/jp/ - Otaku Culture

> the country would radically improve in a matter of years.
What is there to improve? The otaku culture part is good enough, fug the rest.

>>9726738
..There are many, many things that are quite fucked up about the country.

I don't feel like reading all of that.

>>9726745
It only takes about a minute to read..

>>9726750
It hurts my eyes, I don't wanna.

..So I'm the only one who thinks of thinks about stuff like this? Fine, whatever...

Japanese culture is self-satirized all the time. You just haven't seen enough comedy

It's their lack of individualism that leads them to create so much escapist media and strange fetish porn, so I hope they never change.

>American stand-up comedy has helped our culture remain self-aware and self-critical
Bullshit, all it does is take the issues people might otherwise find worth getting active in changing on and make snarky jokes about them, so people can impotently laugh at the state of things and pat themselves on the back for being such a highly critical and thinking individual. And the next day nobody cares about the old jokes. Stand-up comedy cut off your dicks and you clapped through the process.

Oh boy another armchair sociologist talking about shit he has minimal knowledge of.

>>9726765
You've been following some pretty shitty comedians.

>American stand-up comedy has helped our culture remain self-aware and self-critical.

Not really, it just helped people feel self-entitled and super sensitive to simple issues.

Talking about fat/skinny, lesbian/gays, idiots and all other simple things will offend the American pride.

>>9726765
I'm not necessarily talking about "tackling issues" as much as how comedy changes people's conceptions of their own culture and the way they behave in general. I wouldn't say that comedy ever sparked revolutions or grassroots movements, but it sure as hell changed people's perspectives, which in the end all that is necessary.

>>9726771
as this guy pointed out (>>9726769),
you've been watching some shitty comedians. The likes of Carlin, Pryor, Hicks, Bruce, Louis CK, David Cross, Stewart Lee, these are all the kinds of comedians I am referring to, and there are many more.

>>9726776
Name "good" stand-up comedians and everyone will see just how full of shit you are.

>>9726776
I really did watch Carlin, Bruce, Louis CK and David Cross.

Yes, they really are funny. But in a way. The statement wherein you say "American stand-up comedy has helped our culture remain self-aware and self-critical." is not true. Yes, they poke fun at simple issues, but with poking fun at it, people responded negatively by being easily offended with all that, drama included.

>>9726781
...what? That's what I just did. Those are names of comedians.

op ur gay and ur thread is off topic
fug off

>>9726784
People responded negatively? That's kind of besides the point, isn't it? Comedians get heckled, yeah. What does that have to do with anything though? And no, they don't "Poke Fun At Simple Issues"...they completely deconstruct the entire goddamn culture from the ground up.

>>9726785
Man, I thought that was your shit list. Because it is. My point stand, nobody goes out to throw molotovs, or demand directorial or social change after a Carlin show.

Virtually everything that comes from Japan is a satire of Japan.

>>9726728

You're a little uneducated on the subject. Have you ever watched Japanese TV? Not anime, just general shit. You'll see that the Japanese, though conformist and consistently pressured to maintain an intense worth ethic and a certain lifestyle, do have a great deal of individuality and character, at least as much as any other "civilized" culture. Of course, like America and the rest, there are the sheep-masses that tend to go with the flow and are more or less apathetic about the direction their country takes and about certain possible freedoms, such as drugs, weaponry and other issues that are hot topics in other countries. Ever heard of the term "tsukkomi" or "boke"? Japan actually does have stand-up comedy as well as scripted comedy, and the depth of their language can make it quite witty. There are intellectual existentialists and the like, as there are everywhere, and their role is similarly subdued as they are in any other locale. More importantly, Japan may have a higher-than-average rate of dissidents in comparison with countries with a similar standard of living. The breadth and depth of sub-cultures in Japan are pretty extensive, in music (Merzbow for example, along with the boygirl J-Pop/Rock bands), the lolicon fanbase, goth-lolita fashion, and other funky shit. One would think this wave of subculture would actually sweep across the country in such a way that would allow Japan to "go against the conformist culture", when really, conservatives that dominate the rural areas like Hokkaido and are spread throughout Japan's elderly (don't forget they have more old people than anyone) balance it out into kind of an almost-stalemate of steady progressivalism (this is not a word).

