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7in7turtles t1_je2r5cq wrote

Reply to comment by gordonv in Chris Christie in the beach chair will never get old… by carlosdangertaint

Soo here's the thing. I do appreciate your care for the fat joke thing, but I don't care about the fact that it's a fat joke.

I care about the fact that it is a completely personal attack on him that has nothing to do with what he did. I remember the beach incident, I remember bridgegate, but I also remember seeing people role their eyes at the endless string of fat jokes that had absolutely nothing to do with either of them.

The joke here is clear: "David is sporting a chub"

That joke is not an indictment of Christie on the beach, it's not a ridicule of his policy. It's just a fat joke.

My point is when you make jokes like this, you turn people against what might be legitimate criticism. In 2004 relentless jokes about Bush's accent and way of speaking produced a lot of sympathy for him, because people in the south talked that way. The coastal "comedians" who were going after this low hanging fruit for jokes about a guy who clearly deserved ridicule, ended up creating creating a bunch of new Republicans because they weren't in the bubble.

I'm saying that to some extent we're doing the same thing by taking these cheap shots at Christie.

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gordonv t1_je2tqse wrote

Respectfully, I feel we see this in 2 different ways.

Christie did some bad things. And to ridicule him, the public will go after the "low hanging fruit" of jokes. Listing his bad deeds as a diatribe of listed shame just doesn't work for crude comedy. It's boring.

With jokes and memes like this, we get a quick and light reminder and smile without the preachy historical rereading.

In the end, this is how people remember. Aside from academic style records, of course.

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7in7turtles t1_je2w2ck wrote

I respect your right to retain this opinion. As someone who is essentially describing my own reaction to the behavior of those making these jokes, I can only hope to explain to you how some may react. You are absolutely free to proceed how you wish, and it is not my wish to make you feel otherwise.

My point is best summarized like this. Calling Christie a fat fuck, is a cathartic release for many people. However, cathartic release is like masturbation; it is an important, addictive and extraordinarily unproductive habit and doing it in public may feel good but it's pretty disgusting to those around you.

But you do you. Cathartic release is better done on reddit than out in the world. If this makes you feel better, by all means, I'd never deprive you of the right.

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