Disclaiming the “Disclaimer”

I can’t believe you actually pay the “Asheville Disclaimer” people to write crap like the “Women in Business” piece [Aug. 29 Xpress]. While it is mildly offensive to women, I’m mostly offended by how unfunny it was. What are the jokes even supposed to be? I understand that it is supposed to be a satire, but most satires are funny because of some underlying truth. But the things in that piece aren’t true at all and therefore it isn’t funny at all.

I’m disappointed that you let something so stupid in your paper.

— Kathleen Payton
Lancaster, Calif.
(Just moved to Asheville)

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24 thoughts on “Disclaiming the “Disclaimer”

  1. RHS586

    To Ms. Payton:

    Could you please explain how the fact that you “just moved to Asheville” is in any way relevant to the opinions you have expressed in your letter? I don’t understand. Are you suggesting that your status as a newcomer to Asheville in some way means that your opinion should carry more weight than those of someone who is either a native or who has lived here much longer than you?

    Thanks!

  2. heather

    ms payton,

    if you want politically correct humor, then by all means, please move back to that desert that is lancaster.

  3. Kathleen Payton

    Actually, I just moved FROM Asheville and that wasn’t a part of my letter. I mentioned that to the editor of this section when she asked me for my address and I guess she decided to include it (incorrectly) here.

    And, Heather, I don’t give a damn about political correctness. I like lot’s of non-PC humor… just not this stupid crap.

  4. stiles

    Whoa, look out everyone — the PC Police from California are here! Someone’s got a left-coast axe to grind. Best of luck in California, crybaby!

  5. Danielle

    I totally agree with you Kathleen, the article about women in business was offensive and unfunny. I’m ashamed that it was even published in the paper in the first place.

  6. Marie

    I find it really strange that people are jumping in to imply that everyone from Asheville completely supports a terribly un-funny article that contradicted the papers intentions in the first place. To write a piece on women in business is commendable, but to pair it with a page full of lies is disgusting. As residents of Asheville you should really stop acting like everyone in the city agrees with the pathetic display of sexism that ran in the paper.

  7. bri

    i completely agree. the article was unintelligent, poorly written satire, and on that point alone it was a complete waste of time to everyone who took the time to read it. satire is good when someone takes commonly held perceptions and puts a spin on them to make us take a look at ourselves and laugh. it isn’t satire when you take a bunch of ill-founded stereotypes about women and act like they’re gospel truth. especially when the page completely denegraded the women in business section.

    so congratulations, mr. stiles, i’m so happy that you so resoundingly support something so misogynistic and infantile. and i hope any girl you try to date finds out about that too.

  8. raquel

    I agree with Kathleen as well. It’s one thing if satire is actually funny, but it totally was not at all. That article was ridiculous.

  9. Emily

    I totally agree with Kathleen. It’s a shame to see such blatant ignorance and sexism in print. What an appalling piece.

  10. jt

    yes, because it’s so hard to believe that other people are not half as dumb as you are. how about you focus on what she’s actually saying, “stiles”, rather than simply focusing on where she’s from. you really need to shut up because it’s obvious you have nothing to say concerning the article rather than “omgz pc police lolz”.

    the article was stupid, offensive and completely failed at being funny. what are you thinking running something like that when you’re supposed to support women running their own business?

  11. bri

    honey, i think you’re just shocked that intelligent responses are being made in opposition to your own pathetic little sally. if you’d like to provide your own well-thought out argument, we’d be more than happy to hear it.