>>9726796
That is never the point, the point is that people's minds are changed. If enough minds are changed the zeitgiest changes naturally without the need for "rebelling against the status quo". No single film or performance has ever directly inspired any kind of activity like you are saying (with the exception of a RATM concert maybe) so that's beside the point

>>9726801
Yes, I know about tsukkomi, i mentioned it in my post, it's just a silly gag show (that are all pretty damn similar and unoriginal in my opinion). The subcultures to me don't seem mature in any way. The point I'm making is that stand up comedy specifically brings ideas about culture to the forefront where everyone can see them clearly and can change people's perspectives. I don't see any subcultures like that in Japan, and I think it would bring a big impact on their society.

>>9726802
If you don't see what intellectual poison satire and sardonic shit-flinging generally are then I suggest you take a look at the post-modernist literature and art movement that sort of died some decades ago. It destroyed everything.

>>9726813
Not all the comedy I'm reffering to is merely satire and sarcasm, a lot of it is directly addressing absurdities in our culture with the hammer of insight and sincere emotion. Stewart Lee in particular is completely brilliant at this.

>Asian cultures are entirely lacking in anything similar to stand-up comedy.

Their culture probably has more shitty stand-up comedy than ours does. Of course, you know nothing of this because all you've seen is fucking animu.

>>9726728
Japan is 2deep4u

>I've got a tiny theory
>>>/sci/
>zeitgeist
>>>/f/
>Asian cultures are entirely lacking in anything similar to stand-up comedy
bullshit. get out of /jp/.

>>9726836
>>9726830
Once again, if you are referring to boke tsukkomi nonsense, that is completely different than western stand up comedy. I made that pretty clear.

>>9726811

Do you consider the Japanese to be subhuman? Humans are humans, and the intelligent specimens of any culture will put theirs under the looking glass. Especially in today's net-based planetary information age where the standards and ideas of every culture and country are plain as day to anyone with an internet connection, people are able to see these obscure "ideas about culture" all around them and compare them to their own society. Frankly, as non-Japanese (or at least one with a professional level of knowledge about Japanese sociology) we are more or less unable to identify with the thoughts and concerns of a culture 5000 miles or whatever away, giving us a fairly low shot at guessing what will cause Japan's culture transparency to transcend to a level where

>the country would radically improve in a number of years

All in all, it just seems like an ignorant observation to make based on your own viewings of social nonconformity based (maybe based?) on a particular delivery of humor-show and the calming of political correctness where comedians are concerned. The feasibility of your theory is simply atomic at best.

Stand-up comedy is the worst kind of trailer-trash humour. It's like the Mc Donald's among entertainment. You don't have to set your own wit on anything, everything is already done. People who laugh about stuff like that are pretty much everything what is wrong with our world. The worst kind of subhuman trash.

>>9726829
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGAOCVwLrXo&feature=player_detailpage#t=269s

No mate, it's the same shit. Just listen to this.

>>9726842

Also, what the fuck do you know about manzai? Have you been to a live show? Maybe seen some on TV? Just because some anime character fills a tsukkomi role doesn't mean you can write-off one of the most popular styles of Japanese stand up as dribble.

>>9726847
Yeah, the internet might play a huge role in making the culture transparent, but I still think a vital live social forum (where people actually meet) is fairly essential. Of course I view the Japanese as human, and yes there are intellectuals who see their society for what it is (I'm reminded of Aku-Metsu), but I still think its nothing compared to what it could be if western style stand-up comedy where introduced to the country. The idea of getting in front of people and saying what is on your mind and delivering the ideas in your own unique way would probably sound terrifying to the average japanese person. A culture which has such a medium is, in my opinion, going to evolve much quicker.

>>9726861
I agree.

