I have long heard that Huffington Post, that bastion of forward thinking and self-righteousness, has a nasty habit of censoring comments on the site that its editors do not agree with. Today it happened to me.
The recent Daniel Tosh rape hullabaloo has been much written about. If you’re the one person who hasn’t heard, here’s a report from CNN. As an unneeded follow-up, Huffington Post decided to give comedian Meghan O’Keefe a platform for her opinion on the subject.
I commented more than an hour ago. My comment, posted below, has yet to be “approved” by Huffington Post. Hypocrites.
First of all, laughter in times of shock is the result of an adrenaline rush; it is not in any way a means of coping (as, like you say, it produces a highly undesirable effect) and it is a terrible comparison to make with the laughter one experiences when hearing something funny. Second, “I adore making fun of Nazis and the Holocaust” is not something a professional should write if she wishes to be taken seriously ever.
As a rape victim, my stance is that rape NEEDS to be part of comedy. History has shown that making a word or subject verboten only amplifies its power. Most rapes happen in an environment where sex, let alone rape, is a clandestine topic. Furthermore, I have few pet peeves greater than people speaking on my behalf - this woman was clearly not a victim herself, or she would have shouted it at Tosh or included in it her poorly-written blog entry, so she can keep her opinions about how horrible it is to herself.
Lastly, heckling is rapeworthy.
