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Youtube Creator Caroline Konstnar fakes pregnancy to promote Patreon

WhateverItTakes

WhateverItTakes

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,553
Swearing.circle said:
The joke doesn't offend me personally, the same way cancer jokes don't despite having a lot of that in my family. Having said that, I still don't it funny. I've had to experience my partner going through a miscarriage and it was truly awful. The joke doesn't bother me personally but I don't get why the people tripping over themselves to defend this joke so bad are blatantly ignoring the very real experiences people have mentioned in this thread.
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Maybe some people are, but what is there to say? We all have really different life experiences which affect our sense of humour. It feels condescending to say "I'm so sorry for you experiences" and also say "I did see the humour in this video", so it's better to not engage. There's no right and wrong on what we find funny, and it's a whole other discussion on who is allowed to make what jokes about a certain topic. Then a whole other discussion on what we feel is comedians pushing the envelope Vs being a lazy hack.

I think it's just intrinsic to the way a discussion forum categorises conversations. I agree with those in the thread that this could be offensive to them. I also agree that it's not particularly offensive to me, but I have a whole other history behind that. Both are valid and just personal views. I guess when we're talking about dark humour we have to prepare for us bringing a lot of ourselves to that conversation, which will feel quite raw.

I think we all agree the publicity stunt element of this is lame and not well executed. I think what folks are pushing up against is the idea miscarriages is such a taboo that it's a sacred cow in terms of bringing it into comedy. Which obviously people will have their own view on.
 
Swearing.circle

Swearing.circle

Member
Mar 19, 2020
1,892
WhateverItTakes said:
Maybe some people are, but what is there to say? We all have really different life experiences which affect our sense of humour. It feels condescending to say "I'm so sorry for you experiences" and also say "I did see the humour in this video", so it's better to not engage. There's no right and wrong on what we find funny, and it's a whole other discussion on who is allowed to make what jokes about a certain topic. Then a whole other discussion on what we feel is comedians pushing the envelope Vs being a lazy hack.

I think it's just intrinsic to the way a discussion forum categorises conversations. I agree with those in the thread that this could be offensive to them. I also agree that it's not particularly offensive to me, but I have a whole other history behind that. Both are valid and just personal views. I guess when we're talking about dark humour we have to prepare for us bringing a lot of ourselves to that conversation, which will feel quite raw.

I think we all agree the publicity stunt element of this is lame and not well executed. I think what folks are pushing up against is the idea miscarriages is such a taboo that it's a sacred cow in terms of bringing it into comedy. Which obviously people will have their own view on.
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Thank you for your reply on this. I get where you're coming from. I think my initial post came from somewhere a bit heated and I've calmed down a bit since then but you've helped to frame it in a way that makes sense for me so that's much appreciated.
 
WhateverItTakes

WhateverItTakes

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,553
Swearing.circle said:
Thank you for your reply on this. I get where you're coming from. I think my initial post came from somewhere a bit heated and I've calmed down a bit since then but you've helped to frame it in a way that makes sense for me so that's much appreciated.
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I appreciate that. I think topics like this are sometimes tough for me to reply too because I don't want to trample all over the trauma of people who've gone through a lot. But equally, I hope it helps you to know that even if the discourse doesn't seem that way, people are genuinely sorry for what you've gone through, even if they can find humour in something adjacent to that.
 
Swearing.circle

Swearing.circle

Member
Mar 19, 2020
1,892
WhateverItTakes said:
I appreciate that. I think topics like this are sometimes tough for me to reply too because I don't want to trample all over the trauma of people who've gone through a lot. But equally, I hope it helps you to know that even if the discourse doesn't seem that way, people are genuinely sorry for what you've gone through, even if they can find humour in something adjacent to that.
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I really appreciate it. Will dip out of this thread now for my own sake but thank you for being kind :-)
 
Laughing Banana

Laughing Banana

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,925
Bandung Indonesia
Pocky4Th3Win said:
My wife went through 5 miscarriages while we were attempting to have our first child, I do not find this funny.
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Sorry to hear that.

But yeah, serious lack of empathy in here from some folks.

I'm surprised, really. Usually ResetEra acts pretty strongly towards comedians who make jokes at the expense of others and stood behind the "it's just a joke!" wall, but I suppose stuff like this is so so hilarious....???
 
Qikz

Qikz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,078
I think this "joke" is just very tasteless. There's a lot of people who struggle to have children and a lot of people and couples who suffer through the trauma of real miscarriages - people in my family and my friends have experienced it and it's awful. Using this as a butt of a joke or using it to promote patreon is just really tone deaf. That's my issue here, she could drum up interest in her patreon or talk about parasocial relationships without faking having a miscarriage.
 

Sounds

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,029
Laughing Banana said:
Sorry to hear that.

But yeah, serious lack of empathy in here from some folks.

I'm surprised, really. Usually ResetEra acts pretty strongly towards comedians who make jokes at the expense of others and stood behind the "it's just a joke!" wall, but I suppose stuff like this is so so hilarious....???
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One can be empathetic towards other people's trauma and loss regarding this topic AND not have a problem with a woman (who has dealt with continued rape threats since she was 15) making jokes about pregnancy.
 
Astral

Astral

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,333
I laughed at the part where she's looking for the baby. But overall pretty tasteless and kinda pointless as an "experiment."
 
The Adder

The Adder

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,081
Poimandres said:
I have to say, 3 pages in the attitude here is a lot more split than many other comedians making questionable jokes where it's pitchforks at dawn. I think this is in very poor taste, and my comedy skews quite dark.
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When you make a racist joke, you're still being racist. When you make a dead baby joke you don't actually kill a baby.
 
