I'm 'offended' by the word 'offensive'. There is no easier, quicker way to prove you're too lazy or stupid to actually discuss and analyze a difficult subject matter than saying 'You can't do that, it's offensive!'
Joking about controversial or simply horrible things may not be emotionally safe for everyone involved but you can not watch Luis CK and expect he won't bring up stuff like rape. That's some risky stuff, sure. It's very easy to become cruel or sadistic with this but if you look not just at the intent but also the perspective of the comedian, it'll become clear that it is surprisingly empathic. Not only does Luis show empathy for the perpetrator but also goes further and analyzes the motives.
Comedy is a tool to analyze and understand subject matters. It takes intelligence and brutal honesty to make jokes as successfully as Luis does, especially when discussing issues like pedophilia.
That's why I laugh about CK's rape jokes but get angry when a guy stands on a stage and just says 'Wouldn't it be funny if somebody raped you?' to a female heckler. One explores a topic and tries to understand it, the other is just being a cruel asshole.
There's a reason laughter isn't a common sound in churches. Good humor often deconstructs what we tend to understand as unqestioned, common knowledge. It reduces kings to mere humans, prophets to popular madmen and gods to fairytale characters. 'Offensive' is the word you use when you're not pious enough to shout 'blasphemy'.

Diet and exercise are also keys to overcoming these types of disorders (bipolar, border line personality, etc etc). And building up a support structure of people that understand, who are patient and accepting. Mostly other artists, musicians, some engineers -- though engineering minds tend to want to strip away the unnecessary, which we are to some degree. I say this from experience, not to say that all engineers are assholes, but, well, their OCD asses can't hang most of the time. We are a process that needs to be fixed. WHY IS THIS CABLE GOING THROUGH A SWITCH JUST GET A BIGGER CABLE.

The worst part about the disorder is the cynicism that it builds in oneself, associating with other cynical people, and then realizing that you're on the receiving end of your peer's cynicism and no longer one of the cool kids.

That's actually the worst part because we tend to be social animals -- socially awkward, but still social. And the bridges unwittingly burned and the visible signs of your own social demise, sometimes while in the midst of a manic stage, leads to a potential depressive state, wherein suicide becomes an unending thought.

I've never attempted myself, but I am a climber and have a tendency to walk along the edges of buildings. Not because I would jump but because I enjoy the rush and have little fear of death. I do this for fun outside of these states. Only between a thousand and one million thoughts of suicide in my life and half of them while in a position to inflict this upon myself. Yet I do not. Those're good odds in my book.

I once read that being suicidal gives you the power. The power to do anything for lack of the fear of death. And it's true. I tell everyone I encounter whatever is on my mind; the honest truth, even if it hurts. Everyone who knows me knows that if you want brutal honesty, I can deliver. And I could get up and walk to the ends of the earth because the other choice would be (perceptively) death. Well, then. Time to start running, Forest. Fear is the mind killer fear is the mind killer fear is the mind killer fear is the mind killer.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind killer.
Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

@TheSluiceGate
hey thanks for the response my friend.(though in bullet form..blech)
i now have a clearer picture in what you were trying to convey,and if i have your stance correct:

1.you found this video to be a glorification of drug addiction and not the religious aspects.

i disagree and your previous comments do also.i disagree that this was a glorification of any kind but rather ones mans courage to put himself out there and explain where he was and what helped him walk away still breathing.nobody goes around and broadcasts how they are an addict and have lost control of their lives.i feel this video is more of public service for those who may suffer and silence and feel they are alone,which is quite common among addicts.we can disagree on this...our perceptions just differ.as for the religious aspects may i just point to your last paragraph.notice anything?

you are free to chastise this man for his conversion to christianity and putting his recovery on giving himself over to jesus.that is not only your choice but your right but please dont say your premise was not influenced by the religious aspects when it obviously was.you said so in your own words.

