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LGBT News ASDA removes ‘Tranny-saurus’ greetings card after complaints

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by Sinopaa, Aug 14, 2013.

  1. Sinopaa

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    ASDA removes ‘Tranny-saurus’ greetings card after complaints

    [​IMG]

    :dry:
     
  2. LinkLarkin

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    What the actual fuck? I don't blame the supermarket so much because it's fairly easy for things like this to slip through the cracks in large corporations, although I would definitely expect them to tighten their quality control a bit in future. What I don't understand is what sort of fucked up individual would think this was funny enough to write down in the first place? I hope they've been fired after this.
     
  3. Just Jess

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    Oh well as long as they say they never meant to cause offense with the card :rolleyes:

    I mean stuff slips by and people approve things they shouldn't. They probably sell tons of cards. It's really okay, ASDA, to just admit that much and distance yourself from the whole thing. You already did the right thing and pulled the card.

    But no. Instead you want to reassure people they're just taking offense where none was intended. Obviously! Why there's just some other message or possible way to interpret the pic that we just aren't seeing. Maybe I should apologize for just not having an open enough mind. Maybe there's room for a line of these cards focusing on other minorities. I can't wait to see what clever names you come up with!

    Although I am a little curious as to what the inside of the card looks like. Hate to say it but a pound and a half curious. That's what $2 here?
     
  4. biggayguy

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    I think banning this card is a little too PC. Comedians make their living from making generalizations about various groups. There are funny cards about all types of groups in the store. Perhaps they should ban all humorous cards because they poke fun at a group of people?
     
  5. Jinkies

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    The card didn't make any intention of being offensive. It's understandable why they took it off, but the card isn't a direct attack on trans people. It's a play on words:

    "Tyrannosaurus Rex"
    "Trannysaurus Rex"

    It's a pun :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
     
  6. gibson234

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    I think its quite funny actually. It doesn't actually attack transgender people. I think people should be careful not to become victims and get easily offended all the time.
     
  7. LinkLarkin

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    ^yes but the word tranny is offensive to trans* people. It's like making some sort of faggot pun then insisting they weren't being offensive to gay people, just playful.

    ---------- Post added 14th Aug 2013 at 04:33 PM ----------

    You're a cisgender male. Why should you be expected to be offended? It's very easy to say something isn't offensive when you're outside the minority being targeted.
     
  8. Just Jess

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    I do see where you are coming from, but I disagree with some of it. They aren't making any generalizations. The entire joke is "look, someone like this exists!". I mean replace the trans T-rex with a representative of any other group of people. Make it a black guy. Or put him in a weelchair. I mean the word "cripple" is easy to pun.

    I mean my sympathies do go out to humor writers, and you're right, they come up against a lot they don't deserve, especially PC-wise. You've gotta take risks with comedy and make some people uncomfortable.

    Just, you know, be funny. I know, I know, it's a greeting card, the bar is set pretty low. Greeting cards aren't even Garfield funny most of the time. But once you take a risk like that you're raising the bar on yourself. It's your responsibility to have an actual, you know, joke at that point.

    I do have a sense of humor about myself. There's a show called Robot Chicken that has managed to make basically the same joke the greeting card made, but it was actually funny just on its own terms. I would look up the cheerleader sketch some time; that shit is hilarious.

    Mel Brooks used to be awesome at that kind of humor. Also, TV Tropes has a page full of quotes that get it right,

    Quotes/Crosses the Line Twice - Television Tropes & Idioms
     
  9. Hexagon

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    Interesting how they can't even seem to get their grammar correct when it comes to us, if this quote is anything to go by:

    lgbt rights? lgbt people? lgbt what?

    cBuilding, I'm aware its a pun. That doesn't make it non-offensive. Start substituting some other offensive words in there.
     
  10. Valkyrimon

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    I'm glad ASDA removed the card. The jackass who made the thing needs to learn up. As for why it's offensive? Tranny is a slur. Like nigger and like faggot, the word is a derogatory term for a group of people. I agree with what Cassie said about the delivery. The joke is the existence of the minority, not something ABOUT a minority. Jokes about minorities are fine as long as they are tactful. This one was not.
     
  11. Sarcastic Luck

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    I feel like I'm the only one here that isn't offended. Then again, I read a website by a transguy who regulatory refers to himself as a trannie, and am friends with a gay guy that often times calls himself a faggot. Most of the time, he refers to his female friends as "fag hags".

    About the only time I've seen him get upset over someone else calling him a fag/faggot, was when someone said something along the lines of "I don't want to play a game with a bunch of fags."

    So. Yeah. Card doesn't bother me either way.
     
  12. Argentwing

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    Despite my limited "right" to be offended (as a cis guy) I can see where the interpretation of poor taste comes from. It makes transsexualism out to be a totally goofy phenomenon to be laughed at for the sake of creating a T-rex with a pink wig and purse. Is it a hate crime? No, and inability to laugh at oneself sets up for nothing but anger and depression. But it is seriously toeing the line, which I guess is a success for a joke writer.
     
  13. drwinchester

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    But there's a difference between a transguy calling himself a tranny and someone turning what's a slur against the trans* community into a cheap punchline. So yes, it offends me because all too often, as you can see, being transgender and especially being a transwoman is treated like a punchline.

    This is the equivalent of someone sticking a dinosaur in a straw hat, slanting its eyes and calling it a "Chinkosaurus".

    Words have the power to demean. Words like tranny, historically, have been used to dehumanize us, treat us like, as said before, a punchline as opposed to a human being.

    /end rant... Over a stupid greeting card, nonetheless.
     
  14. Wells

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    Pfft, a little joke and people go mad over it. Talk about taking advantage. I say get a sense of humour. It's not a mock imao its a joke. Deal with it.
     
  15. Sarcastic Luck

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    They only demean if you allow them to. Both the terms "midget" and "ginger" can be used as slurs, ginger especially, given that there's a "Kick a Ginger day".

    Not only do I openly call myself a midget and a ginger, I encourage others to call me them, ginger especially. Hell, I jokingly call myself the "Angry Midget Ginger".
     
  16. drwinchester

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    When it's a slur used as a punchline (and not even a particularly clever one...), when does no one have a right to be offended?

    ---------- Post added 14th Aug 2013 at 02:17 PM ----------

    But that's the difference. It's "N-word privellages". There's a difference between jokingly calling yourself a "ginger midget" and someone outside of the group using it as a means to offend.
     
  17. if the joke was something to do with lesbians which i could obv relate, i wouldnt be offended i laugh at myself more than anyone....

    even if i was trans i wouldnt be offended by it, i dont take things to heart.... i guess im just weird.
     
  18. Wells

    Wells Guest



    I never said that. People try to make jokes in places and people come up and moan about silly little things like this card. No discrimination was probably meant so why make a big fuss out of it? Lile I said before, deal with it
     
  19. drwinchester

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    Yeah. I'll deal with it when my community's not treated like a joke.
     
  20. Hexagon

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    Try being trans. I think you might understand.