In what is either the most ridiculous Internet drama ever or a giant unfunny joke, one of the mods of a subreddit devoted to the weirdo comedy duo Tim and Eric temporarily shuttered the forum in a fit of pique after the Tim portion of the comedy duo made fun of Donald Trump on Twitter.
And so, for a time, this is what greeted visitors to the forum:
The subreddit opened again this afternoon, with a post from one of the mods asking regulars how they felt about “throwing [the subreddit’s] weight behind Trump’s campaign?”
![Subreddit Direction RE: Trump (self.TimAndEric) submitted 2 hours ago by sugardick[M] - STICKIED POST Hi guys. Lately I've been receiving a lot of mod mail regarding the direction this sub is taking. As many of you will be aware, regular contributors and content makers of this sub gather in an AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) chatroom on the fourth Friday of every month to discuss all things related to Tim & Eric and this subreddit. Recently, a few of the sub's "power users" (you know who you are!) have been floating the idea of promoting Donald Trump's election campaign and have toyed with the sub's appearence as means of prompting that discussion. There have been long winded and laboured debates from both sides in those chatrooms. Every one of you will be aware of the connection between T&E and Trump at this point and you won't have far to dig through Tim's twitter account and youtube videos to get his feelings on the matter. What I'd like to do is take this opportunity to gauge the feelings of the wider /r/TimAndEric community because I know some of you don't attend the chats--a few of you have your reasons and I respect that, but anyway. How does this subreddit feel about throwing its weight behind Trump's campaign?](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/trumptimeric.png?resize=576%2C504&ssl=1)
If this is all some elaborate joke, it appears that most of the subreddit regulars aren’t in on it — and neither is Tim Heidecker. The subreddit is now filled with angry sniping about the (possibly not serious) proposal, and there’s a thread devoted to the proposition that the mods should be “stripped of their duties, titles, and forever banned from this subreddit.”
I don’t know what to think of it all, but in doing my half-assed research for this post I discovered that Tim now has a cooking show. Well, not so much “cooking” as “stirring,” and not so much a show as a couple of YouTube videos. So enjoy this recipe for cocktail sauce!
H/T — r/BestOfOutrageCulture
Is there any reason to think that Tim and/or Eric has/have anything to do with this?
Their shows are hit & miss, but the good ones are so surreal and weird there’s no way it won’t crack me up. They have a truly unique style of comedy which I have appreciated over the years, and I would be disappointed and surprised if either of them were a Trump supporter.
It also disappoints me how quick people are to be needlessly aggressive toward a comedy duo based on what someone in A FUCKING SUBREDDIT did. Jebus.
@kupo
Thank you for explaining why “dumb” is ableist. I never knew that it was, and learned something. I personally will try not to use it in the future, but I understand if some people think it’s fine because the meaning has changed so much over time.
Also sorry about your relatives and friends treating you so poorly about your hearing issues. That really sucks.
@dhag
Other way around – Tim called Trump a moron (albeit in more ableist language) on Twitter, then the subreddit flipped out.
@SFHC
So this is another case of reddit being reddit? Great.
OT: Did you see the major, major update to Pokémon Shuffle? It’s a lot more user friendly now, and there are a bunch of new things to do.
@dhag
I knowww! I’m loving the mission cards so far; I was so excited to finally get a Lucarionite, although the “Get a combo of exactly seven” one was a luck-based pain in the arse. =P
@SFHC
Have fun doing the “make a combo of exactly 20 matches”, “erase 50 rocks”, and “clear out 100 coins” missions! 🙂
I’m way behind on everything in this game, and sadly missed a Charizard stone when I was in the no wifi zone on vacation. Sigh.
Hello kupo. I think that after reading your post that you and I have a lot in common. We seem to have similar and yet different problems. But I always think though that we should challenge other people. And yes, even give them a bit of pepper sometimes!
And this really got me mate. That those people were your relatives. Well I had the same thing. My own parents and their disrespectful words. They should be both old enough to know better. In effect, they are really just big children.
Y’know, every now and then I hear about something cool happening on Reddit, and I think, “Hm, maybe I should finally get an account, just so I can participate in said Cool Thing.”
