Thread 213686396

>Comedy Central roasts
>Opie and Anthony
>Howard Stern
>Andy Dick
>Simon Cowell
>South Park
>Spike TV
>Wonder Showzen
>constant teardowns of Pam Anderson, Olsen Twins, Britney Spears etc

Why was early 2000s media so mean spirited and what changed? If you grew up during this time you know exactly what I mean

>>213686396 (OP)
its all about ratings and thats how they went about getting them back then

GenX was angry

>Howard Stern

Stern was one of the biggest stars of the 90s and everyone else scrambled to make "naughty" entertainment in his wake, mostly failing and just coming off gross and uncomfortable

Look at Jim Norton as a prime example, his old standup was pervy but mostly about his insecurities and relationships with relatively little cursing. After he joined O&A it was all strippers/whores/dead children/toilet humor to the nth degree.

Dont forget dead baby "jokes", they were huge

>>213686396 (OP)
most comedy around that time was about pushing boundaries and being offensive. It all died out with the woke movement in the 2010s

>>213686621
>>213686580
Stern and South Park set the bar for "edginess" and everybody else played catchup

>>213686396 (OP)
9/11 and the disastrous war in the middle east

>>213686396 (OP)
What you’re calling “mean culture” was actually called shock, and it was a trend that started with Lenny Bruce if not earlier, then crystallized by Howard Stern. It was an easy way to get laughs without any talent or effort. But it’s a game of oneupmanship that ended abruptly when the internet started going mainstream. The shock game was limited by corporate sensibilities and could only increase incrementally. The internet was not limited by sponsors or corporate corporate sensibility, so the game was over. No one could compete with the internet on shock value, so it was only viable with people who wouldn’t have internet access, which meant the audience for it withered away.

>>213686916
posts like this are why I still come here

>>213686396 (OP)
It's because they're the federal government where the objective is to be cruel

>>213686916
Quality analysis...I would add Joan Rivers to the list of pioneers as well, she was always mean but became notoriously mean when she got on the E channel and started eviscerating peoples appearance on a daily basis.

>>213686396 (OP)
Stern went hollywood, Anthony got fired and TV died

>>213686621
It played itself out. Everyone was tired of it.

>>213687153
>It was the summer of sixty nine

>>213686396 (OP)
It went too far in some places....

>>213686396 (OP)
All culture is mean culture now. It just moved off tv and onto social media, YouTube, everywhere>>213686396 (OP)

>>213687255
Wtf shes hot

>>213686396 (OP)
that was the best era of pamela anderson

>>213686396 (OP)
there was bloodsports in the 2010s
the mean stuff in the 90s, 2000s was good natured fun

>>213686396 (OP)
Anti-Bullying campaign turned everyone into a precious snowflake deserving of Participation Trophies.

>>213686396 (OP)
Personally, I think, this stuff wasn't that bad. People weren't really meaner because they were copying this, they were just using this as an escape. Gen Z and Millennials are just different than Gen X. They take things more personally and grew up respecting words a lot more, parents gave them good parenting and taught them to be kind. Gen X was just the kids that had to watch boomers passed out drunk on the couch. So its probably a good sign this stuff is dead. I still don't think it hurt anyone it was just serving an audience.

>>213687500
>LMAO Sarah Silverman said retard for the 800th time!

At a certain point being an asshole is just hacky

>>213686396 (OP)
To quote Howard stern “feeling up Pam Anderson was a great way of telling Hollywood you’ve got writing ideas again!”

Its weird how the 2020s are the first decade to completely lack a cultural zeitgeist. Even the 2010s had hipster culture. Were midway through the decade and everyone feels indifferent about everything

>>213686396 (OP)
It was replaced with the 2010s mean spirited era of cancel culture, joking around turned into bullying

>>213687500
Bullying now is worse than ever because even strangers can join in and make nasty comments or edit photos of you. You could fall down the stairs at school and become a national hashtag by the end of the day. 20 years ago we couldn’t imagine the scope that the internet would elevate bullying to.

>>213687575
Gen X was for the most part the last generation to get beaten by their parents so they had a lot more unresolved hostility than subsequent generations which spilled out into the culture. Fuckin Korn went 10x platinum singing about molestation

>>213687662
best thing that cunt ever did was get punched in the face in Way of the Gun

>>213687779
nobody is allowed to do anything or else the woke-mob will ruin your life. They were given too much power by the media and they just made everybody fearful and miserable all the time.

