I want to say Norm MacDonald is an acquired taste, but he isn't. I love this guy and always have. Maybe he can control some of our minds but not all?

Hmmm... maybe that's why he can just stammer and trip over his words, barely even mouthing out the entirety of their syllables and still be hilarious! It's actually his entire act to be ignorant, including his cadence and body language; so pretty much everything he does and says is ignorant in a very funny way. Irony is funny, what can a person say but to the contrary, which is objectively wrong -- and I have several books on irony that deal directly with the subject.

I can see why people don't enjoy his humor, but what he is doing, the jokes he's telling have objective qualities which are considered funny as per the writings and philosophies of mankind, therefore intellectually sound per said society.

The jokes are often but not always so low brow they appeal to a broad audience. It's genius, I'm sorry. You haters probably can't even stomach an Andy Kaufmann wrestling match.

"They played a bit,"

From HIS perspective maybe.

The cat clearly did not want to "play" from the very beginning, and that's a clear signal for you to leave it alone. It was showing very hostile and defensive body language throughout, and the guy wouldn't stop touching it, eventually bringing it into his lap and trapping it. We have no idea how long this was going on before this video started, but it's hard not to think the guy'd been interacting with it for a while.

"i'm not sherlock holmes but i'd say they bought a new toy, the cat for some reason didn't like it, and they filmed the reaction which they didn't expect to go so badly."

I didn't backtrack to that at all.

=======


As for "just desserts" and "vitriol", it's not like he got snuffed here. He took a couple probably really good claw scratches and puncture wounds and will remember to stay the hell away from that kitty for a good long time.

Nah, that looks like cluelessness on the police's part. Look at the police's body language there. They aren't adrenaline pumped, twitch reflexed anger balls, and that's mostly my point.

Trance said he doesn't understand why she doesn't. You said why should she have to? Nobody is saying she has to. She might want to if she'd like to avoid hearing other people speak their mind. It's her choice. Similarly, catcalling is their choice. They don't need to be classy if they don't want to.

The Jessica Williams video is better in that it isn't about privileged white cisgendered problems exclusively. However, it also doesn't make the case very well. There isn't any evidence of "Wall Street douches" making catcalls unless you want to talk about a picture of a blurred out face in a suit verbalizing nothing.

The assertion that many men are making is that girls selectively complain about catcalls. Specifically, they only want attention from the men they want attention from, and expect us to read their minds... I'm sorry... Body language... and figure out the difference.

For example, a (female) friend of mine was a teaching assistant at UT. She tells this story about going over a study on gender differences regarding random propositions for sex. As you might expect the results were that men were more likely to say yes, and women no. Big surprise there. Well, once the professor finished, Vince Young raised his hand and said "that's not how it works." Every girl in the room (according to my friend) blushed, giggled, twirled their hair, and "made eyes at him." It seems every girl in the room was ready for proposition from an nfl quarterback... Just not homeless people drinking on the stoop.

you would lose that bet.

look,i dont see anybody here denying that harassment exists and chaos posted that this woman is receiving rape threats from some serious twisted fuckers.

which just boggles my fucking mind.

maybe i am getting too old and no longer get the plot.
maybe the younger generation are so disconnected from each other that ANY form of interaction in real life is viewed as an invasion.(ironic due to just how much more connected we all are nowadays).which is a serious tragedy in my opinion.all those lost opportunities to connect and interact with another human being.

being polite and respectful should never be stigmatized as harassment.

now,as yogi pointed out,if somebodies body language and demeanor reveal a person in thought or not receptive to any interactions,then of course dont interfere in that persons personal space.

but thats not harassment,thats just annoying and rude.the opposite of polite and respectful.

if we are walking down the street and in passing we make eye contact..im gonna acknowledge you,because to me that is being polite.if you pass with your shoulders hunched and your eyes are fixated on the pavement then we shall pass in silence.

now i will make a bet.
i bet attractive people get far more attention in this manner than lesser attractive people.

but if you still feel any interactions from a human being you do not know personally is harassment,then you are dismissing a HUGE factor in what makes us all human.

what a weird perspective.
it appears everyone else has become the "other" to be cautious and fearful of.
i am feeling incredibly old right now.
and sad...........

What about the man who saw that 'body language' as her having a bad day and told her to smile? To me, that's not harassment in the least, (well, honestly, most of this isn't, but I'm a friendly guy who does greet people, of both sexes, in passing...but then I live in the boonies, not NY) it's seeing a person having a bad day and making an attempt (although a pretty sad one) to make them smile, no?
I think if this kind of thing feels like sexual harassment to some, they really should not live in a large city where inappropriate behavior is the norm.

Would he say the same thing on a busy street to a man waking by with no interest in him?

If the answer is 'YES' then a) I can't believe he's not hoarse given the number of people one passes in a given day in NYC and b)it's not an example of gender-specific inappropriateness... but c) it's still anti-social because the body language (which men read all the time) clearly indicates a lack of interest in being stopped. These are the streets of a subdivision or Iowa City down town (don't get me wrong, I love Iowa City). Most people in New York to not greet random strangers in the street.

The exception to this is people whose jobs require approaching strangers - you know beggars, street vendors, promoters, and those guys who solicit for charity. Please notice that no one who might fall into those categories were included in the video, despite the fact that in NYC she definitely walked past all 3.

