The Vice Ganda Joke No One Got
Photo taken from Rappler.com
Netizens were abuzz the last couple of days due to a controversial comment comedian/drag queen Vice Ganda made during his “concert” when he joked that newsperson Jessica Soho has to be gang raped. The biggest biff people had was making light of being raped, and imagining that vile act on an actual person.
Everything people have said before me is correct. That rape is a horrible act, that it is a crime against human sexuality, and that it carries a political baggage. All fine and dandy. But something nagged inside me, I couldn’t shake it off.
Until I realized: It’s all ultimately a joke.
Let me tell you why.
(1) Rape can be funny.
If I were Belle, I’d bang Gaston for money.
The feminazi inside you who has read that line may be dying to kill me, but before you light your torches, let me explain myself.
Comedy and tragedy take equal prominence (hence, the iconic symbol of drama, the twin masks of Thalia and Melpomene). But what is comedy really? There are quite a few good quotes here (such as “Tragedy is comedy gone wrong” or “Comedy is tragedy plus time”) but I’d like to share this one from the venerable Mel Brooks.
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.
This is Shakespeare’s inspiration for Hamlet.
Comedy — or rather, what is funny — is actually people finding humor in a world without. Life is depressing and tragic; we are surrounded by famine, by war, by pestilence, and by death. But once you stop to look at the world through happy lenses, things change. Because Philippine politics isn’t funny. It’s sad. Sex isn’t funny. It’s awkward and slimy. Murder isn’t funny. It’s fucking murder. Migz Villafuerte isn’t funny. He’s hot.
But we make do because if you remove humor from stuff, we are forced to face life in its ugliness, to take in the gravitas of forcing oneself unto another. And — if you really think about it — in this country, rape IS funny because when women get raped it’s the fault of the victim and not the attacker. And that’s just freaking hilarious.
By the way, I strongly recommend Margaret Atwood’s short stories Rape Fantasies. It’s a hoot and a half.
(2) We are bipolar.
Because this is funny.
…and, yes, if you’re wondering if I’m making fun of a recognized psychological condition — yes, I am.
Scrolling through your Facebook feed, it seems as if when there’s a hot issue, everyone has the same opinion on it. Because, hey, “everyone” means all the middle-class people like you and you who have the luxury of time and money to spend in front of the computer. It seems now more than ever that we are force fed social issues and programmed what stand you should take.
If I look like Nicole I wouldn’t mind.
Let’s take a back track. Vice Ganda is bad, Dan Brown is bad, Nancy Binay is black, Janine Tugonon is a slut, Migz Villafuerte is hot. Those are the headlines, those are the in-things to get involved with (because, hey, FOI is just sooo boring), those are the things that are share-worthy. Facebook gives us 10 percent of the issue and one-hundred percent of the activism.
Provide your own beret and cigar though
The problem here is we like-n-share comments on a daily basis that we lose track of how illogical it is. A good example is what happened to Senator-elect Nancy Binay (and, no, I did not vote for her).
During the heat of election season, a lot of people were sharing Nancy Binay memes, a good part of which involved her darker complexion. Now, people prefaced these with statements such as “I don’t want to be a racist, but this is just so funny,” or “I’m so evil but I’m sharing this lol.” Saying you don’t want to be a racist and then making a racist remark, does not free you the baggage of being racist — it just means you’re aware of it. It’s no different than saying “No offense” and then going on to flat-out offend the person.
So these people who have been flat-out racist (or, fine, racially insensitive) now have the gall to call someone on sexism. Someone here would probably comment that sexual crimes are higher than racial crimes. Because, hey, we have no history of racial cleansing in the Philippines.
But, fine, sexism is different from racism. Then let’s go to Janine Tugonon. These same people who are suddenly rallying behind feminism are the ones who have condemned beauty queen Tugonon for being, surprise, surprise, a woman with a sex drive. Because, hey, we don’t like rape, but we don’t like women who express their female sexuality.
