButts Rob, you're really giving the butts end of the deal to Carl there, you might as well put your cigarette butts out in his eye or hit him with the butts end of a rifle... I don't think you know which side of your bread is buttsered on.
ReplyDeleteI hear the scuttlebutts is that your headbuttsing is butts a show for the buttsheads on this blog. This is pretts butts BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS BUTTS.
rob this post is just utterly false
ReplyDeleteand i know you agree with me because you're a filthy liberal
actually I happen to be a supporter of free speech above all else so uh nope
ReplyDeleteRob your butts comment evoked more amusement in me than in any other comment/post from this blog ever.
ReplyDeleteKinda pathetic, right?
4:19, you're right, it is kind of a shame that you have the emotional maturity of a six-year-old
ReplyDeleteI love the queenie handbags at dawn atmosphere this blog has,
ReplyDeleteNever change, xkcdsux
also good content sometimes too
So, Randall can churn his mediocre comics, we can still ragefully complain, others can complain about the shit we're writing here, we can tell them they're being retarded, and no one has to stop doing what they want to.
ReplyDeleteLife is awesome, ain't it?
Wow, some guy just pointed out that saying stuff isn't illegal. oh my god that's so deep.
ReplyDeletei wouldn't expect you to understand
ReplyDeletegod Rob that last post sounded like a twelve year old with her fists clenched into balls and the beginnings of tears running down her cheeks in response to her mother asking "what's wrong?"
ReplyDeletehahaha, okay, keep telling yourself that
ReplyDeleteNo one has the right to be amused by this comic, either, yet here you've devoted hours and what...5 spam blogs to reviewing a comic you hate reading?
ReplyDeleteAre you also sockpuppeting yourself in the comics? And then talking to yourself like an ITG? Wow.
Er, "comics" should be "comments."
ReplyDelete"And if you read it and you dislike it, you don't have to remain silent about it. You can write to me, you can complain about it, you can write to the publisher, you can write to the papers, you can write your own book."
ReplyDeleteI think you missed the point of what I was trying to say. This blog has all rights to exist, and I applaud its existence.
ReplyDeleteI am simply amused by the amount of effort going into disliking a stick figure comic, and further amused by your attempts to make it seem like a contentious position.
I seriously doubt anyone is shocked by mediocre ramblings about how bad Randall Munroe's jokes are.
you think this takes effort?
ReplyDelete"Some British author"...are you fucking kidding me? It's not like Philip Pullman's unknown!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understatement
ReplyDeleteWhy should we trust him? He's been saying "The Book of Dust" would come out "this year" since 2004. Screw you Pullman.
ReplyDeleteI'm an xkcd fan (please don't kill me), but you made me happy by mentioning Philip Pullman. Just thought I'd mention it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, before anyone says "if you're an xkcd fan why're you here?" or anything like that, I'm here to see if there's any comic you can't ruin for me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_dimension
ReplyDeleteidiots
no you, as nothing on this page concerns dimensions
ReplyDeleteno, don't you see? the existence of a fourth dimension renders this entire conversation meaningless!
ReplyDeleteHeh, this looks like the blog writers have a -bit- of an insecurity problem about what they're doing... and want very badly to justify it to everybody else.
ReplyDelete"See you guys?? This famous author agrees with what we're doing. So it's ok then you guys! What we do is ok cause he says so."
Heh... and yeh I'm aware that that's possibly not the case in reality, but that's sure as hell what it looks like from this side of the screen.
aww, and you were all doing so well, too. I was really impressed at everyone's ability to refrain from making the "LOL THE AUTHOR AGREES WITH ME THEREFORE I'M VALIDATED" troll. and Harry had to go and be a tard and say the stupid thing and ruin it for everyone. why you gotta suck so bad, Harry?
ReplyDelete