Argh, not everything’s amazing

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7 Responses

  1. Jane says:

    “Does the term “baby bump” make you want to punch a pregnant woman?”

    Really? I don’t care how funny Mr. Chatha believes he is, this is an incredibly offensive statement and in fact somewhat representative of a generation that trivializes issues like violence against women. How did the editor of the Reflector not catch this?

  2. Jane says:

    The fact that you believe that the solution lies in a disclaimer as opposed to acknowledging the fact that this was a disturbing choice of phrase on the author’s part speaks volumes to me about the validity of my first statement. I am going to pass this article around to friends and colleagues and get their opinion on the matter. It would be interesting to have Aaron Chatha defend his use of this phrase. Why does he believe it’s ok to conjure up imagery of punching a pregnant women to get his point across. Why not express frustration to the person using the term “baby bump”?

    • PublishingEditor says:

      It’s not intended to be a solution, but an acknowledgement of the subject matter’s serious nature. Again, I know Aaron wasn’t trying to be disrespectful, nor was The Reflector. Your feedback is taken seriously, and our editors will talk with him about it.

      It’s my role as Publishing Editor to deal with such matters, and I welcome further discussion in-person, through email or in a letter to the editor, which we would consider for publication.
      -Bryan

  3. Aaron Chatha says:

    Hi Jane!

    I thought baby bump was a pretty stupid term to banish, so I came up with the stupidest reaction to it I could think of. It was a very extreme way to express my frustration over the term ending up on the list. I thought it was a dumb addition.

    If you look to the second paragraph, the intent was to show I was a bit displeased that anyone would hate these words enough to “banish” them. I used a heavy dose of sarcasm.

    It’s a very extreme joke that some people will find hilarious and some do not find funny at all. It’s like comparing Bill Cosby to Dave Chappelle. Both their standup routines revolve around situational comedy, but the language and delivery are worlds apart. I chose a different route than what you would probably laugh at – doesn’t mean I was trying purposefully to be offensive.

    Comedy, of course, is a very subjective thing. A drama teacher once told me it’s harder to make an audience laugh than it is to make them cry.

    So, it was not my intent to offend anyone with the article, but just reading your comments, I think you were a bit too quick to judge. I don’t find the image of punching a pregnant woman funny at all, and neither should anyone else, but the idea that someone could be that angry at the word Baby Bump? Now that’s the punchline.

    Whether it’s worth a laugh or not is up to you 🙂

  4. Jane says:

    Thanks for the lesson on comedy Aaron. This isn’t about being funny. It’s also not about good intentions, the simple fact that you would be willing to reach for that image to make a joke and be able to intend nothing offensive by it indicates something disturbing about our comfort with violence against women. Perhaps you do find punching women inoffensive and couldn’t imagine anyone feeling otherwise, but your good intentions on that score don’t undercut what’s troubling about what you have written here and what the editor decided to publish. It’s the fact that a joke like this could still be deemed acceptable while “Doesn’t the term “dim sum” make you want to punch a chinese person?” probably (I hope) wouldn’t shows that we still have quite a ways to go in reforming and raising our consciousness.

  5. Matthew Hock says:

    Jane, don’t trip off the soap box whilst stepping down.

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