>>9726868
Yes, I've been to a manzai in Japan. I have a good grasp of Japanese, but perhaps not good enough to understand most of the puns...it was funny, but it's not anything like western stand up.
>>9726862
I've seen all of his material, and I think that set is great. You just typed his name into youtube and pulled up the first link. He is really at his prime though in his "Comedy Vehicle"

>>9726842
> that is completely different than western stand up comedy
Well, no shit, that's probably because it's a different culture that finds different things funny. It doesn't mean it is fair to say

>they are entirely lacking in anything similar to stand-up comedy

There is plenty of stand up-comedy in Japan, and yes, some of it concerns the absurdities of Japanese life, with some political humour. This is not trademarked as 'Western' stand-up, many countries enjoy this sort of humour in their OWN way for years. Even recently, Hikari Ota's 'If I Became Prime Minister' was quite a big hit in Japan - I advise you to check that out because frankly you'll see how uninformed you are.

Your argument essentially seems to boil down to 'WELP, if they just copied the West, everything would be a-okay!', as though the opposite extreme of 'free expression' involving violence, terror, and riots were not repeatedly sweeping the Western world and it was a total fucking rose garden over here.

>>9726886
I get the feeling you really don't know much about the stand up comedy scene. Have you seen material from any of the comics I've mentioned? Louis CK, Stewart Lee, David Cross, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce, Doug Stanhope...? Or have you only seen Dane Cook?

>>9726897
I'm
>>9726862
>>9726813
>>9726796
>>9726765
He just put it better.

>>9726874

What about the rest of this?

>>9726801

Do you mean to suggest that stand-up comedy, if introduced by an elite taskforce of Western stand-up comedians into mainstream Japanese society, would somehow bring to light...something? What are you saying exactly? That they are too "conformist"? Their government is shit or something? It's not as shit as ours is, trust me. What /exactly/ are you saying this introjection would do, to which sociopolitical demographics, and how?

>>9726895
Of course it's not "well if they just copied the west", the west has a shit ton of problems that the east doesn't, I'm referring specifically to stand up comedy. And yes, I've seen Ota's performance. There aren't many like it, its an exception. It's not a matter of differences in what is funny to them or not, it's that western comedy will discuss the disparities in culture and society as a major talking point in many performances. The discussions seem to be limited to certain sides before they even begin, I do not feel as though the brilliant minds of individuals who could offer their take on their culture have any venue to do so, unlike western stand up comedy.

>>9726902
Like I said it's just a tiny theory of mine, but to put it plainly, a culture that has people getting up in front of others in a social venue and plainly speaking their mind about anything is definitely going to be very different than a culture that has no such thing. I think it's a good thing to have.

>>9726902
And I happen to know a whole lot about Japanese politics, and it may be hard to believe but yes, their government is more corrupt and fucked than ours.

>>9726907
Maybe you would be best offering an example of what you consider 'Western comedy that [...] discuss[es] the disparities in culture and society as a major talking point'. To be honest, I think most Western comedy is pretty vapid and devoid of any such substance. You may throw up the big names like Louis CK and George Carlin, but even then I don't see how these do this as much as just poke fun at convention. It's not exactly a 'discussion' as much as spoonfeeding funny opinions.

Besides, you say you're talking 'specifically about comedy', but why do the 'disparities' you mention have to be expressed through WESTERN-style stand up (because that IS what you're comparing it to) to be valid as discussing disparities in culture and society? Moreover, why must it be expressed through Western comedy at all? There are many books, articles, films, and documentaries devoted the discussion of this in a much more objective way than comedy.

I propose the opposite- The fact that they don't have much at all of unwholesome comedy that outright disparages things they cherish keeps them stable. Or do you truly think that Western nations are better off?

