Is anyone offended by either of the following comics?




Apparently, a controversy has been raging for the last 6 months over these comics and a follow up shirt (which doesn't mention rape at all). Recently, it has escalated to the level of death threats.

I'm at a loss for how you can read penny arcade for years, enjoy the murder, torture, pedophilia, and bestiality (the day before dickwolves) comics, and then suddenly become outraged when a comic simply mentions rape completely outside of the punchline of the joke. Can someone explain it to me?

also, an insanely detailed timeline: http://debacle.tumblr.com/post/3041940865/the-pratfall-of-penny-arcade-a-timeline

2/4/2011 10:49:45 AM

2/4/2011 10:58:28 AM

The concept of a "trigger warning" absolutely blows my mind.

How do some people even survive in this world if they require this sort of warning?

http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Trigger_warning

2/4/2011 11:07:30 AM

yeah, this shit is retarded. the point of the comic wasn't even remotely related to rape. i can only assume the whiny people complaining about it would have been ok if the slave said "we are tortured to the verge of unconsciousness every night" or "my penis is stomped on and burned every night" given that they've never brought so much of a shit storm over PA before this. it's absurd

[Edited on February 4, 2011 at 11:15 AM. Reason : .]

2/4/2011 11:13:34 AM

I read the whole timeline, I laughed a lot, people being offended over inane shit is always hilarious to me

2/4/2011 11:14:32 AM

Quote :

"How do some people even survive in this world if they require this sort of warning? "

my thoughts exactly

2/4/2011 11:14:59 AM

HAS NO ONE REALIZED THAT A DICKWOLF... DICK WOLF IS THE CREATOR OF LAW AND ORDER: SVU

ON THAT SHOW THEY RAPIN' ERRBODY!

2/4/2011 11:22:46 AM

The whole thing... wow.... just wow

2/4/2011 11:39:57 AM

jesus christ, that's fucking nuts

2/4/2011 11:47:50 AM

the PA dudes should have never even responded to those people. you cant fucking win, it's impossible. you either apologize right away and be done with it, or put a spam filter on all their emails.

2/4/2011 11:55:23 AM

Showing their age. Years ago they wouldn't have said shit and just run another comic that was twice as offensive.

Christ, these guys started a campaign that has raised millions upon millions of dollars for kids in childrens hospitals. Good lord.

[Edited on February 4, 2011 at 12:45 PM. Reason : .]

2/4/2011 12:43:53 PM

When Mike started his computer at PAX last year he had a giant Dickwolves logo as his wallpaper. What felt like all of the 2500 people in there cheered, but apparently there were ~3 who were repulsed. I appreciate their reasoning for pulling the shirt slightly more than if they'd just never made it (since it was created post-shitstorm) but I wish they hadn't folded at all. People can bitch about anything, like I'm doing right now

2/4/2011 1:17:18 PM

I wasn't offended, but then again, I also understand the concepts of context, humor, and intent.

2/4/2011 1:40:14 PM

polling several feminists most don't care, a few would complain if they did care. none said they would bother to complain. seeing its context rationally.

2/4/2011 1:42:34 PM

these fucktards have obviously not found Cyanide and happiness yet

2/4/2011 1:54:33 PM

or most of the internet as a whole....

2/4/2011 1:58:44 PM

what's really crazy is some of the people bitching say they've been ardent PA fans for a decade

2/4/2011 2:13:38 PM

Tycho talks about it in the other day's Penny Arcade update.

Quote :

"One of the most important essays I’ve ever read is by Philip K Dick, entitled “How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later.” In it, he describes his idea that people can experience reality in such different ways that they lack a common language and therefore can’t relate to one another. He’s talking about schizophrenia, but he’s really talking (as is his way) about all people, everywhere. The problem, then, is that if subjective worlds are experienced too differently, there occurs a breakdown of communication... and there is the real illness. If I haven’t been seen to discuss The Matter Of Dickwolves, this is the reason why. I’m not entirely certain that a conversation is possible. This isn’t mere cynicism - this is a fully rational assessment of the situation. The perspectives in play, the lenses, are too different: one side believes that not according the issue of rape the proper respect fuels a kind of perverse, perpetual engine called rape culture. There is a vast, specific lexicon and hundreds of tacit assumptions that gird it. The other side (that’s me, but not just me) believes that when it comes to expression nothing is off the table. It is the creator’s prerogative to create something - even something grotesque - out of anything they can find. ..."