JayCB64

JayCB64

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,174
Wales
It might just be bias as I'm coming to this as someone who recently watched his wife go through a complicated miscarriage, and the psychological recovery that followed it, but this gets a big 'Fuck you' from me.
 
Lilly-Anne

Lilly-Anne

Member
Feb 14, 2024
821
B-Dubs said:
That's funny not because the image itself is funny but because of the juxtaposition it creates with the larger comic series. Humor is largely either juxtaposition, hyperbole, irony, or some mix of the three. Basically every joke on Earth can be broken down that way.
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And this is funny because this video recontextualizes the original pregnancy announcement as comedic performance piece. It's essentially a Andy Kaufman bit
Vinegar Joe said:
Men suffer baby loss too, and I don't think we should be gatekeeping who can and can't discuss it. https://www.tommys.org/baby-loss-support/dads-and-partners


It has been said already, but since you quoted me... the original comic was never meant to be funny and the proceeding meme only highlighted the absurdity of it considering the tone of the rest of the comic.

I'd argue that the meme was (originally at least) laughing at the author's hamfisted attempt to deal with a serious topic like baby loss in a trivial context. It then evolved into something entirely different, but baby loss itself was never the butt of the joke.
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"baby loss", as in miscarriage, is not the butt of the joke at all. It's insensitive thumbnail, you might argue, but that's it, a thumbnail.the video literally starts with her making a joke about literally misplacing a baby, not miscarriage.
 
Vinegar Joe

Vinegar Joe

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,175
Sounds said:
One can be empathetic towards other people's trauma and loss regarding this topic AND not have a problem with a woman (who has dealt with continued rape threats since she was 15) making jokes about pregnancy.
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I'd like to think that people capable of that level of empathy would also understand why it's a shit thing to joke about and probably shouldn't condone it. Otherwise it kind of just comes across as a bit disingenuous.

Lilly-Anne said:
And this is funny because this video recontextualizes the original pregnancy announcement as comedic performance piece. It's essentially a Andy Kaufman bit

"baby loss", as in miscarriage, is not the butt of the joke at all. It's insensitive thumbnail, you might argue, but that's it, a thumbnail.the video literally starts with her making a joke about literally misplacing a baby, not miscarriage.
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Baby or pregnancy loss is the term you're looking for - miscarriage is a type of baby loss. And the joke you've just described is very much about baby loss, it is literally a pun about losing a baby. And not a very funny one at that.

Or it could be comparable to Andy Kaufman and I'm totally not getting it.
 

sAbobo

Member
Dec 1, 2018
2,657
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. An odd "joke" aimed at a specific group of people who are/were receptive to that certain style of oddness this person is/was known for in that community, does not equal making a video to purposely re-traumitize people in the general public who have suffered from suffered a tremendous loss. It's honestly such a minor dad joke style joke that inadvertantly struck the hearts of some people without intending to.
 

Sounds

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,029
Vinegar Joe said:
I'd like to think that people capable of that level of empathy would also understand why it's a shit thing to joke about and probably shouldn't condone it. Otherwise it kind of just comes across as a bit disingenuous.
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I'm empathetic to people who have had to deal with the trauma of baby loss, i've even been personally impacted by it myself. but, why should i feel entitled to tell a woman what is wrong about what she is saying about her pregnancy, reproductive rights, miscarriages, abortion, etc... real, fake, joke or not? we have no idea with what she's had to deal with involving her body (aside from you know, constant rape threats), and we're not entitled to know. women are fucking beyond repressed nowadays and want to be controlled like cattle... she can make any joke or comment that she wants about her body.
 
The Adder

The Adder

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,081
Poimandres said:
This doesn't really work for me. If you make a rape joke, you're not actually raping anyone. If you lie about being raped as a "gotcha" is that funny?
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The post wasn't "what's funny". The post was:

Poimandres said:
I have to say, 3 pages in the attitude here is a lot more split than many other comedians making questionable jokes where it's pitchforks at dawn.
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The answer is that people don't go unanimously "pitchforks at dawn" over something being in poor taste. They do it because the comedian is going mask off over being racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic/etc.
 
Poimandres

Poimandres

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,223
The Adder said:
The answer is that people don't go unanimously "pitchforks at dawn" over something being in poor taste. They do it because the comedian is going mask off over being racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic/etc.
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I would say that depending on how the person is perceived, jokes are used as evidence of their guilt if coming from a bad person, or glossed over if coming from someone well liked. To me it looks like some of that is in play here.

I think this is in very poor taste, but everyone has their own standards. I was genuinely surprised to find so many people being okay with it here, when I thought most would agree it doesn't sit well.
 
Orayn

Orayn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,459
I can understand the argument that it's in poor taste, but at the same time it does seem like a well-made point about the way fandoms obsess over creators' personal lives. Read also: People flipping out about idols or Vtubers having IRL relationships.
 
TripleBee

TripleBee

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,308
Vancouver
Everybody has trauma in their lives, thinking that eliminates a topic as a potential vehicle for humor is a weirdly self-centered way to view the world.
 
j7vikes

j7vikes

Definitely not shooting blanks
Banned
Jan 5, 2020
6,641
Poimandres said:
I would say that depending on how the person is perceived, jokes are used as evidence of their guilt if coming from a bad person, or glossed over if coming from someone well liked. To me it looks like some of that is in play here.

I think this is in very poor taste, but everyone has their own standards. I was genuinely surprised to find so many people being okay with it here, when I thought most would agree it doesn't sit well.
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Yeah my first guess would have been it would be met a little more harshly and I'm a bit surprised that so many don't really mind. It definitely seems like she has some fans here.

End of the day it's just not funny so I hope the rest of her stuff is.
 
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