Over at Georgetown, a minor hurricane is whipping around the Hoya, the campus' paper of record, and their annual April Fools Day edition.
We've criticized the Hatchet in the past for "going for the easy joke" in their April Fools writing--a common error among amateurs dabbling comedy, and an error that usually leads to dirty jokes. Often, people struggling to gin up jokes default on the raunchy, the offensive, and the ill-advised. This year, the Hatchet managed to avoid this--mostly. The Hoya, though...well, read for yourself. By turns, the Hoya's articles were disgusting and racist, making light of a diversity initiative, a serial break-in artist/molester, interracial sex, Chinese people, and the (not-so-)Virgin Mary. Yeah, so basically they were imitating the Patriot.
The backlash was quick and fierce. A Facebook group. A Town Hall meeting. A sit-in at the Hoya's office. An angry op-ed.
The Hoya's Editor-in-Chief, Andrew Dwulet, published an apology on April 3:
What we did underscores a broader problem at THE HOYA and at Georgetown. We recognize that we are not as diverse as we can be, and it is something we need to work on. Certain insensitive jokes only further reveal that we are to some extent out of touch with many students’ real-life experiences, and the ways in which these jokes could cause pain.
How to take the measure of this? As a partisan of the free press, I refuse to condemn the Hoya, and I think the "whispers of disciplinary actions" against them are absurd. I have a couple of suggestions, though: first, anger about this isn't to be taken lightly. Complaints levied against jokes like these are as old as the jokes themselves, and represent a serious demand from members of marginalized or "different" groups for social acceptance as more than just figures of fun. Obviously, that doesn't mean that every cry of oppression comes from the lips of persecuted saints, but people who make jokes without considering the offense those jokes could give are not always "brave" and "politically incorrect." Usually, they're just annoying.
Second, shit like this just isn't funny. It doesn't take a lot of creativity or a natural instinct for humor to write 200 words about interracial sex between blacks and whites. There are ways that you could make interracial sex funny, but just writing about it isn't enough to make people laugh. I would argue that less offensive articles would have been funnier in the Hoya. If someone is going to insult me with a joke, it might as well be a good one.
Hey, have you heard the one about the Hoya editor, three midget lesbians, a black guy and an imam? They walk into a bar, and...
3 comments:
I give the Hoya issue a B+
HAHAHA.
Pat was making fun of me because I gave the Hatchet's April Fools issue a B+.
GET IT?
The HOYA April Fools issue was offensive, just like GTown
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