>>213687804
>2010s started with Kony 2012 which turned everyone into virtue signallers on the Internet
>Trayvon Martin shooting caused BLM to spring up
>Another wave of feminism started and snowballed bigger with gamergate
>Drumpf gets in and its nothing but 4 years of orange man Bad
>Metoo movement and cancel culture start to really take off
>All this accumulates in 2020 with the largest rioting ever in American history over muh social awareness while almost every corporation goes fully woke and hangs rainbow flags everywhere
>fast forward 5 years later
>All of that has been completely memory holed and now liberals and even conservatives seem to be completely tired by the culture war

Its such a weird ride to experience

>>213686396 (OP)
it was mainly a trauma response after 9/11

>>213686396 (OP)
Check out the dabbleverse/hackverse, full of nasty psychos

>>213687908
>woke-mob

Woke died out in 2023 with the bud light controversy and the Israel/Gaza war which completely shattered the Left. The fact that barely any companies participated in pride month and completely gutted their DEI offices shows that they know woke isn't really a thing NPCs care about being anymore

>>213687831
Xers don't understand that everyone born from the 90s onward grew up assuming they're being filmed and uploaded online by mean girls or an adult pervert, that's why they're boring in public and they don't laugh at anything

>>213687924
All of that was a response to occupy. A accurate name for it would be division culture.

>>213687924
Arab spring was a testing ground for the summer of love in 2020

>>213688000
yes they are losing their grip but they do still have influence and people are still scared of them. It will probably take until the end of the decade when Trump is out of office that things hopefully go back to normal. Sorry, no refunds on the entire lost decade though.

>>213687938
TV drama became obsessed with torture and mutilation around this time too. House/24 were the biggest shows around and they were essentially primetime torture porn

>>213687255
wtf

>>213687779
Fitness culture feels pretty universal these days but it might just be my algorithm

>>213686396 (OP)
shock is at the core of it, so oversaturation is its death (same with gross out, randumb, and so on)

>>213687779
indifference cultural zeitgeist
online culture wars

>>213688046
Arab spring was a testing ground for the efficacy of online activist groups, and it proved they could overthrow governments, which caused an immediate 180 of the media coverage of occupy as “oh it’s so great to live in such a free country in these trying times” to “they’re a disorganized racist mob with no goals”

>>213687779
there are plenty of people creating and participating in culture but it's mostly offline, at least in my area. it might not be one big monoculture but when has it ever been?

>>213686396 (OP)
>Why was early 2000s media so mean spirited and what changed?

Nothing, just the targets. You're not allowed to make jokes about anyone except the white working class, conservatives and Donald Trump now; but you can be as mean spirited as you want with those groups.

>>213686396 (OP)
>What Happened to Mean Culture?
PC cops happened. Root cause was Obama.

>>213688177
Ah yes, invalidating something by calling it racist. And I still don't know what misogynist means. Thanks Obama

>>213686396 (OP)
The meanness moved to social media

It's alive on xitter. Different spheres have different targets but being perceived as "mean" / shocking is a way to gain influence. To show It's fun to support incest, epehb/pedo, rape, genocide, slavery, etc.

>>213687889
She had a good run as "The Hot Comedian"

>>213686396 (OP)
like it or not, Kill Tony is doing the same shit. Tony has been nicer since that one guy killed his gf but still

I feel like X (Twitter) is now what Spike TV was in the 2000s.

Since Musk took over people have been able to say whatever the fuck they want and have been openly mocking everyone from trannies, homos, jeets and blacks.

>>213688386
It got the leadership to stand aside and let niggers to take control of the movement and almost immediately collapse it.

>>213686396 (OP)
It still exists on the internet but its very clique-like, this group trying to agitate the other and so on, all while protecting and building their own. Back then it was indiscriminate offend everyone comedy, now its tied to ideology.

>>213686515
>GenX was angry
No it was zoomers.

>>213686396 (OP)
The recession tanked male spending power and now women are the only audience Hollywood, publishing, and advertisers care about.
That’s the actual answer.

>>213688460
>>213688423
I think OP meant meanness as a media phenomenon produced and backed by corporate money for mass consumption. Kill Tony/Andrew Tate/X culture wars are all very mean but they started independently.and gained followers through years and years of content production. Other than marginalising white people (which in 2025 is.not seen as rude) Amazon/Netflix etc would never produce something half as mean as Drawn Together or South Park. The closest theyve come to date is their lukewarm embrace of Shane Gillis

>>213688544
>Back then it was indiscriminate offend everyone comedy, now its tied to ideology.

Fuck that's what made the 2000s so much more kino. Being edgy and making jokes about gays and other races was just meant to be laughed off. Today it feels like people only do that to "own the left" rather than be genuine.

>>213686610
Dead baby jokes never get old, just like dead babies

>>213688447
When she was still hot she was really fucking hot. Then she got fat and Jewish.

>>213688665
Kek

>>213688678
>>213688447
She was never hot.

>>213687779
a cultural zeitgeist is only seen in hindsight, people in the 2010s said there wasnt one. There's a specific bimbo archetype culture going on with maga women for example. You'll have it all articulated for you a decade from now

>>213686396 (OP)
Whitebois got too cocky so we had to take y'all down a peg. You feel me?