You cannot condemn both Tugonon and Vice Ganda. You are either for total female empowerment, support Tugonon’s frank openness about her love life, and mad about Vice Ganda’s joke that demeans women, or you support the male patriarchy, admonish Tugonon for being a slut, and celebrate Vice Ganda for being wonderful.
(3) Political Correctness will be the death of us.
At this time, we tend to believe that “good” jokes are the ones that don’t offend anyone. Because we all want to be good boys and good girls and go to heaven.
I heard it’s for the dogs though.
Here’s the thing: No matter what we do, we will always offend at least one person. Even Mother Teresa has a hate club. We cannot — we can never be something without having someone say something against us. It’s not crab mentality, it’s human nature.
Political correctness is a movement in the late 20th century that basically means we have to coat our words so as not to offend. “Retard” is a word that would cause people to glare at you; so is calling someone “Indian” when they’re not from India.
Or if they work in a call center.
This movement has its supporters, it has its detractors, but we have to understand what kind of humor Vice Ganda was aiming for. It wasn’t the politically correct, dry humor — he was going for the loud, outrageous, borderline-if-not-outright slapstick one.
Farces and absurd dramas, by nature, are always politically incorrect; they always deal with extraordinary and larger-than-life characters. Vice Ganda’s performance was never meant to be realist, or to be taken in a realistic set-up. The purpose of that kind of humor is precisely, if not solely, to defy political correctness — and, yes, he succeeded.
This is, say, only slight different from the racially-based humor of Russell Peters (“Any Filipinos in the audience? They’re all thinking, it’s time for karaoke.”) A better example though would be Baron Cohen’s Ali G, Borat, Bruno, and General Aladeen. He has made a career of making antisemitic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, misandrist, politically incorrect, and, really all negative adjectives you could think of, but he’s still all sorts of wonderful.
And if you really really don’t believe that racism and sexism can be funny if they defy political correctness, take a gander at this video (Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist from Avenue Q):
(4) We’ve lost focus
There’s nothing wrong with being current with social issues. There’s nothing wrong with analyzing them. And, yes, this is a systematic problem that needs attention, blah-blah, yes, yes, go write another term paper on it.
English major memes rock
The proliferation, however, of issues such as Vice Ganda’s, Dan Brown’s, Janine Tugonon’s, et al, are symptomatic of the middle class pseudo-activism: the socio-political issues vs the economic, the political, and the revolutionary.
This is, of course, brought about by the obsession with the Western mode of democracy, the middle-class, college-graduate hipster having access to his computer, reading about “advancements” in the Western world, and blogging about them — though majority of them won’t do anything else but.
These guys are activists.
When a popular incident involving a semi-known figure arises, we raise arms. When someone doing something that would seem really stupid when taken out of context is trending, we raise arms. When our telenovole sense of romantic justice is piqued, we raise arms.
But when the poor are starving and are rallying in front of the Department of Agrarian Reforms, or when Filipinos are being killed in Taiwan, in Mindanao, in Sabah, or when we should start to critically profile our newly elected officials, it’s a bit easier to just scroll down your newsfeed, isn’t it?
(5) The outrage is ironic.
We take offense with Vice Ganda for “promoting a culture of rape.”
But Manila is adorned with billboards that objectify beauty. But ABS-CBN and GMA promote a culture of dramarama. But our noontime shows are filled with the masculine gaze. But the CBCP in all its infallible wisdom opposes basic reproductive rights. But we are used to calling girls in short shorts sluts. But our national female icons are Maria Clara, Tandang Sora, and Sisa. But we cannot even have a rational discussion about divorce and intimate partner violence. But we blaim battered wives for not being good enough. But we encourage the prostitution of minors. But we sell our children to foreigners. But we allow our grandmothers to be whores at the street. But we starve ourselves as we stare at the mirror, hating our faces. But our malls our filled with fashion stores we cannot afford. But we cry because they made us believe we are not beautiful enough.