Then something like this happens, and I’m back to going, “…nah, I’m good”.
@Pol
People get irrational sometimes when emotions come into play. They forget to be empathetic when they’re upset. I do it too (actually I found out I have a gene that makes me unable to be empathetic when upset–who knew that was controlled by genetics?). They’re not trying to be mean or cruel, but they forget that I have a hearing loss, and so they think I heard them because the volume they were speaking is fine for most of the people they interact with. They tend to learn over time, like my husband who hasn’t done any of that since the first year or so we were dating. I once told him never to say anything to me he isn’t willing to repeat, and I think he took that to heart.
@kupo
My dad has always had bad hearing, and I (reluctantly) recognize many of those behaviors in myself. Getting frustrated when he can’t hear me, yelling or speaking ridiculously loudly, thinking he MUST have heard me since he’s right next to me, accusing him of just not paying attention, etc etc etc. Constantly having to repeat yourself is frustrating, but of course it’s more frustrating to be the one who constantly needs to have things repeated to them, and in addition being the target of other people’s frustrations. One thing that always frustrates me when I talk to him is when I can tell from his tone of voice that he has no idea what I just said, but he won’t ask me to repeat it. So I have to say “did you hear any of that?”, then I have to wait for him to demonstrate that he in fact didn’t hear it, and then I repeat it again. I realize that he probably gets tired of having to ask me to repeat myself all the time, but it’s also difficult for me always having to make sure he’s not just pretending to have heard me, since sometimes I do say important things that he needs to hear. I’ve gotten better at this stuff since I don’t see him very often these days, but it was really getting on my nerves when I lived with my parents and talked to them way too often. I really appreciate your perspective on this!
@Kupo
Younger me asked many ridiculous and probably very insensitive questions that a (I think?) 100% deaf guy was kind enough to answer (seriously I don’t know what possessed me to ask why did he have a car stereo in his car, but his response was to show me – bass. The most bass I think I’ve ever felt and heard in my whole life.)…the fact that he answered questions at all without hesitating or anger when I had barely met him and was being so clueless but rude, made a lasting impression. He even put up with some ‘finger spelling’ because the extent of my sign language ability is the alphabet. That prompted a laugh from him before he got the laptop which was his preferred way to communicate. We lost track of each other when he had to move to a different state to live with his dad who had the insurance and money to do university tuition + the cochlear implants but wouldn’t as long as he lived with his mom (who was also deaf…complicated family situation).
I understand your position, and am even more grateful to the people who let me learn about what life for them was like. There are still times when others legitimately don’t know how a person feels/thinks unless they are told those things, for me this is one of those times. (not speaking for everyone, just myself.)
I like the idea of being scolded over not “separating personal beliefs and comedy shtick”, like they’re failing a job requirement. I’m pretty sure incorporating personal beliefs into comedy is allowed (freeze peach), and isn’t new. Like, are they mad at Yakov Smirnoff for making fun of the Soviet Union?
Then again, these are pretty much the same people who think personal opinions and experiences should be kept out of video game reviews so…
Whether this is for real or not, I find it somewhat reassuring that the majority of comments on that subreddit were extremely hostile towards the idea of backing Trump.
@Petal
I admit, I do pretend to hear things people say sometimes. I won’t do it if it seems important, but I do it more often than I probably should. It’s annoying on both sides when I can’t hear people, and sometimes I just don’t want to deal with it. So I smile and nod and hope I wasn’t supposed to respond some other way.
@msexception
I think we all have those cringe worthy moments in our past. Also, you probably don’t want to ride in my car because my stereo has a high pitched whine that is apparently painful to listen to (one of the sources of anger I get for not hearing things) and since I can’t hear it, I haven’t bothered fixing it in the 8 years I’ve owned the car. But I turn off the radio when others are in the car or ask them to turn it off if it makes the noise (it’s intermittent). On a really good day I can barely hear it in one ear, but then it just sets off my tinnitus like crazy. :p
Jennifer King,
Plus, political comedy can be the best kind if it’s done well. I love Samantha Bee’s new show.
