d'oh 32 seconds...

This is classic Streisand effect. The people that visit Encyclopedia Dramatica don't give a flying fark about offending/being offended. But this kind of publicity just drives people to the site. Should have just STFU.

Is it April 1st already?

A Short History of the Aboriginal Theatre by Brian Bumwanker
(Bounty Bay Press, Melbourne, 1875)

Chapter One

There is no Aboriginal Theatre.

Red Indian Aboriginal Person in a Theatre Sketch

(The front stalls of a theatre. It is an opening night - a lot of people in dinner jackets etc. About three rows back there is a spare seat. A general rustle of programmes, chocolates and theatrical murmurs. Suddenly a Sioux Indian enters, clad only in loin cloth, wearing war paint and with a single strip of hair in the middle of his head and feather. He carries a bow and a quiver of arrows. He settles into the empty seat. The man next to him shifts uneasily and looks straight ahead. The Indian looks his neighbour up and down a couple of times.)

Indian (Eric Idle): (always speaking with full gestures) Me heap want see play. Me want play start heap soon.

(Man next to him nods.)

Man (Graham Chapman): Yes well. I think it begins in a minute.

Indian: Me heap big fan Cicely Courtneidge.

Man: (highly embarrassed) Yes, she's very good.

Indian: She fine actress ... she make interpretation heap subtle ... she heap good diction and timing ... she make part really live for Indian brave.

Man: Yes, yes, she's marvelous.

Indian: My father - Chief Running Stag - leader of mighty Redfoot tribe - him heap keen on Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray.

Man: (unwillingly drawn in) Do you go to the theater a lot?

Indian: When moon high over prairie, when wolf howl over mountain, when mighty wind roar through Yellow Valley, we go Leatherhead Rep - block booking, upper circle - whole tribe get it on 3/6d each.

Man: That's very good.

Indian: Stage Manager, Stan Wilson, heap good friend Redfoot tribe. After show we go pow-wow speakum with director, Sandy Camp, in snug bar of Bell and Compasses. Him mighty fine director. Him heap famous.

Man: Oh, I don't know him myself.

Indian: Him say Leatherhead Rep like do play with Redfoot tribe.

Man: Oh that's good...

Indian: We do 'Dial M for Murder'. Chief Running Elk - him kill buffalo with bare hands, run thousand paces when the sun is high - him play Chief Inspector Hardy - heap good fine actor.

Man: You do a lot of acting do you?

Indian: Yes. Redfoot tribe live by acting and hunting.

Man: You don't fight any more?

Indian: Yes! Redfoot make war! When Chief Yellow Snake was leader, and Mighty Eagle was in land of forefather, we fight Pawnee at Oxbow Crossing. When Pawnee steal our rehearsal copies of 'Reluctant Debutante' we kill fifty Pawnee - houses heap full every night. Heap good publicity.

(The lights start to dim. Auditorium chatter subsides.)

Man: (visibly relieved) I think he's about to start now, thank God for that.

(They both look towards stage. The overture starts.)

Indian: (leaning across) Paleface like eat chocolate? (proffers box)

Man: No, thank you very much.

Indian: (helping himself) Hmmm - crunchy frog - heap good.

(Cut to stage, house manager walks out in front of tabs. He is a very nice young man)

House Manager (Michael Palin): Ladies and gentlemen. Before the play starts, I would like to apologize to you all, but unfortunately Miss Cicely Courtneidge is unable to appear, owing to...

(He is suddenly struck in the chest by first one arrow and then another. He crumbles to the ground revealing half a dozen in his back. The air is filled with war-whoops and drum beats and screams.)

The bad thing about freedom of speech is that you have to put up with assholes. Here is an idea; don't go to that website. You can even tell all your friends that they shouldn't go to that website. Although that will probably make them want to check it out.

I find the HREOC's and Aborigine's whiny butt-hurt statements to be highly offensive. They need to removed from the internet. If they aren't, I'll file criminal charges against them and sue them for all the Vegemite in Fremantle.

I'll have to wait until I get home to have a look at the site. It's blocked by my employer's filter.

In the meantime, some general observations:

1) extraterritorial application of national laws is often morally and legally hazardous;

2) virtually everything offends somebody somewhere, so a means of universal publication or communication is exceptionally risky;

3) legitimate satire's right to shock is protected by most freedom of speech laws in most situations most of the time in most liberal democratic countries except when a judge or jury decides otherwise;

4) humour and satire are often employed by pignorant racists, bigots and other prejudiced persons as a shield for objectionable slanders, lies and tomfoolery.

5) I advocate the death penalty for any a-hole who employs the old you-have-no-sense-of-humour or I-was-only-joking gambit after saying something eggregious or personally offensive. If you're going to be blatantly and publically rude, you should neither seek nor find a defence in attacking the character of your victim as well as whatever demographic is the target of your pignorance. Be a man. Admit you are a jerk.

6) The author should normally be the person who is liable for prosecution or litigation in such cases. If an editor or publisher assumes the defence of the anonymity of such an author, he assumes the legal costs. If he shares the opinions, he shares the moral risk as well.

badhatharry: The bad thing about freedom of speech is that you have to put up with OTHER assholes. Here is an idea; don't go to that website. You can even tell all your friends that they shouldn't go to that website. Although that will probably make them want to check it out.

we all seem to think our own brand of assholishness is fine and dandy.

NightOwl2255: Barfmaker: Encyclopedia Dramatica is offensive to everyone, that is the point of it.

What offends me most about the site is it's laden with malware and virus infected links. We used a VM and found link after link were infected like a 2 dollar whore in a Mexican whorehouse.

Well, that may explain the filter's reaction, although it also tends to filter out any website that talks about the equality of the sexes too much.

I will be cautious and Google the webpage rather than going directly to it. I've got several kinds of software to warn against dangerous sites.