Fantastically said.

And… I must point this out: that is _by far_ the most eloquent and well-reasoned comment I have ever seen by a person with the word “rape” in their name. You might want to consider a less offensive moniker if you’re going to be so reasonable.

its the internet, who gives a shit

I looked up what an ‘ironic hipster’ is online, and – I’m sorry – but Jesse is one. He presents a show where they talk about how a hideous stuffed pig on wheels getting valued on the antiques roadshow is the most awesome thing ever. His ‘new sincerity’ quote is ridiculous, and Tycho really hit the nail on the head when he said that the new sincerity seems to be ‘exactly the same as the old irony.’

Now I’m sure Jesse is a good guy. I don’t think anyone suggested that he’d done anything malicious in any sense, and Gabe was quite clear when he said “I don’t think anyone is really at fault. We are just not a good fit.” This is an issue of taste. Gabe & Tycho found Jesse & Jordan’s exaggerated enthusiasm for random nonsense and pop-cultural jetsam annoying, crass and ‘stultifying’, and that’s pretty much all they said.

You can pick through it and try to find things that are ‘genuinely’ offensive and hold them up as evidence of malice – “ooh, they said he was unprofessional, that’s so uh… uh… unprofessional of them!” – but the fact is they expressed a reasonable opinion in a typically hyperbolic manner. If you’re going to stop reading their comic over that, you probably should, because that’s pretty much what their comic is about.

I think the real issue here is that a bunch of people who listen to a podcast about indiscriminately declaring things awesome suddenly had to deal with being told that things – specifically the podcast in question – was not awesome, and was in fact pretty stupid and inane. A certain sense of betrayal is inevitable.

Unfortunately the thread on maxfun is locked, but the truth is that PA is a shitty unfunny webcomic and their creators are equally horrendous towards most anything that doesn’t involve them. Anyway, I feel sorry for Jesse because PA has a huge fan base and the creators made some lame comments about Jesse that they more likely than not won’t apologize for and will end up hurting his image. Hopefully it won’t matter, but the internet can be a horrible place sometimes.

More PA bullshit from the past: http://www.somethingawful.com/d/daily-dirt/heres-mud-your.php

its the internet, who gives a shit

Now, Penny Arcade is attacking Jesse Thorn due to their own spite and ignorance. They’re openly calling out the character and professionalism of a truly upstanding man, whom they fully admit to knowing nothing about. They’ve refused to take responsibility for their own mistake in booking the appearance, and instead have decided to take the frustration of their personal failures out upon a good man’s dignity and livelihood by slandering him on the proverbial throne overlooking their fans (one of whom I will no longer be).

They’ve gone so far as to joke about him being a murderer and a rapist. It’s infantile, despicable, and itself completely unprofessional. They’ve shown themselves to be irresponsible hypocrites, and frankly, they should be ashamed of themselves.

It would be perfectly acceptable to call out Jesse if he was an outright inconsiderate dick, but from both sides, nothing gives the impression that he did anything wrong other than be late. That’s something that adults give each other crap about directly, not in a public forum (it would also be acceptable to joke about it, but they were quite serious in their blog/news post).

Do remember that it was their publicist that asked to be on JJGO, Gabe and Tycho come off as complete dicks when their representative/publicist asks Jesse to go on a show and then they proceed to shit on it.