On cringe worthy moments, I grew up across the street from a lesbian couple and their daughter. I once asked her which one was her real mom. She got a funny look on her face and said they both were. Of course, I meant biological mother. I was only 11 or 12 so it’s not unforgivable or anything, but I still look back on that and cringe.
My Significant Otter has 3 deaf cousins, one of whom is a badass lesbian (or bi?) who shares a bunch of activism stuff related to the deaf community on social media. Sadly I don’t know these cousins very well since they live in California.
@kupo
My hearing is – last time I checked – fairly normal, but I do have trouble at times parsing the words that people are saying, so I ask people to repeat themselves quite a lot as well. I feel like my situation is a lot simpler – I don’t straight up *not hear* things, and the only flak I really get is when my partner tries to tell me something discreetly and my automatic reaction to not understanding is to ask “Pardon?” in a normal speaking voice – but I can still sympathize with it sometimes just not being worth it. Like if I’m having a particularly bad run and have said “Pardon?” to the same person a half-dozen times in as many minutes, throwing in an “Oh yeah” to something that sounded inconsequential can really ease the embarrassment.
The comedy just isn’t my cuppa but I was aghast at the mistreatment of the “cocktail sauce.”
I love me some cocktail sauce and mine is kickass and simple: Ketchup, tomato paste (just to tone down the sweetness of the ketchup), horseradish (NOT the creamed kind, unless you like pink cocktail sauce *shudder*) and a bit of chili paste for an added kick.
Everything is according to taste (and sometimes my mood) so no measurements are involved. I’m eating crab cakes with my sauce *right now* because the video made me crave them!
OK. So…who’s being “needlessly aggressive”? Of the people who talked about Tim & Eric’s shows, in a conversation separate to the one about the subreddit drama, is your comment directed at Rabukurafuto? Or magnesium? dreemr? Pandapool? Tessa? reimalebario? Social Justice Atheist? Me? Futrelle’s blog? All of the above? And who’s actually holding Tim & Eric responsible for this subreddit nonsense?
I’m seriously asking, because I’m not sure how comments like, “I watched them a few times, not particularly my taste but they had some funny bits”, or, “Tim and Eric suck”, are examples of being “needlessly aggressive toward a comedy duo based on what someone in A FUCKING SUBREDDIT did”.
@TotC
Yeah, I was talking about people in the comments taking this opportunity to berate the comedy duo when they had nothing to do with whatever the reddit people did. If you don’t like a band, a TV show, a movie, etc, just keep it to yourself or bring it up when it has something at all to do with the topic at hand. Don’t unnecessarily shit all over things others might enjoy. There are many things I’m not a fan of, that I know others here quite enjoy. There’s really no need for me to tell them how much their interests suck. See how that works?
@Kupo just wanted to add thanks & support. I learned some things from your post & will be better equipped to be more respectful, & I appreciate that.
@everyone who learned things from me today
I was a little hesitant to post that because while I’ve been actually thinking about it since the great comment policy debate I had already decided that since I don’t actually feel hurt by the use of ‘dumb’ as a synonym for unintelligent that I didn’t need to bring it up. I’m glad I did, though, because it’s good to know people learned from it. I’ve been having a crappy week, so the combination of people saying they’ve learned from me and the kids I volunteer to tutor actually demonstrating that they’re learning has made me feel very good today, despite issues at work attempting to drag me down.
Kupo kupo! ^o^
Well, I for one wasn’t trying to be aggressive. A few people expressed that they didn’t know who Tim & Eric were, so I gave my impressions of them because I think they are a little more well-known than some may realize.
@Kupo
Learning can and should be a lifelong thing. 🙂 If I stopped learning I imagine I’d get pretty bored fairly quick.
Your stereo situation sounds like you’d be right about my not wanting to be a passenger, though to be fair the one in my car is always turned up loud so some may not want to be a passenger with me either. I’ve had my drivers license a long while, but once I had a car of my own I really haven’t liked not being the one driving places. Depending on another person to get me from point A to point B if alcohol was going to be around or someone could get a little out of bounds with their behavior (which people I’ve known/been around have done more often than I’d have preferred) …much more comfortable having my own wheels.