There's a post from a couple of days ago up on Jalopnik about the singers in the Toyota Avalon display at the Chicago Auto Show. The post itself isn't nice but that's not my complaint - they poke fun at the performance and the marketing ideas behind it, but nothing terrible, and nothing worse than what they (and I, for that matter) wrote about the Chevy Volt dancers. But the comments? Oh, the comments. The comments are a different story.
And the comments are REALLY PISSING ME OFF.
Let me share some of the worst ones:
"u should see the guy at the Sienna mini van display.. he had to be on crack.. worst actor every.. over did everything.. I wanted to punch him in the face."
"Were any singers run over during the filming of this performance?"
"This is Hitlerriffic."
"I was hoping the car would unintendedly accelerate over them."
"Ah yeah the Avalon is gay and not sophisticated, eat shit Avalon! Punch in the Face to all of these people! POW!"
If you're playing along at home, that is two threats to punch the Toyota crew members in the face, two wishes of death, a comparison to the most heinous crime against humanity in history and a gay slur. Over a song.
People actually raise their children in a manner that shapes them to grow up thinking it is perfectly acceptable to say things like this. I don't care if you don't like the song. I don't care if you don't like the car. I don't give a flying fcuk if your daddy who drove a Toyota didn't hug you enough so you now hate the Avalon by association. You are an absolute terrible person and a waste of space on this green earth if you say anything remotely resembling these comments in response to something as innocuous as an innocent musical number at an auto show.
And before you ask or even wonder, no I am not one of the singers. I'm so pissed because these are threats of violence and homophobic slurs. I'm so upset because this is beyond having fun by poking fun. I'm so upset because these people work too damn hard under the most trying of conditions (can you imagine what they've dealt with during the recall media frenzy?) to have to deal with this sh!t from losers living in their mother's basements. We all do.
People just plain suck sometimes.
Easy there. Easy there. I'm sure most of the commenters were being sarcastic and none of them were really advocating violence against any of the presenters. The internet can sound a lot like the locker room of a high school - people taunt others and demean them out of hearshot. It seems cruel, but none of it meant to be personal. You yourself were slightly mocking the Chevy Volt dancers in one of your earlier posts - some people took it one step further.
ReplyDeleteYes, but I have to agree with you on this one. While I doubt that any of the juveniles that posted #$%^$% like that REALLY would do it...it's a sad comment on society that people think the right thing to do is to post stupid comments like that.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I'm enjoying your blog. Please keep it up!
Is it really a threat if no violence is realistically intended to come to pass?
ReplyDeleteYeah, people can be quite rude sometimes...
ReplyDeleteI heard the song. It was punch worthy (I'm kidding.) Seriously, I read, research comments on automotive blogs all the time and these comments are pretty typical macho sarcasm. Is it right? No. Is your point valid? Yes. But Anonymous' comment above is pretty accurate about how the community looks at such commentary - juvenile banter that gets harsh at times but is nothing more than offensive sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely.
ReplyDeleteOn the same token, welcome to the Internet.
However, I did think the Toyota song was awful. The singers were quite talented though. But the performance was awkward and I honestly felt embarrassed for them. I don't know if I'd agree with all the statements made in the song either. But hey, a paycheck is a paycheck and as long as the acquisition of that paycheck is legal and honest then there is a certain nobility to that to be respected. It certainly doesn't warrant judgment of the person doing the work for the paycheck.
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ReplyDeleteI can't get upset at them for singing someone else's material, it's what they're getting paid to do. I imagine it's somewhat similar, although much less demeaning, than your colleague who had to buff a car with her bikini. They would like to perform something more dignified, but sometimes you have to pay the bills and there are people out there all to happy to take advantage of someone in that situation. Those people should be punched.
ReplyDeleteToyota's marketing team needs a wake-up call too though, a metaphorical slap in the face. It's hard to believe they don't realize most people's reaction is to cringe at something like this. Not because of the performers, but because of the context and the content.
This is the very reason I try my best to avoid reading comments in the first place. The article is the thing, not the hundreds of inane spur-o-the-moment brain farts that follow them. How much cliched, lackluster, unintelligent drivel must we read before we realize it's just not worth wasting time over. Most of us live our lives under a muzzle of some sort and we all feel more than a little "voiceless", so is it any surprise what happens once you give us an open mic and an audience? Especially when popular personal delusion insists that we are all something special?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't give half a pinch what John Q. Dumbshit thinks and neither should the rest of us. This is also why, as a general rule, I tend to avoid blogs... excepting, of course, those that offer insight into something I'm unfamiliar with or interested in.
My advice, quit reading "comments"; there's just nothing of value to see there.
Sometimes you have to remember that the internet contains all ages and sorts of people. Also, old and young, there will always be someone who crosses that line of decency.
ReplyDeleteWhen you respond to these comments is when you give them validity. Like they are words worth responding to.
Ignore the babbeling idiots and respond to valid arguments.
It's Jalopnik.... What can you say? Most guys don't have an ounce for brains offline, no different online. (You can just filter way better online. ;))
ReplyDeleteI've had such guys try to tear me apart in comments before, both on Jalopnik and more so on HellaFlush. I just laugh. Anybody can be an internet badass these days.... Or so they think.
I feel the same, but I also understand that with few exceptions (say, theawl.com), 90% of every site's commenters are complete idiots who should be banned from the internet until they're able to identify both split infinitives and hate speech. I don't often find inspiration in cartoons, but here's one that might give you some comfort: http://webweaversworld.blogspot.com/2008/02/someone-is-wrong.html
ReplyDeleteNice comic, way to rip off xkcd.com!
ReplyDelete