2.you are an atheist and disagree with my use of "redemption" because of its religious connotations and would prefer "recovery".

i can agree that "recovery" is also an apt term to use but it does not convey in a complete sense what "redemption" conveys.
you dont "recover" from guilt and shame.
you are "redeemed" and this does not have to have anything to do with religion but it does has EVERYTHING to do with brutal honesty.to have the courage to face oneself with eyes wide open and accept the choices...AND consequences.this is a process that needs to happen to start the healing process which can only begin with forgiveness.
to forgive oneself.
this does not,by implication,necessarily mean that jesus has to come in to your life.
or buddha.
or allah.
or the great spirit.
but usually for addicts it is something outside themselves.this could be a person you greatly admire and respect which could help fascillitate a similar outcome.
hence my captain crunch reference.

i would also like to address that your disagreement with me is actually an agreement.
while i agree with your assesment on my over-simplification let me just point out:
emptiness=psychological
pain=physical
my over-simplification was to shave off all the myriad redundancies to reveal the nugget/core.

3.you are not some big meanie.

my apologies if i implied that you were in any capacity.i chose my words carefully in order to provoke you into revealing your TRUE motivation and in that context i succeeded but allow me to apologize for the manipulation.
i didnt want to respond in a presumptuous manner,even though i had suspicions to your true dislike of this video.

and here was my general thinking.
why would somebody find a video where a man admits,on VIDEO,how he almost killed himself due to his addictions and lost that which was most dear,and his consequent "recovery",be perceived as a bad thing?
and the only conclusion i could come up with was the "jesus" factor as being the bitter pill.
just look at the views to votes ratio.you are not exactly alone my friend.

would you feel the same way if this man had started recovery from meeting a distinguished scientist? or philosopher?
who helped him see the world differently and hence gave him the courage to face what he needed to face?
i presume (falsely maybe) that you and many on this site would have cheered this man for his courage but since this man gave his life to jesus and credits jesus for his recovery he is relegated to the silly bin.
my response is:whatever works for ya.do it and do it NOW.if that means jesus or the FSM then by all means...have at it.

i AM an ex-junkie.
and i dont mean i had a small "problem" but i was the rip-snorting we-are-going-for-a-fucking-ride kinda junkie.
the wake up across state lines on the beach-how the fuck did i get here kinda junkie.
i assist those who wish to be clean.
i let them stay in my spare room so they can go through detox (worst experience a person can endure imo).
i do not judge.
i do not preach.
i make it ok.
because i am fluent in the language of the broken and forsaken because i was once just like them.
this is mainly where my "nobody can do it alone" comment was inspired.because a junkie cannot get clean by him/herself.their self loathing is too dominant and the desire to numb themselves from their own past too strong an impulse to ignore.

so when you see a junkie you may (rightly so) see a person who has made some bad choices.maybe you hope they will seek treatment and get better but they need to accept responsibility.
i agree with that, but you judge them while not understanding THEY have already judged themselves and their judgment is so much harsher than you could ever imagine.they believe themselves to be less than nothing and execute that verdict with a raging self-hatred everytime they use.which then becomes a never-ending cycle of guilt and shame.

i attempt to break that cycle for those who seek to become healthy and whole again.sometimes i succeed but more often i fail.
so if jesus is a part of somebody finding the strength and courage to face their demons then who are we to judge?

i do hope you take this comment in the spirit it was written.
with honesty and respect.i truly appreciate your contributions to this subject (which is obviously close to home for me) and indulging my curiosity with how an atheist views subjects such as these.
it would be interesting to see how many votes a video similar to this would get if there was no reference to jesus or god.

thank you TSG.

I'm questioning why they felt had to lie about this.

But none of your quotes showed them telling lies. It showed them denying prior knowledge or warning of civilian planes being used as missiles. Your quotes did NOT show them denying prior knowledge or warning that Al Qaeda was wanting to attack America sometime. Your quotes did NOT show them denying that the FBI or CIA may have had any of the hijackers on their radar before hand.

Now if you are asking why be so dodgy, the answer requires no deeper conspiracy. How well does it go politically for an official on September 12 to acknowledge that there were some warning indicators on the hijackers, and of a pending attack against America? 99 times out of 100 those warning indicators are false alarms, but no political career can survive the brutal honesty of saying they didn't pay special attention to these indicators in August because there was nothing to distinguish them and it would be debilitating to thoroughly investigate each one to absolute conclusion.

Politicians lack of honesty is reflected by the fact people are collectively stupid enough that speaking hard truths can be turned against a politicians. A collective version of shooting the messenger, if you will. It doesn't justify the trickery, it just explains it without the need of some greater conspiracy. The greater picture is just human failures and folly writ large.