  12. sojnia

    i dont believe those are multiple people, either. this forum is never that active. and there is NEVER that kind of uniformity of opinion.

    but i guess that’s the irony, eh? that people like kathleen are so uptight that they believe everyone should think like them. and if their opinion is different? well, then they scream “i’m offended” because our PC culture has taught them that that means something.

    i dont care if you are offended. you probably do things in your daily life that offend me, but i dont believe that this world is supposed to be safe and unoffensive. thats not the world i was raised in, or the world i want to live in: some shiny, PC world where the PC Police ticket people for saying ‘uncorrect’ things.

    i am a woman, too. it’s not about women. the publisher of the disclaimer is a woman. a woman in business at that. and her business is making people laugh at things that need to be laughed at.
    you know, laughter being good for the soul and all that. i dont remember seeing an asterix on that bumper sticker about non-offensive humor.

    she does a good job. i support her business

    what is your business kathleen (or any of your ‘aliases”)? so that i can never frequent it.
    or are you just mad because the Disclaimer is a successful business and you work for someone else doing something you hate?

    get over yourself (selves)

    humor is supposed to make you uncomfortable.

    otherwise, it’s all just bob saget.

  13. Sojnia: If it is the same person, she’s leaping from one computer to the next a half-dozen times over. The IP addresses don’t match up. I think what you’re seeing is a lot of people with very similar thoughts.

  14. Orbit DVD

    Sojnia,

    Believe it or not, Bob Saget is considered the dirtiest comic working today. I’m sure his clip on THE ARISTOCRATS is on youtube or somewhere else on the net. This might change your comparison a little bit!

    marc

  15. raquel

    I found this piece through another website and just came back to check on it again. Maybe that’s why there is so much talk over just one article? Don’t jump to conclusions that the commenter is jumping from computer to computer to comment a piece that OBVIOUSLY must’ve affected her life so greatly.

  16. Disclaimer Fan

    Every week the Disclaimer makes fun of all sorts of people. Several friends of mine have been butts of their jokes and taken it in stride. I don’t understand why we women, the women’s movement, suffrage, or anything else that defines our sex socially or politically should be “hands off” to humorists.

    You’ve come a long way, baby, but you lost your sense of humor along the way.

  17. sonjia

    really,

    bob sagget?

    dang! still, you remember those freakin ‘america’s funniest videos’ jokes, dont you? then you know what i am referring to.

    besides, i’d say that doug stanhope’s diatribe on myspace pedapheliacs would give the “new bob” a run for his money.

    oh, and, yeah, i guess its just a coincidence that so many people logged in sequentially to say basically the same ting over and over, with only minutes of an hour or so between each comment. i mean, it happens all the time on mountainx.com!

    if that many people agreed with me, word for word, i would be scared, or a politician.

  18. Kathleen Payton

    Oh my God, I would not post under someone else’s name, okay? The admin guy looked at the IPs to prove it. I only have one computer, alright? And “raquel” says that she (or he?) was linked here. I don’t know where this page was linked from but maybe that’s where other commenters are coming from too.

    Anyway, I wouldn’t make up fake names and whatnot for something as little as this (or anything, actually, because I’m not afraid to use my real name). I wrote this letter mostly because I felt like this was some of the crappiest, most half-assed “comedy” I’ve seen in a while. I think it’s sad that the bar for getting things published is so incredibly low. People can say whatever they want (I don’t care about political correctness, I promise you) but is it really too much to ask that it be well thought out and actually FUNNY? The supposed jokes in that piece were sooo base, asinine, obvious, and also terribly presented. I mean, the whole thing was just dumb.

    And Sonjia, it’s great that you’re a woman in business. I am too. To answer your question about whether or not I hate my job: actually, I love what I do. :) It makes no difference to me if the publisher of the Disclaimer is a woman, though. The women in business piece is still not any good, in my opinion! And apparently a bunch of people agree with me.

    Also, if I’m getting accused of making up fake names then I’d like to say what is stopping the people at the Disclaimer from making all of these opposing comments? It could be one staffer under several different names. I think that at least one of the commenters here is affiliated with that paper.

  19. Nam Vet

    Kathy Payton just moved here from California> Well that is part of her problem right there. Kathy, honey, we have a different culture here than California. Thank God. Leftwing whining is suspect here. And examined. We question leftwing bias and authority here in the South. The article was a joke. You need to get a sense ofhumor.

  20. Hopefully

    Yeah the south is really progressive,You people were all democrats until President Johnson signed that civil rights bill into law.

  21. mockeyjew

    I think she got you ther namveyt are you scared to say something i love the south if we could git rid of the southerneers it woud be better

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