If the answer is 'NO' (IE he didn't 'greet' the disinterested camera man who walked by first but did 'greet' the disinterested woman) then the comment is both anti-social AND gender targeted. He's targeting a woman he doesn't know, when every ounce of her body language is saying that she doesn't want to be bothered. That's not friendly, that's more likely a attempt (conscious or subconscious) to exercise power over the woman walking by.

As part of their training to give the impression of a unified authority, Police in the US are trained not to apologize or admit wrongful judgement. Less damnably so, but for the same reasons, they're trained in posture and body language, and the tone of voice they use, both of which I'm sure everyone has experienced if they've had any interaction with an officer in the US.

It's a biggest general reason why so many people say "cops are assholes", but in this case it's often not their fault, but the fault of the institutions that train them around the country.

I'd just like to say that this does go both ways though..

I know a couple of different guys with Asperger's and some other kinds of developmental issues from where i go swimming, and several times in the past i've seen a female react towards those guys like they've been weird or creepy when all they did was say "Hello" like i've seen them do a hundred times before to all types of people. I've even met women there who have spoken to me, been quite happy and talkative, what-have-you, even flirty, and then either said to me "some weird creepy guy <one of my friends> was trying to talk to me in the jacuzzi", or they might give me an "oh my god" look if one of them says hello to her. Body language, facial expression, how they talk all changes when they address them... I feel my skin crawl when i come across someone like that.

I only say this because i think that if we all try to be nicer and kinder to everyone, to be happy and interested in people, we can not only solve the issues raised by the video and in your comment, but also the ones raised in my comment, the ones not even mentioned here, like racism, facism and homophobia.

I think we need feminism, masculism, the LGBT, NAACP and god knows what else to all come together and realise that everyone is tackling the same problem which simply manifests itself in different proportions to different peoples - we're all here for one single life-time, so if we spend it being nicer and friendlier and more courteous and generous we can make life much more enjoyable all round, and no one will have to worry about cat-calling, bitchiness, homophobia or racism.

@milkman
Thanks for your great deal of thought on this subject.

However, I have ZERO regret over not "socking the creep."

It was inappropriate under those circumstances to hit this tiny guy. I was much bigger than him and I could have really hurt him. His assault on me was psychological more than physical -- my first response was to laugh! He didn't hurt me physically, clearly wasn't assaulting any more, and I was going to attack him?

Excuse me, but that seems a very male response to a situation. I don't see a single woman in this comment stream writing that I should have slugged or kneed him. Every comment about physically striking him came from men -- correct me if I am wrong, I might have the gender of some posters incorrect.

I am very clear, after thinking about this for a long time, that my single regret is that I didn't call him out verbally. It was my first regret, and I struggled to get to the place where I wasn't ashamed of my lack of action in not calling him out. I got myself out safely and that was the most important thing that had to happen. I did that. I was successful in protecting myself. I won.

But I learned from this -- if it happens again, because of this experience, I am prepared next time to SHAME THE HOLY HELL OUT OF HIM.

That is, IF I can do it safely. My first priority will always be to protect myself.

So if I do not feel threatened physically, I will call the perv out in such a way as to stay safe and embarrass the hell out of him. I do so want to "strike a blow" on behalf of all girls and women who have to suffer this shite, and maybe be a role model for any women and girls who happen to be watching.

If I feel threatened with additional physical assaults, I WILL use my training to protect myself -- which starts with body language and a strong NO, and physical strikes if necessary.

Here's a little factoid for you -- 78% of assaults on women are by single unarmed assailants. As we were taught in class, they are looking for a victim, not a fight. Strong body language, strong use of voice -- that is often all that is needed to protect yourself. Assholes will run away when you show you are willing to stand up for yourself.

No need to hit anyone, except with your chi.

This guy is brilliantly good. A not-so-clear great contributor to this elegant process is that the Dad is comfortable---and so, his cradling and body language and affect (expressed emotion)---all send the message to his child "this is OK and all will be OK"---no anticipatory fear. Even a sense of fun.

That Doc was well trained.

I think all book readers do this. I tend to watch the show communally and as the only book reader I try to keep a stone face while also getting great joy of of the reaction of my friends and SO.

I also recommend the episode reviews by TYT's sister channel Whattheflick. Cenk and the gang talk about the episode and try and guess future events while one or two book-readers present do their utmost to not reveal anything through body language. It's always fun to see the show from the perspective of people who don't generally know everything that's coming. Though, S5 is supposed to have more scenes that are only hinted at or spoken of in the books. So that'll be sweet.

That is so long as they don't take out super important, character-altering stuff like.. oh I don't know... the truth about Tysha! Grumble.. grumble.

I have heard that from my dad -- if you don't pay taxes, you shouldn't vote.

And what is up with that body language? Could he be any more closed?

*promote
We must correct the original submitter of this offering-The host is far from ignorant-As a venture capitalist and entrepreneur, O'Leary has made quite the bankroll during his career especially with his Softkey project which enjoyed a great deal of success carving his niche in the so-called, " educational software market." I would venture to guess that his prime motivator is amassing more money, power, and influence over the minds and hearts of potential customers of his brand of indoctro-information with this business-oriented programming schlock and it's obvious he's passionate about one thing in particular-Getting the O'Leary brand model and into as many heads and homes as possible.

Good luck with that Canadian, you're a minor player and will never get invited to the big-people's table for the dinner of the Blood of a Thousand Million Saints and Sinners.

We can also tell from your manner and body-language, that you're most-likely a massive, egotistical doucheprick.