I’m going to troll the BoingBoing Outrage Factory by suggesting that good humour and good taste are at least partially disjoint. That is, some sick jokes are truly funny. A person can fight the urge to laugh because of disgust and still be decent.

Although I wouldn’t be surprised to see Running Man become a reality one day.

@dccarles, heinous thing to do? No question about it. It’s cruel and tasteless, but as you noted, funny. It has been said that all humor is fundamentally cruel.

I’m not an apologist for Japanese TV, or Japan in general. I just wanted to clear up a few things.

It’s all right. We just want the panic face. Then we’ll leave.

But here’s the real kicker: you have no right to criticize. Their culture, their problem, their resolution. Giving up that right is what people call, in more favorable terms, tolerance.

In this light, it reminds me of a show we had in Canada (and France) where celebrities would be tricked into weird, scary or ludicrous situations and caught on camera. Most pranks were really funny and fairly tame, but a few were quite scary (I remember one where a singer took a taxi cab and the driver- a disguised professional stunt driver- got into a wild car chase, crashing through fenced gates and going airborn over hills). Most celebrities were good sports about it as it was a sort of a badge of honour to be pranked on that show. Their motto was something like ‘You never know when you’ll be next‘.

I’m not saying the prank above is anything less than shocking, but I’d be curious to see a full episode, with the celebrities’ reactions/comments after the fact.

You seem to feel entitled to criticize the comment culture here. Is speech only free when it’s yours?

/hate tv

Actually, yes I do. Prohibitionists did as well, despite slavery being culturally acceptable.

It is at its basest level mean and cruel, and it’s not funny to me at all.

God, how I used to love that show.

And there is no need to worry about getting shot in Japan. The idea that anyone goes anywhere armed with a gun is ludicrous here. Only two types of people carry guns: Law Enforcement and Yakuza. Neither are professional comedians on their own show.

Also, although the internet as a whole probably comprises a culture (with 4chan being the bit no one likes to talk about), the term “comment culture” does not share the same usage, and it’s a bit disingenuous to use it that way.

Actually, yes I do. Prohibitionists did as well, despite slavery being culturally acceptable.

I think you mean abolitionists. Prohibitionists were the ones who objected to alcohol on moral grounds, despite it being culturally acceptable. But yeah, they had a right to criticize too. Neither of them preached tolerance while refusing to practice it. Quite the opposite, actually.

Check out the Downtown Batsu (punishment) shows. It can get much worse than this.