So “Daily Show” host-in-waiting Trevor Noah tweeted some stuff, and then people found that stuff and criticized it, and then there was much hand-wringing over the criticism and whether it was needed or whether it was just the “Internet outrage machine” claiming its latest victim. And then Patton Oswalt threw down a barrage of 53 tweets in an “epic Twitter rant” that totally “DESTROYED” Noah’s critics. And there was darkness on the face of the deep.
But then Joe Garden, a veteran comedy writer and the former editor of The Onion, weighed in with his own Twitter essay, which because he’s not famous and his thoughts don’t satisfy the white-hot need to yell SHUT UP EVERYBODY won’t get an iota of the traction Oswalt’s did. I’ll mostly let Garden’s essay speak for itself, except to point out that while Oswalt’s is predicated on the idea that empathy is someone else’s problem, Garden sees it as a tool for improving himself — and, by extension, being a better, funnier comedy writer. He’s able to accept moments of criticism as course-corrections on the path towards enlightenment rather than taking them as invitations to just curl up and die already.
Though it seems like the time may have passed, I’d like to share something. Deep breath. Begin.
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
I’ve been thinking a lot about Patton Oswalt’s tweet. Tweets. Many tweets. (1/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
The whole thing rankled me a bit. As someone who worked in comedy, and hopes to again, I understand there’s a bit of defensiveness. (2/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
Words and ideas are our tools. The notion that some are “off limits” is harrowing, because we should be free to express ourselves. (3/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
To say we can’t use every tool in the box is like saying that we can’t express complex ideas with them, no matter what the intent. (4/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
I worked at the Onion for 19 years. It was a cloistered environment, to put it mildly. Not by design, but these things happen. (5/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
When we were working on Our Dumb World, we hired a talented black designer. (6/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
One evening, a bunch of us were hanging out, joking around, and (7/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
(I cringe to remember this, let alone type it) (8/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
I made a joke about the designer being a “sinister negro.” (9/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
Yikes. Still cringing. (10/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
The designer looked at me and said “I don’t think we know each other that well.” I was, and am still, mortified. Deservedly so. (11/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
It was a joke, and I didn’t believe it in my heart, but it was “hipster racism” at its height, white privilege in effect. (12/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
I apologized, and apologized again. He accepted my apology. We are still friends. (13/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
This incident definitely gave me pause and caused me to rethink my notion of intent and effect. (14/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
Had my friend simply looked the other way, I would probably have trundled along with my privilege intact. (15/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
I probably would have stepped in it again at some point down the road, and more likely to a more disastrous effect. (16/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
In fact, I DID step in it again, but with a different person. It was over the use of the word “faggot.” (17/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
I was trying to explain to a lesbian friend that I wanted to do a bit about how we can’t take that word away because…(18/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
…it is so gratifying, strictly from a verbal point of view, to say out loud. (19/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
I found myself receiving a calm explanation of why I was wrong, that it wasn’t my place to try to recontextualize a weapon word*. (20/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
(*my phrase, not hers) (21/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
I was duly chastened and didn’t pursue the bit. (22/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
Though I wish I hadn’t said those things, I’m glad those incidents happened, because they made me grow as a person. (23/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
They helped me acknowledge my privilege, accept more people, and embrace the differences, and that has made my world better. (24/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
Thank you to Brandon and Liz for your patience and kindness. I don’t know if I would have handled it the same. (25/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
There are three takeaways. (26/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
1) We should have the opportunity to make mistakes so we can explore our boundaries and learn how to be better people. (27/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
2) It was only because I was called out that I did so. (28/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
3) I’m all in favor of having the room to screw up, but to suggest that we shouldn’t be called out on that is insular and weird. (29/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
Carry on. (30/30)
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
Postscript 1: This essay by @IjeomaOluo makes similar points, and far more thoughtfully. https://t.co/mG0LiS2Ry7
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
Postscript 2: Postscript: 20 years ago, it was gays. 40 years ago, it was blacks. Losing those subjects, at least in an unintelligent way…
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
…has made comedy better.
— Joe Garden (@joegarden) April 3, 2015
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