*promote the brutal honesty of this commercial.

I watched the compilation of his 2010 appearance at the awards last year.
http://videosift.com/video/Ricky-Gervais-Pwning-the-Golden-Globes

He really is very different this year. Almost angry.

Seeing this compilation, I can see why there was such a brouhaha over his work -- it really wasn't that funny by the end, not without his usual charm to soften the kinda of brutal honesty of most of his jokes.

I do agree with what you said, and I'm not suggesting that military and police forces are not forced to take comparable or greater risks while still providing benefit.

The fact still remains though that he's disingenuous in professing that he is able to wholly remove the harm from the information he releases. He doesn't explicitly say it in this video but I have heard him say it in the past.

I understand that there's an important PR angle and the fact that everything in the public eye is taken at face value does not allow him to say anything more nuanced than that. I just find it quite jarring compared to his otherwise brutal honesty.>> ^dgandhi:

>> ^RedSky:
My main problem really is that he has no way to guarantee no one is harmed as a result of his actions.
I'm really sick of that argument.
If that's the litmus test, then lets just line up and shoot all the militaries/governments/police forces of the world, because not only can't they guarantee that, they have a track record of actually killing people.
Nothing is risk free, people die of food born illnesses all the time, doesn't mean all restaurant owners should go to jail.
If Democracy is good, and an informed populous is good for Democracy, then Wikileaks is good, full stop

How is your point "logically sound" when art is subjective? You don't consider it high art. Fine. You consider it tacky. Fine. But both of those are your opinions, not a statement of fact. Logic has nothing to do with arriving at these opinions, capisce? Just because you think it's naff and that it should be relegated to the buffet table doesn't mean that it's not art. Chefs routinely prepare their dishes to be pleasing to the eye as well as the palate. Many consider it an art form. You may consider it naff.

Expertise is not the issue. I made my "expert" argument in a satirical vein, merely to drive home the point that is obvious to everyone here: That you are critical of almost everything, so your opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. It means as much as someone who praises everything. Maybe you aren't aware of that. Pardon my brutal honesty.>> ^westy:

"but I still thank you for your brutal honesty. Is there any field of interest you're NOT an expert in? "
if sumone makes a piont that is logically sound then why would they have to be an exspert in something ?
allso why would you presume just because sumone voices an opinoin about something that they would concider themselfs to be an exspert , your autimatically trying to set up a confrontational situation.
If you disagree with what i have said why not say specifcaly and give a reason.

"but I still thank you for your brutal honesty. Is there any field of interest you're NOT an expert in? "

if sumone makes a piont that is logically sound then why would they have to be an exspert in something ?

allso why would you presume just because sumone voices an opinoin about something that they would concider themselfs to be an exspert , your autimatically trying to set up a confrontational situation.

If you disagree with what i have said why not say specifcaly and give a reason.

Thanks for sharing. To tear yourself away from curating at the Louvre for a few moments just to inform us that this watermelon would never have a home in your galleries is a little disappointing, but I still thank you for your brutal honesty. Is there any field of interest you're NOT an expert in? (I hear you're a good joke teller.) >> ^westy:

to me end result looked a bit naff.
I mean bit of an arse to make but seems a bit tacky I guess you are just gona eat it and its for a buffet table its not really meant to be high art.
this is like the food equivalent of them space spray painted images. only at least this is edible.

Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The END of SUBURBIA explored the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet enters the age of Peak Oil.

In ESCAPE From SUBURBIA director Greg Greene once again takes us “through the looking glass” on a journey of discovery – a sobering yet vital and ultimately positive exploration of what the second half of the Oil Age has in store for us.

Through personal stories and interviews we examine how declining world oil production has already begun to affect modern life in North America. Expert scientific opinion is balanced with “on the street” portraits from an emerging global movement of citizen’s groups who are confronting the challenges of Peak Oil in extraordinary ways.

The clock is ticking. ESCAPE From SUBURBIA asks the tough questions: Are we approaching Peak Oil now? What are the controversies surrounding our future energy options? Why are a growing number of specialists and citizens skeptical of these options? What are ordinary people across North America doing in their own communities to prepare for Peak Oil? And what will YOU do as energy prices skyrocket and the Oil Age draws to a close?

http://escapefromsuburbia.com/