We are all guilty of promoting a culture of rape — moreso, the institutions of the media and the clergy — but all of us by ignoring the symptoms. We blaim it on a single person, himself the product of the system, as if he were the root of the problem, as if everything we are fighting against is found in one person.
Rape is a horrible act. It is despicable, and anyone who forces his or her sexual urges unto someone without consent is despicable.
But maybe that’s joke of it all.
That in a society that has failed to protect women, we take offense to a gay man making fun of it.
Related articles
- Vice Ganda, Jessica Soho and the Contemporary Filipino Humor (erwinagapay.wordpress.com)
- Jessica Soho accepts Vice Ganda apology but denies closing door on him (entertainment.inquirer.net)
- Rape is no joke, Gabriela warns Vice Ganda (rappler.com)
- Has Vice Ganda Overdone It? (expertscolumn.com)
- Vice Ganda gets flak for ‘rape’ joke (rappler.com)
- Social media on Vice Ganda’s ‘rape’ joke (rappler.com)
- Sue Vice Ganda (opinion.inquirer.net)
Quite a blog. 🙂 You’ve founded your “It’s all ultimately a joke.” with a lot of crooked things in life. However, rape is still rape. Joke is all but serious. Desensitizing it though making fun of it makes it worst. It didn’t matter who said it, the point is the topic of rape. Rape could be funny? Have you experienced it? Demoralizing. And to make fun of it. Infinity outrageous. If such madness tickles your imagination for entertainment, then, there’s something wrong.
The writing style is really good but the entire thing lacks coherence!
lol
I agree with everything you said except, blaim? No such word. But good insights.
This is such a GOOD READ.
And this hit me:
“This is, of course, brought about by the obsession with the Western mode of democracy, the middle-class, college-graduate hipster having access to his computer, reading about “advancements” in the Western world, and blogging about them — though majority of them won’t do anything else but.”
But this shook me. And my world. 🙂
“Migz Villafuerte isn’t funny. He’s hot.”
I couldn’t agree more. HAHA
panaikot-ikot mo lang, bottomline it was a joke, a joke on rape.. gaya ng sabi mo ultimately its a joke. yung nga yung issue so the purpose of this wall of text is that when you reach the end it makes it easier to swallow the wrong doing done. but that does not change the wrong to become right at all. and it was a waste of time to visit this link, riding on the publicity.
So what are you saying, people don’t get that it’s a joke? Or political correctness sucks? I don’t get what your point is. At the end of the day it IS A JOKE, and YES PEOPLE GOT OFFENDED. Period. Like what you said about Mother Theresa. Analyze all you want but at the and of the day, it is what it is. All comedians have to accept the fact that not everyone will “get” or not get offended with their jokes.
And I would not dare make a joke about any woman that I respect with a rape joke. It’s fucking demeaning. This is not an issue of feminism nor gay rights. Its an issue of respect. Anyone stupid enough to do so deserves at the very least some sort of criticism.
No offense, but the article’s too conscious to be taken seriously – laden with too much distracting mannerisms and affectations that call attention to the style itself instead of the message. It felt like listening to an English sub-teacher, prim and proper, physically attractive and then all of a sudden she starts twiddling her hair in the middle of the lecture, or straddles her table. At the end of the day, you try to recall the lesson but all you could remember was the color of her underwear…
For it to be a joke, politically correct or incorrect, shouldn’t it have to be funny? Forgive me all my internal contradictions, but I had no desire to laugh at the idea of a woman being gang raped. Perhaps you had to be there. Perhaps he hasn’t worked out how to present this potentially hilarious material. Oh, and I have no problem with Janine Tugonon. And, in closing, this whole notion of “political correctness”, and how bad and stifling it can be. Hmmmm. It seems we can now no longer say, wow, that was in bad taste, and kind of disgusting, without being accused of political correctness. Well, okay, if that’s what it costs to have a little outrage today, I’m fine with that. You may accuse me of political correctness for being offended by the notion of a woman being gang raped. Which means, if your a comedian, to get my laugh, you can’t just say something disgusting. You have to be funny.