>>9726958
Books and documentaries and what have you won't be presenting the ideas in a humorous format. Humor is a kind of "ah-hah!", an insight, into which you gain new understanding about something and it creates a sense of alleviation, a sense of lightness and defiance of gravity. All of those other formats are not going to be as readily desired by the majority of the public while stand up puts things in a format that is very popular and accessible. Also, I really don't believe you've seen much of the works of these comedians if you only consider them "poking fun at convention". Poking fun at convention sounds more like something Seinfeld is doing. These titans of comedy aren't just "poking fun at convention"...

>>9727001
>Books and documentaries and what have you won't be presenting the ideas in a humorous format.
Fucking bullshit.

You are glorifying stand up comedy way too much.

>>9726965
unwholesome? ...what are you, a christan soccer mom? Also, these so called "things they cherish" may very well be the cancer that is killing their country. The problems aren't obvious on the surface but they have major fucking problems thanks to many of their backwards ideas and traditions that they still cling to.

>>9727017
Oh, like not importing thousands of niggers? I call that an asset.

The west is dying a painful death. Why wish that on the rest of the world?

>>9727012
It's my opinion that stand up comedy has that much influence on society. A book that is a critique on society is going to be read by people who are already into that, a very very small percentage of the population, while stand up is going to attract a much much wider audience. I'm not saying that's necessarily a good thing but its certainly true.

>>9727022
The west dying a painful death, yeah.. and the west's cultural zeitgeist would probably be even MORE diseased and backwards if it weren't for the comedy medium.

>>9727001
>Books and documentaries and what have you won't be presenting the ideas in a humorous format. Humor is a kind of "ah-hah!", an insight, into which you gain new understanding about something and it creates a sense of alleviation, a sense of lightness and defiance of gravity.

Holy shit, give me a break. Your ridiculously florid description could easily be applied to any of the things I mentioned - books, films, articles, and documentaries. These are also infinitely more objective in their delivery because they are about interpreting and understanding what you see on many more levels than simple laughing on cue now and then in comedy.

Even then, that isn't to say these mediums CANNOT cover the subject with humour IF they so choose.

>>9727029
Again, bullshit. I'd give you that books maybe don't usually reach a mass auidence, but are you really trying to tell me stand-up comedy is more popular and more relevant than cinema? Just look at where the money is, for Christ's sake. You still haven't given me any names of comedians, I'm sure if you did I could point out the many billions that are spent on the filmic industry and that comedians get nowhere even close to this, often playing to small venues with limited television converage.

>>9727036
>backwards

You mean like not letting niggers in? Yes, that's a "diseased and backwards tradition".

I admire tradition, and mourn the loss of it in the West.

>>9727058
Certainly cinema could be reaching a wider audience, but once again I don't see any films that are doing what stand up comedy is doing. Also stand up comedy is highly televised...and I did give a ton of names many times during this thread, but here they are again. Bill Hicks, George Carlin, Stewart Lee, Doug Stanhope, Lenny Bruce, Louis CK, David Cross, even Tim Heidecker if you see past the layers.

>>9727060
Tradition is stupid. Doing things simply because "that's how we've been doing them" without self-analysis and reconsideration is stupid.

>>9727060
White countries didn't "let niggers in", they forcibly brought them there.

>>9727060
>>9727093
Someone post iceburn I can't find mine anymore

>>9727075
>I don't see any films that are doing what stand up comedy is doing.

Spoonfeeding you the issue of 'disparities in culture and society?' Alright, fucking Avatar. There are literally thousands of films with this moral / politically interrogative bullshit, but let's go with Avatar because it made 3 BILLION dollars in cinemas and is the most heavily downloaded film of all time. Avatar is about the interactions of the West (specifically America is portrayed), and their approach to foreign policy and the environment. At times, like your much-revered comedy, it is light hearted and funny.

There, done. Probably over half the world has seen this film. Some stupid assholes even commited sudoku because they couldn't into Avatarland.

Isn't this exactly what you're saying comedy is doing?

>>9727114
See .gif

>>9727125
...avatar? really? avatar is the most blatant and overused moral statement of any film in recent years. This may sound 2deep3u but many stand up comedians really are 100x more deep than shit like avatar.

