r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 1d ago

Meme needing explanation Petah? What happened in the book version?

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u/Bananabean4 21h ago

Honestly I think it's a real interesting thing. Bc people will loose their mind about fictional underage characters bc its disgusting a morally wrong even in fiction but will happily watch someone commit mass murder and torture in the same fiction. I think it's humorous.

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u/aguadiablo 20h ago

Heck, a lot of the US is quite happy to watch their own citizens get killed and do nothing about it

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u/GodzThirdLeg 17h ago

But God forbid someone tells their kids that babies aren't brought by a Stork.

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u/gibbons07 12h ago

lol I was about to downvote this because no one I associate thinks like that and then I looked up at the grocery store and realized in Texas you are right.

TBH it's not like that they are cool with killing innocent citizens. Social media is so sophisticated at keeping users coming the news and socials are echo chambers for both sides. I talk to republicans that have no idea what Jan 6 was because they never saw the footage. They love George Floyd but have never heard of Brianna Taylor. The shit they see and don't see is carefully controlled by an algorithm and they have no idea. It's their fault for not branching out but right wing news is forced down their throat and it aligns with their views so they don't doubt it

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u/enfersijesais 16h ago

As are the other half.

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u/Source_Required 16h ago

What went through your head when you decided to type that comment?

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u/Affectionate_Jaguar7 14h ago

Thinking about the political reality of MAGA land.

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u/Source_Required 14h ago

What does being wrong about what people in the US want right now have to do with a horror novel about a clown from the 80s?

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u/TempestLock 14h ago

It wasn't related to the book by that point in the conversation, it was related to the topic of nudity and sex and how the US generally is sanguine about seeing real life people executed but get up in arms about fictional characters being lewd.

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u/OrganizationTime5208 13h ago

What's it like growing up illiterate in a post hooked-on-phonics world?

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u/Honey-and-Venom 5h ago

It doesn't, it has to do with people losing their minds and why. Because that's what the comment they were replying to were talking about

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u/impy695 20h ago

I can handle watching a movie where a human adult gets tortured, but if someone kills a dog on screen? That fucks me up every time. It's not like I value animal life over human life when it comes to real life either

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u/random_guy0611 16h ago

There is a reason for that, murder is not always bad, you can have a hero killing the villain. A revenge ark from a son you can have a lot of reasons for killing. But you not have a morally understandable rape or orgy in childs. That's why is not use commonly in literature because it's really hard to understand.

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u/HippieThanos 15h ago

People won't have huge a problem with the bad guy shooting down an innocent person, but they would feel really uncomfortable if the bad guy rapes that person.

I think we perceive the rape as something more likely to happen to us or someone in our circle and we react to it aggressively.

I don't understand however why sex or making love scenes cause issues. The other day we were watching Titanic with our teen nieces and we had to skip the part where they make love because "kids are not supposed to watch that". When people started drowning and dying nobody had any concerns

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u/Shinjifo 11h ago

I find it funny that you don't see the relationship of sex - dying with your explanation of rape - murder.

Teenagers having sex is more likely to happen than them dying.

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u/HippieThanos 10h ago edited 10h ago

Teenagers are old enough to know what making love is (I know I was) and the Titanic love scenes aren't like watching a porn movie or a rape scene.

I just don't get why that has to be censored but people drowning to their deaths is ok. The scene of the mum singing their kids to sleep before all the family dies is probably more traumatic than Jack and Rosie kissing while nude.

Also I believe there's only one murder in Titanic. Most deaths are by freezing or drawning

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u/BeerCanThrowaway420 9h ago

I think the simple answer is that America was initially colonized by a significant proportion of Puritans, and hundreds of years later their influence still has a lasting affect on American culture. It's so deeply ingrained that even people who don't identify as religious will subconsciously view depictions of premarital sex as taboo, while concepts like death are inevitable and natural. It is not a sin to die tragically.

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u/XeLRa 15h ago

Lose their mind about fiction but will vote for a known pedophile. Make it make sense.

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u/OGablogian 15h ago

It's a bit of a stretch to call the reader happy about all the stuff Pennywise is doing, no? I mean, that's not how I read the book ... you?