I understood the Humor of this article and its point. My hats off to you Mr. Palanca. Hoping for more enjoyable reads.
Reblogged this on Learning a new language and commented:
Exactly
This article was great. Great writing (Reminds me a lot of most of the Cracked columnists) and I get the message but in the end, I still don’t care about Vice or Soho, Vice slipped and saw lots turn against him and Soho’s using it to fish for sympathy. All I’m saying is that this should never have turned into a national issue, what with the territorial disputes with China, Malaysia, and Taiwan still going on and those countries can curbstomp us if they decide to take us on.
To pull in all these argument in one article is a work of art. It’s marvelous.
I totally understand your point/s.
It is not about rape nor about the comedian and not even the joke itself.
It is how the judgment of Filipinos get influenced by social media.
Clearly the joke was not for the masses.
It was for the people who attended the “concert” of Vice Ganda and who are ready to accept and laugh about those kinds of jokes.
It’s like watching an open heart surgery video on the internet and it was totally “grose” for you because your not a surgeon and commenting OH THE DOCTOR WAS MORBID, I PUKED!
That’s not fair. The video was not for you.
Personally, I don’t go to gay bar performance and jokes because it is not for me. But I don’t tell everybody about how and why I don’t like their jokes.
Kung gaano ka kalayang mamili ng mga papanoorin mo at di mo papanoorin, wag mong pakialaman ang kalayaan ng ibang tao kung anong gusto nila pagtawanan at hindi.
exactly
a.) RAPE CAN BE FUNNY i mean it can be but it doesn’t make it okay to laugh at it??? i mean i can laugh at a joke like reyp-reypan when the person is referring to the self or if it’s a funny jibe towards a good friend but wow to just explain it away nonchalantly, especially with the use of examples (i.e. Mel Brooks “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.”) where you can prove that no, your comedic example is actually tragic (see: children and adults falling into manholes due to a flood in Manila’s streets and dying inside these manholes)
b.) Man, as someone who is bipolar your use of bipolar is very wrong and insensitive to those with the condition. You need to stop using that word casually. No this is not being PC, it’s called being sensitive to other people. WE are all bipolar? Fuck you I’m bipolar I legitimately experience severe depression and debilitating manic uncontrollable happiness that makes me do stupid things on a daily basis. DOES EVERYONE EXPERIENCE THAT DAILY? I DON’T THINK SO
c.) You wanna know the difference between Margaret Atwood’s Rape Fantasies and Avenue Q versus Vice Ganda’s joke? Class.
Both works, if I recall right, didn’t poke unnecessary insults at people randomly. Congratulations on missing the point re: why people are angry at the joke.
I like you too ❤ lollerskates
Very well said! I like you!
eh pano yun, ako natatawa kay vice ganda? i have something similar to BPD, and whenever i was depressed, manunuod lang ako ng vice ganda videos on youtube and i would be ok na.
what makes all of your righteous indignation combined larger than my desire to laugh?
and what’s so funny is that when i was a child, i was manhandled and almost raped by this guy i barely knew in plain sight of others who were all laughing at what was happening. may umalma at nagsalita. PERO walang kumilos.
ang tanong ko lang e pag tumigil na si vice ganda o kaya ang lahat ng tao sa mga insensitive jokes e matatapos na ba ang injustice sa mundo? mas okay bang gumawa na lang ng artsy fartsy movie na may depiction ng rape gaya ng Irreversible? mas makakatulog na ba tayo nang mahimbing sa gabi? o baka naman, “okay, sige, may rape sa mundo, alam na namin yun. pero please naman hassle, wag nyo nang iaannounce sameng mga ayos naman ang buhay”?
anyway, i guess my point is, i refuse my world to be molded from the phrase “feeling api.” and instead of commenting here, i’d spend more time on the streets helping people and actually doing something to stop injustice.
kasi really, the value of all your comments here, kahit kasing haba pa yan ng bibiliya at kahit pampalanca awards pa sa sobrang ganda, is only as big as the delete button to this page, if there is such a thing.