>>9727093
>>9727114
>>9727125
Right now? Are you seriously suggesting to me that Sweden isn't importing Somalians and other such lunacy?

>>9727148
Don't you get it at all? It doesn't MATTER that you think it's shit. Fuck knows, I think it's shit, too. But you said:

> I don't see any films that are doing what stand up comedy is doing

And so I gave you a very popular and very 'current' film that was doing exactly what you said stand up comedy is doing:

>discussing disparities in culture and society

...And you're still not happy. You seem to just be shifting the goalposts of what passes as 'discussing disparities in culture and society' to include comedy and nothing else, but the reality is that I've given you plenty of things that fit that criteria and you won't accept them because they're not 'deep' enough for you or they don't present, to you, enough of

>a kind of "ah-hah!", an insight, into which you gain new understanding about something and it creates a sense of alleviation, a sense of lightness and defiance of gravity.

(Which itself is just laughable, frankly)

Well, anyway, fuck you. Whether you enjoy the medium or not, there are many things that exist on this socio-political interrogative level and you can't just pass everything else off as baloney and pretend Japan has no cultural discussion at all.

Go back to /a/ and /v/.

So OP is suggesting the objectively worst form of comedy as a way to solve social problems, improvement of international relationships and as a sure cure for cancer? Shit, man. That could be some very elaborate troll.

>>9727093

Only in Americas case. They have no "baw, slavery" excuse in Europe.

>>9727213
If you'd like to, we could have "baw, the white man's burden". I don't see the pre-WWI imperialist actions in a much better light.

>>9727224
Or actually, pre-WWII.

>>9727224

Which still has nothing to do with bringing them forcibly here.

>>9727208
You don't watch any good comedy. I know you don't otherwise your opinion would be different.
Give me an example of the comedy you find so horrendous, and I guarantee it wont be any of the brilliant comedians I suggested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew0qiozLtpU
I cannot imagine something even remotely similar to this happening in Japan. This is cultural critique at its finest. I'm saying that Japan is much more frightened of questions its culture or its systems at anything more than the most shallow levels.

>American stand-up comedy has helped our culture remain self-aware and self-critical
>American culture
>self-aware and self-critical
stopped reading there

>the country would radically improve in a matter of years.
The problem I have with your theory is that you assume westerners, or rather the western culture, to be better that the japanese one.
Whether individualism is better or not, that's really, really, debatable. Sure it isn't supposed to be a bad thing, but as it is right now, it's bad in my opinion.

>>9727246
>I know you don't otherwise your opinion would be different.

Full troll power.

>>9727253
That's the point, the culture is a pile of shit and stand up acts as a counter balance
>>9727268
I would be completely intrigued as to how anyone could skew conformism as helpful to a country.

>>9727269
I'm not trolling. Go on, really, tell me the comedy you despise, tell me the basis on which you form your opinion.

>>9727276
>I'm not trolling

Yes, you are. I watched most of your beloved 'artists', and they're pretentious at best, try-hard funny at worst. What you don't get is that the political stuff is, by necessity, ideological charged and subjective as fuck. If you strip George Carlin from all of his fucks and shits (haha, so funneh), you will just see a typical liberal with an agenda.

Can't you think for yourself?

>mfw Americans call some shitty, unfunny guy who does nothing but curse and make potty jokes "stand-up comedy"

>>9727275
The fact that you're saying that conformism isn't helpful show to what extend you've been corrupted by our glorious western culture.
I never said that individualism was 100% a bad thing, but when we reached the point that we don't even care what happens to others the world turned out like it is right now.
Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that japanese culture is better, but I'll just remind you that they <went down> once us, westerners, started to shit on them.

>>9727294
"typical liberal with an agenda"
...and I'm the one who is trolling?
Carlin was completely beyond political parties, he critiqued humanity itself. He's won a fuckload of awards for his brilliant writing and standup and is considered either the single greatest comedian of all time or the second greatest by many different renown people, magazines, institutions, what have you. Fuck and shit are not punchlines in his act, they are just means of conveying his emotions. You really know jack-shit about comedy.