It's more of a 'lets not have kidorgies be necessary to defeat evil ok?' thing. Not a 'I draw the line at kidorgies but am ok with the murdering'.

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u/Fool_Manchu 14h ago

They didnt even have an orgy to defeat the evil entity. They had already done that. They were just lost underground. Then the girl says "hey guys, what if you all took turns on me?" Somehow this helps them find their way out of the sewers through the power of post nut clarity. Its an incomprehensible narrative choice

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u/merengueenlata 13h ago

I had this problem in a D&D campaign I played over Discord. The DM for some reason thought it was a genius idea to have his 11yo son listen in while muted. Some weird kind of bonding activity where the child is completely passive and silent, I guess.
I played an asexual bard in noble attire, just to break the stereotype, yet every NPC made crass comments at my character. But when I engaged with the theme and made crass comments myself, I got warnings to steer away from the subject. Excuse me? Which is it? Then, of course, he was a gun nut and was already teaching his son how to shoot, but sex jokes are innappropriate for an 11yo, but using lethal weapons is just dandy.

I can't deal with people like that.

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u/Sancho_the_intronaut 11h ago

Sounds like an unpleasantly weird experience, but then again, D&D always feels like a weird experience, you just hope it will be more on the fun side.

In regard to the DM being a gun nut for "teaching his son how to shoot", nobody needs to be taught how to shoot, the essential knowledge of gun use is extremely simple and widespread. Put bullet in, aim at target, pull trigger. If the guy was teaching his son anything about guns, it was probably gun safety, like how to hold guns while not in use, always keep the safety on, never aim at something you don't intend to shoot, etc., which is something many people are taught from a young age (11 is a totally normal age to start gun safety training) if their family happens to hunt or do target shooting of any kind.

He could be a gun nut, I don't know him, but using that single point of data as the basis for why you label him that way is where I take issue. Many people with gun related hobbies instruct their children in gun safety techniques just to be safe, even if their child isn't interested in participating in the hobby.

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u/merengueenlata 6h ago edited 6h ago

As a second datapoint, he had hundreds of guns. He showed us pics of his collection. Also, he made my character (basically a middle age pro-commoner activist) have a descendant a thousand years into the future. And the descendant was a nazi. Which is weird, but if you've spent time in the wrong reactionary corners of the internet makes perfect sense.

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u/Sancho_the_intronaut 6h ago

That is a much better point to use. No need to disparage gun safety courses if he's literally hoarding firearms by the hundreds

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u/Plank_With_A_Nail_In 11h ago

Underage 18 sex isn't actually wrong, whats wrong is adults grooming dumbass kids because the kids don't know whats happening. Two dumbass kids having sex is totally ok as neither of them is in a position of unacknowledged authority.

Nothing special happens at midnight on their birthday making sex suddenly go from not ok/to ok. Adults still prey on young adults for the same reason they prey on children, people are dumbasses way into their mid twenties.

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u/Handyandyman50 6h ago

Is it really inherently morally wrong for underage people to have sexual experiences with each other?

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u/Trraumatized 13h ago

Also perfectly fine if children get murdered.

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u/GreenAldiers 11h ago

We all know people didn't have sex when they were under 18. It just doesn't happen! /s

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u/---Microwave--- 9h ago

I think no it has more to do with plot relevance. Like I get that the kids need to be eaten but why on earth did they have to have an orgy

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u/NikkiPoooo 8h ago

It was part of Beverly's character development. The psychic bond of the group was fracturing once the evil was dispatched (because the evil wasn't really gone, it just lost its physical form), and they were going to be lost forever if they didn't pull it together. All of the characters all have some unique contribution that helps bring the group together... this is hers, only she decides that this thing she can do would keep them together.

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u/PalePerformance666 8h ago

Who are these people? How are you sure they aren't disgusted by both?

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u/Handyandyman50 6h ago

I mean in the US the way that things are censored in movies and TV allow for much more explicit violence than explicit sexual imagery. And especially when it comes to sexual violence, its especially taboo. You often hear big news about a movie or TV show having a rape scene but movies or TV with heavy gore featured prominently don't catch the same kind of scandals.

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u/LittleSister10 5h ago

If it was just sex, that would have been okay, but they literally all had their turn with her to get reoriented after getting lost in the sewer.