Inspiration From Tragedy
By | Posted Under Videos | Comments (22)
As a society (at least that portion of us with a sense of humour) we often derive some of the most comically poignant moments from the most salient of tragedies. Consider how many Heath Ledger jokes you’ve heard. It only took a moment for somebody to crack wise about David Carradine’s unseemly demise. Anyone ever made a Corky joke. Laughed uproariously after your buddy lost a nut attempting to negotiate that particularly ornery wildebeest? How many times have you seen or typed “Too soon?” at the end of a particularly tasteless joke about death? If I remember correctly, it was only about six months before comedians were making jokes about 9/11 and terrorists. The point is that a large sect of humanity uses humour to deal with occurrences that would otherwise just hurt to damn much or render us paralyzed with fear.
There’s nothing funny about attempted rape, or assault, or breaking and entering or attempted murder. However there are times when all of those things are used as punch lines in various jokes or comedies. It’s amazing what can happen to a very serious event when you take it out of its context and add a few oddball characters. Especially if they’re pissed off while also given to levying threats against the offending party. That’s what’s happened to Antoine Dodson and his sister Kelly. An unknown assailant broke into Kelly’s window, climbed in bed with her and attempted to rape her. Antoine heard the struggle and came to his sister’s aid. The original news story is below.
Now, Antoine is pretty flamboyant, but there’s nothing really that funny about the story; that would be until the kids responsible for Auto-Tune the News got a hold of it. I know that this has been around for a while, but every time I run into it I have to watch because it’s just masterful. Depending on which version you watch on Youtube, it’s received anywhere for 2.2 to 10.4 million hits. It’s on iTunes, there are t-shirts, websites and proceeds are going to both the creators and the Dodsons. If you haven’t seen it, witness the glory of tragedy re-mixed:
The good side of this, besides the entertainment value for us, is that they’re profiting from what could have been a deplorable crime committed against them. But the best part of the whole thing is that the perpetrator is almost guaranteed to be caught. To me, there is just no conceivable way that a man who suffers from such a severe case of colorectalcraniumism is going to keep his mouth shut about being the subject of one of the biggest internet sensations in a long, long while. You know this obviously challenged asshat will eventually tell someone about his fame. Unfortunately, it being America, he’ll probably also sue for royalties.
Each Time You Like, Share, Tweet or Stumble a Pajiba Post, An Angel Does the Paul Rudd Dance
← Pajiba After Dark 8/18/10 | Book Review: "The Extraordinary life of Paul Featherstone" by Paul Featherstone and Ian Heads →
Comments
Posted by: Jon at August 18, 2010 8:29 PM
I'm from Huntsville, and our local news has produced two incredible viral clips this summer - the above-mentioned Dodson clip and the "Strut That Ass" guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B55uUwMGorY). The "Strut That Ass" clip is actually from the mid-90s, but was found and released by someone at the local CBS affiliate who was archiving tapes this summer. Go watch it if you have two minutes to spare, it is worth it.