>>9727303
You're confusing "individualism" with isolationism. They are completely different. Individualism means merely counting your own inner feelings and opinions into the equation of your values rather than blindly accepting them from others. How can that be anything but a good thing?

>>9727297
In 2004, Carlin placed second on the Comedy Central list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time, ahead of Lenny Bruce and behind Richard Pryor. In 2008, he was posthumously awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Carlin was noted for his black humor as well as his thoughts on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and various taboo subjects. Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5–4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves. Carlin an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, actor and writer/author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums.

Your opinion is objectively retarded.

>>9727304
>Carlin was completely beyond political parties

But he wasn't beyond political views. And they were far, far left.

>He's won a fuckload of awards

Just like Justin Bieber.

>You really know jack-shit about comedy.

Troll.

>>9727309
Now now don't start to insult me, I know what individualism means.
I'm just saying that it's a bad thing now because people blew that out of proportion. You just have to have a little peek outside to realize to what extent people may act, out of individualism as you say. Saying that it cannot be "anything but a good thing" is bad, in my opinion again.

>>9727322
Whatever negative outcomes are happening in our culture is NOT because people are thinking for themselves.
>>9727323
You're really going to ignore the fact that he is considered the single greatest comedian of all time? You're going to use Justin Beiber as a means to make that mean nothing? Beiber was popular among 14 year old girls. This man is well loved and considered brilliant by actual human beings with heads on their shoulders. No really, keep saying "troll" until it means something.

>>9727323
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R37zkizucPU

>>9727246
>I'm saying that Japan is much more frightened of questions its culture or its systems at anything more than the most shallow levels.
How much do you know about the intellectual life of Japan? You're literally just masturbating over some relatively good entertainment shows. You can't pick an arbitrary element of culture and declare that it mirrors the society if you aren't going to provide _a lot_ of words to go with it.

>Whatever negative outcomes are happening in our culture is NOT because people are thinking for themselves.
You probably didn't mean to word it like that.

>>9727341
>Whatever negative outcomes are happening in our culture is NOT because people are thinking for themselves.
You can't be serious...

>>9727316
Thank you for proving my point that Americans have the worst sense of humor on Earth.

>>9727341
>You're really going to ignore the fact that he is considered the single greatest comedian of all time?

Yes, I do. Because, that might hard to understand for you, but I don't care what other people think. He was a bitter, unfunny man.

>No really, keep saying "troll" until it means something.

Maybe you should stop acting like a troll if you don't like being called one.

>>9727360
Yeah yeah. Americans. Make it about national boundary lines, like every other retarded human on this planet. No point has been proven other than the fact that you have god tier shit taste in humor.

>>9727363
Well guess what, I'm going to not care what you are your terrible tastes think and go ahead and say that George was not bitter, it was his persona and it worked well on stage, he was detached from society and he enjoyed his personal life very much. If anyone is trolling its you. It'd be like saying "Bruce Lee was the shittiest martial artist of all time" and then call other people trolls for saying I'm retarded.

>>9727362
I did mean to word it that way, what did you think I meant?

>>9727360
america invented internet humor and memes faggot nerd

>>9727375
...don't make it about countries, that's stupid.

>>9727372
>George was not bitter, it was his persona and it worked well on stage

Which has nothing to do with his art and should be ignored.

>>"Bruce Lee was the shittiest martial artist of all time"

Except that he could prove to be the best martial artist of all time. Humor, on the other hand, is a subjective thing.

See, this is why you are retarded. First you disregard a point because you deny your opponent any knowledge on the subject. Then, when he proves to have knowledge, you critizise his taste. I'm actually doing you a favor by calling you a troll. Even you should know how shitty your arguing is.

But the jokes aren't funny and well thought of. I've watched most of the comics and it's like watching a shitty lecture being viewed by an audience fulled with retards.

