Feb 08 2013

But racism and misogyny are edgy and funny! And profitable!

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Remind me to carefully vet car rental agencies next time I’m in Australia. Apparently, they let 12 year olds run the companies there.

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29 comments

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1

jamessweet

8 February 2013 at 7:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Sometimes I encounter something racist/misogynist/homophobic, and I am more offended by how stupid and tacky it is than by the sentiment expressed. I think this may be one of those times, although it’s a bit neck-and-neck.
2

Caine, poisoned chalice

8 February 2013 at 7:38 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Jesus. I really wouldn’t want to run into anyone who rented one of those things.
3

John Kruger

8 February 2013 at 7:39 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The fact that a company can even marginally stay in business doing this makes me very sad.
4

Caine, poisoned chalice

8 February 2013 at 7:41 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Jamessweet:

Sometimes I encounter something racist/misogynist/homophobic, and I am more offended by how stupid and tacky it is than by the sentiment expressed.

Gee, think that might have something to do with your privilege? Because, you know, you don’t have to live with such sentiments being directed toward you every day of your life? Must be nice.
5

Illuminata, Genie in the Beer Bottle

8 February 2013 at 8:02 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Sometimes I encounter something racist/misogynist/homophobic, and I am more offended by how stupid and tacky it is than by the sentiment expressed

What color is the sky in Boy Privilege Land?
6

Xanthë

8 February 2013 at 8:03 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

PZ, if I were a 12-year-old, I think I’d be offended at being thought of as being in charge of such a company… Anyway, I’ve brought this to the notice of @JointDestroyer, who is capable of wielding considerable pressure. Thanks for putting a spotlight on this sexist crap.
7

Nepenthe

8 February 2013 at 8:15 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@jamessweet

Yeah, I saw the sandwich/erection one and I was like “O.o That doesn’t make any fucking sense. I’m sure it’s really insulting and horrible, but right now, it just doesn’t make any fucking sense.”
8

Aliasalpha

8 February 2013 at 8:39 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Interesting that they use a definitely copyrighted character in the form of Pinky, i can’t imagine they have permission to do so, wonder if warner brothers would be interested in seeing the story.
9

Jafafa Hots

8 February 2013 at 8:50 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It’s ok, everyone, false alarm. One commenter says his wife says to chill out, she’s cool with it.
10

atheist

8 February 2013 at 9:01 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Proof that marketing can be overtly ideological, I guess. Other than that, what a crappy company.
11

gijoel

8 February 2013 at 9:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

If I were a twelve year old running that company, I’d be terrified that my mother would see those vans.
12

slowdjinn

8 February 2013 at 9:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Saw a lot of those & similar in New Zealand a few years back – tiny camper vans, typically rented to European gap year travellers getting their first taste of the real world…Just A Bit Of Fun (TM) before life gets serious *rolls eyes*
13

paulpaulus

8 February 2013 at 9:24 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I remember telling PZ after his last trip to Melbourne that ‘starya is a country overflowing with pompus, racist, misogynist assholes….

It was something he didn’t really want to hear because he thought that visiting 1 city was representative of the entire country.

Melbourne is awesome…, egalitarian, cosmopolitan and not very racist at all…. but the other 95% of the country is… it really is.
14

glodson

8 February 2013 at 10:45 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’m offended. As someone with the sense of humor of a 12 year old, I didn’t find any of that remotely funny. It was just stupid and insulting.

What a bunch of stupid assholes. “Hey, you know what would get more guys to rent our vans?! If we paint boobs on them! It would be so funny and dudes would love it!” Yea. Not so much.

There’s being edgy and all. There can be a larger point behind something like that, even a good point if the idea is to mock the underlying stupidity. And there’s this, which is just pointlessly offensive for the sake of being pointlessly offensive.

