Tuesday, August 08, 2017

Recently, Aaron Sobczak sent this tweet.



 And Elizabeth Nolan Brown screenshotted it and sent a tweet of her own. As of this writing, Sobczak has made his account private.

Is it okay to make sandwich jokes? If I were the Dictator of Comedy, I would proclaim a 5 year moratorium on ″Make Me A Sandwich″ because it has run its course and is no longer funny. I don′t find them offensive, I just keep hearing them over and over and over again. And yet when I say that this is not funny, that leads people to the conclusion that it is funny. Just as when a man says that he is not racist, people will cite that statement as proof that he is in fact racist. But yes, Sobczak has a right to make idiotic sandwich jokes.

Does E. N. Brown have a right to call Sobczak out on this? Sure. This a teachable moment. When you make offensive or annoying jokes, expect people to respond by saying they are offended or annoyed. When you say something on the Internet, be ready for your own words to be heard by a wider audience than you originally intended.

When you introduce yourself to a fellow libertarian, it′s often in your best interests to show some common courtesy. Don′t say racist or sexist jokes until you′re familiar enough with that person to know what kind of humor they would appreciate. Elizabeth N. Brown was correct to teach Sobczak some manners.

This isn′t to say that there is no place for humor or other hi-jinks. Humor can help the cause of liberty greatly, but there is a time and a place for it.You can totally dance on stage in your underwear if you actually work in a strip club. It′s just not a good idea to do so at a political convention.

There has been some concern that Brown′s response may have damaged Sobczak′s career prospects. First of all, his sandwich joke did more to harm his reputation than her retweet of it. Secondly, if he is in the habit of making sandwich jokes in public, then his chances of being allowed to work around women are low. Third, I personally know a guy who said far worse, received undisired media coverage for it, and still landed a pretty sweet government job. Forth, nobody has a right to a good job. If a human resource director gets to choose from two equally qualified candidates and a Google search of both their names turns up a sandwich meme, I would bet money that her hiring decision would be based on her opinion of that meme. But there will always be demand for food service workers, janitors, and security guards.


If Aaron Sobczak has learned his lesson, then I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. If he has not learned his lesson, he′ll need a lot more luck than I could ever wish him. Perhaps he has a career in comedy in his future, but he′ll need fresher material than jokes about sandwich making.

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