>>9727388
Then how about "leonardo davinci was the shittiest artist of all time"? There. I criticized his taste regardless of "knowledge on the subject", saying george carlin sucks is a shitty opinion. If everything is subjective then what is an argument about someone being good or not? What would you base anything on? Certainly the fact that the man is regarded by many of the greatest comedians as the single greatest comedian, or that he created new HBO specials every year with completely new material or that he won 5 grammy awards...yeah you can say none of that shit matters because my opinion is all that matters then what the fuck are we even talking about it for? Christ.

Why comedy? Why not literature? That's where noteworthy thinking has traditionally resided.

>>9727389
What is good comedy then? Show me good comedy that is so much "well though of" than Carlin or Louis Ck or Stewart Lee or Doug Stanhope.

>>9727396
Man, I've talked about this so much already this thread. Literature is not going to be changing the zeitgeist of a nation, not really. Unfortunately not enough people are going to be reading specific literature like that. If they're reading anything its fiction novels. Comedy is much, much more accessible.

/jp/ why do people still view the world as divided by countries anyways? I don't get why people get so nationalistic. Is it from those with low right brain functions preventing them from empathizing with peoples they have never encountered?

>>9727397
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6I40Ylt7ew

>>9727402
nationalism is juvenile immaturity and tribalistic bullshit

>>9727397
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFGVGDaI07E

>>9727402
Because nations, as they are, hold a significant amount of political and economic power.

>>9727401
I'm not going to say that the manzai performance isn't funny, it is, but its just lighthearted and mundane fun, certainly not more engaging than the brilliant social satire of those incredible comedians.

>>9727407
slapstick is always funny, but anyone can do slapstick. I don't know why you chose that as an example of "deeply thought out" comedy...

>>9727412
>brilliant social satire
Is this what the kids call shit humor these days?

>>9727419
Explain why your opinion makes sense. you can't

>>9727400
>Literature is not going to be changing the zeitgeist of a nation, not really.
Comedy isn't either. The average person wants to be happy enough. He isn't going to mess with something he knows nothing of. He could be fucking bitches or making money instead.

>>9727426
Sure it can, and it has. Culture has overcome many irrational ideas and behavior patterns by laughing at them, thanks to the comedians who point them out.

>>9727426
The concept of having something to lose is important. Few people are actually poor and/or not knee-deep in various long term obligations.

>>9727432
>Sure it can, and it has.
Not in this part of the world. In my opinion, you're exaggerating or generalizing a local peculiarity.

>>9727422
Because I could care less about the current issues in the world since I'm never truly apart of it. The best kind of humor is universal humor, one that any human being can understand and laugh to and doesn't hurt anyone. Humor is best when it doesn't take any sides in an argument but is simply funny. That's why social satire is stupid.

>>9727441
Yeah, it is particular to America. And I really think it has.

>>9727445
You don't need much to call things shit, do you.

>>9727445
But you see, this is the kind of apathetic "man don't bother me with the problems of the world, I just want to live in fairy land" attitude that is cancer of modern society. I'm not going to say I blame you, society sucks, but...well, whatever, it is your opinion and I don't like your opinion but whatever. I feel stupid for staying in this thread for this long now.

>>9727458
You may think it is, but your opinion ≠ everyone's opinion. You may be apart of a minority,

>>9727445
thinking your not a part of the world...this naive thinking is going to kick you right in the balls in the near future.

>>9727465
that could be true. whatever.

>>9727458
What makes you think that other places don't have alternatives? It's actually quite funny because exceptionalism is a highly American way of thinking and the crown jewel of national propaganda.

>>9727469
>>9727464
You think you little NEETs and hikkis think you apart of something bigger? Your whole world is your room; why do you care what happens outside of it? Isn't that the whole purpose of closing yourself off from the world, because you could care less about it?

>>9727485

>>9727481
It's quite remarkable because exceptionalism in general is highly shunned by European intellectuals, but in America, even statesmen declare it openly.

"I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."
　　　　　　　　　－ Barack Obama, 2009

That shit is both crazy and scary.