I’m sure they’ll issue a not-apology soon.
15

Rey Fox

8 February 2013 at 11:24 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It’s funny how the ones who claim to love boobs the most have no concept of what they actually look like.
16

Caveat Imperator

8 February 2013 at 11:56 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

This comes across as the misogynistic equivalent of that shooting range that had Trayvon Martin targets. I’m surprised they have any market beyond fringe idiots.
And then I remembered that the world is crawling with fringe idiots.
17

Stippeltje

8 February 2013 at 12:20 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Although it would be kind of funny if you expected a silver Ford Fusion.
18

DLC

8 February 2013 at 1:04 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Truely an exercise in combining the tasteless with the tactless and insulting.
19

UnknownEric, meanypants extraordinaire.

8 February 2013 at 1:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

As someone with the sense of humor of a 12 year old, I didn’t find any of that remotely funny.

Yeah, I love me a good poop or fart joke, but that? That’s just… you know, I can’t even come up with a word to describe my revulsion adequately.
20

mandrellian

8 February 2013 at 3:24 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

In ’06 I saw these for the first time while road-tripping around New Zealand, but they were all quite innocuous – comic/pop culture characters or the occasional Psalm. Leaving aside the adolescent street-art style they were quite the novelty. This latest development, however, leads me to believe the Wicked management was inordinately concerned about attracting the douche-dollar.

Not that I would’ve hired one of these anyway (I mean, come on, “edgy” is all well and good but I know street artists that can piss better quality pieces in their drunken sleep) but their dedication to attracting wankers, ferals and bogans makes me think I’d probably take my chances hitching, were these the only transport option available to me.
21

Alethea H. "Crocoduck" Kuiper-Belt

8 February 2013 at 5:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

paulpaulus, don’t be in denial about Melbourne. Seriously, it’s not specific locations, although country is often worse than city. We have a serious racism problem everywhere.
22

thedude

18 February 2013 at 4:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I find it interesting that noone has commented on the misandry of the statement on the first of those vans:”Men have two emotions – hungry and horny…”. I am a man, and I have other emotions. Besides I know that those two are not really emotions.
23

Lofty

18 February 2013 at 5:01 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

thedude:
Its hardly misandry if it was written by some men for the amusement of some other men. Shallow and stupid, for sure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misandry
24

strange gods before me ॐ

18 February 2013 at 5:34 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Misandry is a ridiculous word that amounts to petitio principii, implying the existence of a non-existent insitutional phenomenon.

The statement is objectively degrading to men, and remains so even if it was written for some men’s amusement. It is reasonable for a man to be offended by it, even though it is not misandry.

Nevertheless, thedude, you are derailing. If you wanted to acknowledge the overwhelmingly greater harm that these messages do to women, and then mention the relatively minor offense to men, that would be understandable. But don’t ignore the vastly larger problem like you just did. No, it’s not very “interesting” that other people have their priorities in order.
25

Xanthë, chronic tuck

18 February 2013 at 6:26 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I remember telling PZ after his last trip to Melbourne that ‘starya is a country overflowing with pompus, racist, misogynist assholes….

It was something he didn’t really want to hear because he thought that visiting 1 city was representative of the entire country.

Melbourne is awesome…, egalitarian, cosmopolitan and not very racist at all…. but the other 95% of the country is… it really is.

You wouldn’t know of a commenter called Porco Dio by any chance? Though he was convinced all of Australia was beyond hope. Melbourne may be better than some other parts of the country, but no one should be under any illusion that racism festers here just as badly as elsewhere.
26

thedude

19 February 2013 at 2:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

So there is no such thing as internalized misandry? Does that mean that internalized misogyny doesn’t exist either?
27

thedude

19 February 2013 at 2:35 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

My last message was a reply to Lofty. The comment system on this site doesn’t seem to work like I’m used to from other sites.
28

Xanthë, chronic tuck

19 February 2013 at 3:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The term you want, thedude, is toxic masculinity.
29

thedude

20 February 2013 at 6:01 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

No, Xanthë, that is not the term I want. I know that term, and I don’t like it, because it is not masculinity, it’s stupidity. Frankly the term sounds like it comes from the Valerie Solanas school of feminism.