PS to the guy with BPD – i wanna be sympathetic to you, but the only thing i find in my heart to say is if you always take into heart all the pejorative things others would say of your condition and if you can’t find it in yourself to just laugh at it, you’re in serious trouble.
What makes your desire to laugh larger than all the discrimination that rape victims have to face on a daily basis? Jokes like these make it worse for them because it tells us that making fun of rape victims is fine and that it’s their fault.
Hey–look something up called discrimination. Sometimes ignoring vicious and joking comments that can be damaging to how people with BPD, rape victims etc. are viewed make things worse and perpetuate discrimination. If you don’t understand why it’s important that we all take the time to understand why certain comments shouldn’t be said out of sensitivity, tact, kindness or compassion, then I’m sorry for you. And yes, I laugh about my BPD every day–and I hope your “similar to BPD” thing was actually diagnosed and not just a one-off diagnosis or worse, a self-diagnosis.
If the owner of the blog wants to delete my comment that’s fine, this is their soapbox. 🙂
ang point ko e we belong in a society that laughs at rape jokes, poverty jokes, murder jokes, at kahit ilang vice ganda pa ang ilynch mob naten eh hindi mababago ang fact na may narerape, may napapalparan, may nagagawan ng injustice at may mga taong magjojoke tungkol dito at pagtatawanan lang ang mga jokes tungkol dito. vice ganda and others like him is but a reflection of a society we have.
i can’t for the life of me even try to reprimand all the people who would discriminate me, for my panic disorder (yes, i have been diagnosed. i take Sertraline everyday and Alprazolam when needed. I see a therapist every quarter na lang thankfully, dati every month), for my kakalbuhan, for my katabaan, for my kabaklaan, for my kahirapan, and the list goes on, much in the same way na hindi naman umubra ang pagmamakaawa nung mga narape at namurder eh.
ako, i respect the power of laughter, kase it makes living in this seemingly pointless existence more bearable. it reduces all these injustices to very small aspects of our meandering lives. i also make politically incorrect jokes. may officemate ako na tinatawag kong butanding, and we just laugh about it. it’s my way of saying, “sige, mataba ka, but i still love you, and i do not think less of you, and you do not have to sulk or feel bad about your size.”
i guess what i am trying to say is i have little to no control over what others do or say. i have control over what i do or say. plus, kasalanan ng napakaraming mga tao ngayon, myself included, we spend so much time on the Internet, commenting, sharing stuff, intellectualizing, etc etc, when we could literally go on the streets and try to educate people or do other crazy things that could actually change the world. kase nga gaya ng sabe ko, yung mga comments naten against and in defense of vice ganda, like itong comment kong napakahaba at pinag-isipan ko nang mabuti para hindi matroll, eh isang delete lang ng owner ng blog na to ang katapat.
PS – I am Rodelle, language major, auditor for IBM (my opinions are mine and mine only not IBM’s pala), and this is not an excuse, pero tanga lang akong di marunong maglagay ng details ko. i would give my sss number kaso diko alam baka magamit na yung info na yun to exploit me.
PS at least I’m not on anonymous. It’s so easy to be hardcore when you don’t use your real name and details, no?
PS ule – ayan marunong nako magreply sa tamang comment. i just realized kung gano kainsignificant ang commenting kasi bago ko mapost yung napakahabang comment ko sa taas e namatay muna yung laptop ko. napasigaw na lang ako! buti na lang nasesave pala automatically.
anyway, i could tell you all of my points, but then again it would be much better to have a discourse somewhere else, not a debate or something where everyone wants to prove themselves right, but a discussion where participants are not run by emotions nor ego and the heart of the matter is what’s important. and then have an action group to implement whatever it is na mapagkasunduan.
Love your article. Hope I can write an article as insightful as this. 🙂
Comedy.
Let us just face the fact that a lot of us are hypocrites. And that online activism? Filipinos are just into it as long as it doesn’t interfere with their schedule or they can do it while sitting down and clicking “share-worthy” memes.