i'm gonna do an "uhhhhh acktually" here because there's so many libs in the replies going "it's not that hard to work out, they're making fun of the woman who wrote a book about woke who can't define it, get a sense of humour commies":
If the joke is to lampoon Mandel for having her brain BSOD on live TV and not be able to define woke after writing a book on it, and you literally replace "Woke" with "Capitalism" and "Bethany Mandel" with "Karl Marx", then your joke is based on one of two suppositions:
EITHER you are implying that Mandel is actually smart and worth comparing to one of the most notable economic theorists and philosophers of all time, just because she wrote a book too and everyone can have a brain fart sometimes;
OR you are implying that Marx is also a fucking dummy who didn't actually know what he was critiquing and wouldn't be able to define Capitalism if asked directly because he was a dumb commie
so, go on then libs, tell me which one of those makes it funny
You're overthinking it. Its a dumb joke but you're applying way too much thought into it because you take Marx too seriously. Commies don't need to get a sense of humor here, because the joke is still bad and lame, but they do need to kind of get a stick out of their ass and stop clutching pearls when Marx is the subject of the joke. Because they're right. The daily show is SIMPLY saying "this would be like if Marx couldnt define capitalism". Thats the entire joke. Its not a good one, but that is the purpose of it.
“this would be like if Marx couldnt define capitalism”
which directly implies that Mandel is an authority on wokeness because Marx is an authority on capitalism and critiquing it
cmon my man, we'll gladly make fun of Marx for shit that actually makes sense (like him being a slob who findommed Engles) but context does exist
I agree with you. I'd wager 95% of people outside of a socialist country knows what Marx did other than "Har Har capitalism bad, communist manifesto". Even people who know that Marx was an economist or a philosopher don't know he's THE capitalism guy, who understood it so well to know that it's irredeemable and that it must be destroyed.
This woman sounds like someone who hates/opposes wokeism, so if all you know is "Marx hated capitalism, he even wrote a book about it", it's not hard to associate it with her name and wokeism.
But it's not saying that, the absurdity is imagining an academic who was dedicated to a single topic do what she did. It's calling her a pseudointellectual.
i'm gonna do an "uhhhhh acktually" here because there's so many libs in the replies going "it's not that hard to work out, they're making fun of the woman who wrote a book about woke who can't define it, get a sense of humour commies":
If the joke is to lampoon Mandel for having her brain BSOD on live TV and not be able to define woke after writing a book on it, and you literally replace "Woke" with "Capitalism" and "Bethany Mandel" with "Karl Marx", then your joke is based on one of two suppositions:
so, go on then libs, tell me which one of those makes it funny
You're overthinking it. Its a dumb joke but you're applying way too much thought into it because you take Marx too seriously. Commies don't need to get a sense of humor here, because the joke is still bad and lame, but they do need to kind of get a stick out of their ass and stop clutching pearls when Marx is the subject of the joke. Because they're right. The daily show is SIMPLY saying "this would be like if Marx couldnt define capitalism". Thats the entire joke. Its not a good one, but that is the purpose of it.
which directly implies that Mandel is an authority on wokeness because Marx is an authority on capitalism and critiquing it
cmon my man, we'll gladly make fun of Marx for shit that actually makes sense (like him being a slob who findommed Engles) but context does exist
Eh I take it to be "Haha can you imagine literally any other supposed expert or critic being unable to define the thing they are railing against?"
I stand by thinking thats overthinking it. Like I don't think you have to make a 1:1 comparison between Mandel and Marx by making this joke.
Like I get your point I just think you're putting more thought into it than they did and it isnt really necessary.
I agree with you. I'd wager 95% of people outside of a socialist country knows what Marx did other than "Har Har capitalism bad, communist manifesto". Even people who know that Marx was an economist or a philosopher don't know he's THE capitalism guy, who understood it so well to know that it's irredeemable and that it must be destroyed.
This woman sounds like someone who hates/opposes wokeism, so if all you know is "Marx hated capitalism, he even wrote a book about it", it's not hard to associate it with her name and wokeism.
Marx also literally defined capitalism. I don't think Mandel created the term woke to definite a social relationship.
If you didn't know that though I can see how it flows.
I mean the third option is "could you imagine if an academic dedicated their life purporting to study something, but then couldn't define it?"
which circles back to the implication that Bethany Mandel is an academic or is even smart - she's a dumbass fash column writer
This is why the whole thing falls on its arse - because Mandel is a fucking brainlet and you can't suspend belief enough to think otherwise
But it's not saying that, the absurdity is imagining an academic who was dedicated to a single topic do what she did. It's calling her a pseudointellectual.
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