It continues on from there; I suggest checking it out.

2/4/2011 2:33:02 PM

Quote :

"these fucktards have obviously not found Cyanide and happiness yet"

Ha... yeah

[trigger warning: funny shit in this comic]

2/4/2011 2:35:03 PM

2/4/2011 2:45:31 PM

^lol

2/4/2011 2:51:28 PM

2/4/2011 7:24:37 PM

Rape is never a laughing matter, unless you're being raped by a clown. Or a pack of dickwolves.

2/4/2011 11:15:52 PM

2/5/2011 12:05:20 AM

i really want to cosplay as the fighting dickwolves to PAX now

2/5/2011 12:35:36 AM

I wonder if the folks who took so much umbrage over the PA think also lost their shit over the repeated use of rape jokes by Family Guy.

2/5/2011 1:57:03 AM

this reminds me of the controversy over watchmen

Quote :

"Watchmen’ supports rape I recently saw the movie Watchmen, and I was very upset with the way things were allowed to be portrayed in the movie. The scene that I am specifically referring to is the raping of Sally Jupiter by The Comedian. The fact that he used brute strength to force her to have sex and his name means more to me than just a rape scene. His name implies that the things he does are meant to be funny or evoke laughter. I personally do not find rape, in any way, as something to laugh at. In our society, children tend to look up to super heroes and try to act like them. The fact that The Comedian is supposed to be a superhero sends a very bad message to today’s youth. Though he is not as big as batman or superman, he is still a super hero, and there will be kids who will see this movie and want to act like him. Some of the people who have seen this movie have themselves been raped, and this makes it seem like it’s OK or that it is normal. I personally have stopped more than 100 people from seeing this movie and will continue to discourage people from going to see it. Supporting rape is never a good thing, especially in a movie where the superheroes do the raping. I would like to see something written about this in the Technician. Joshua Hamilton sophomore, science education"

and my response

Quote :

"‘Schindler’s List’ Supports Genocide Several students responded to Joshua Hamilton’s [March 19 forum letter saying] Watchmen supports rape. While they were well intentioned, I’m afraid explaining the subtleties of Watchmen’s plot isn’t going to help Hamilton much. It boggles my mind that anyone, anyone old enough to see this R rated movie by themselves, can think a film condones or supports every action in its plot. Passion of the Christ supports torturing messiahs. Schindler’s List supports mass genocide and makes it look cool for kids, too! The Dark Knight must support psychotic acts of terrorism because one of its main characters has a name which, as Hamilton would surely say, “implies that the things he does are meant to be funny or evoke laughter.” Let me remind you that The Dark Knight is rated PG-13, not R. I am most disturbed by what’s not in his letter. If Watchmen really supports every act committed by its “super hero” characters, then by exclusion Hamilton must be just fine with the following: shooting pregnant women and their unborn children, pouring boiling hot oil onto people’s faces, setting police officers on fire and intentionally killing millions of people at once. Killing millions must be fine; let’s not bother to stop and discuss that. Instead, a depiction of one (attempted) rape (in which the attempted rapist immediately has his face beat in for it) is the true crime here. If the people Hamilton is dissuading from seeing Watchmen can’t distinguish fiction from a Public Service Announcement, then I applaud him. In fact, I don’t want these 100 ticking time bombs to consume any fiction at all."

2/5/2011 8:13:10 AM

Quote :

"these fucktards have obviously not found Cyanide and happiness yet"

i would argue that if they found Cyanide, happiness for everybody involved would immediately follow

2/5/2011 8:48:31 AM