>>213688117
you hang with foids and faggots

>>213688447
I remember when her and Tina Fey were being hyped up as bombshells lmao

>>213686916
>The internet was not limited by sponsors or corporate corporate sensibility
i hate how much this changed
great post bud

>>213688447
"... Smells like fuckin diarrhea!"

>>213688720
ok

>>213687321
This is how far down standards have come. Shits grim

>>213688447
Still a distant third behind Bonnie and Janeane

>>213687255
So why is this clip being pushed so hard? Feels pretty inorganic.

>>213689181
Green eyes, clear skin, non-nigger nose. She’s a sold 8

>>213689181
Reminder that the anorexic suntanned bleach blonde Paris Hilton look was all the rage at this time despite not being hot in the least

I take thicc culture any day of the week

>>213686515
> GenX was angry
Was?

>>213689470
SiriusXM PR is devaluing Howard Stern now that they're trying to dump him

>>213687255
As if this monster has any room to make this face

>>213687255
She agreed to be made fun of.

>>213686396 (OP)
>mean culture then: lol look at this ugly loser what a faggot!
>mean culture now: i am going to get you fired from your job, blacklisted from your industry, hounded in perpetuity on every social media channel in existence, put on a sex offender registry, swatted, and bully your kids into suicide

>>213687255
if you think there's anything wrong with this then you're part of the problem

dat hoe fugly

>>213686916
>What you’re calling “mean culture” was actually called shock

No, it was called "having a sense of humor", you absolute faggot.

>>213692568
feel free to read the rest of the post

>>213692568
poor reading comprehension award

>>213692568
They were literally called shock jocks, and you did seem to miss the point of the anons post

>>213686871
>9/11 and the disastrous war in the middle east
yep this is it

when all the news and every horror movie and all the shows are about unironic death and torture and turning the middle east into a glass parking lot, it wasn't edgy anymore. you're not gonna transgress anyone by going there

in the 1950s-1990s, Republicans and conservative people were defined by members and decorum and respect for religion, so rebelling against them meant just being rude for no reason. then after 9/11 they just turned rude and mean like everyone so it was just normal and not funny to say you were gonna rape Paris Hilton or whatever.

>>213692568
Hi there I'm samefagging

>>213693126
>when all the news and every horror movie and all the shows are about unironic death and torture and turning the middle east into a glass parking lot, it wasn't edgy anymore.
All that stuff is good though

Like comedy always, it got stale. It'll return in a decade or so

>>213692456
Name one time this happened

>no one has mentioned Perez Hilton, the most infamous mean person of the 2000s

You straight boys are adorable

>>213692456
Louie CK.

>>213693840
>fired from your job
Sure
>blacklisted from your industry
He came back and won a Grammy
>hounded in perpetuity on every social media channel in existence
He's on the podcast circuit and the comments adore him
>put on a sex offender registry
Nope
>swatted
Nope
>bully your kids into suicide
Nope

He got bad press and had to lay low for a few years, been a standard tactic for over a century. Watch for the Will Smith Comeback Tour in the next year or two

>>213693720
Dave Portnoy getting people kicked out of college for writing fuck the Jews

>>213688117
People are more sedentary than ever. You just think fitness it's "universal" because of social media

>>213686396 (OP)
Juden trash ended. People are getting redpilled. Why are you complaining?

>>213687255
you guys get that this is a joke and she's wearing "sick" movie make up to look worse, right?

>>213693927
The fact he got fired alone off something no one could even prove is reason enough. Mean culture in the 90's would of had him back within one week.

>>213688853
Tina Fey is actually funny and hot though.

>>213693971
nazis aren't exactly the nicest group of people

>>213687255
That's nothing compared to the "That's So Wrong" bits or whatever. Some of which I've jerked it to.

>>213688029
THIS. And it worked like a charm.

>>213686396 (OP)
it's still there, it's joe rogan and tony hinchcliffe and maga podcaster comedians, they're just not good at it

>>213686396 (OP)
Society ebbs and flows. It will return. And then vanish again.

>>213686396 (OP)
It's kinda crazy how we shifted to polar opposite now. Now everyone tries to be so nice is comes off as phoney. A perfect microcsom of this i've noticed is that In the 90's and before actors and musicians used to shit on each other regurlarly, now all they do is suck each other off ad naseum.

>>213687255
in the early 2000s people were so beautiful this was considered a butterface, think about that

>>213694228
are you retarded, every popular podcast is
rogan brosphere insulting people ... where do you people come up with this bullshit

>>213694229
See
>>213689894

>>213694291
he's talking about mainstream culture, not niche bullshit like podcasts

>>213687255
Her face is cute.

>>213686396 (OP)
Any “mean comedy” that exists now would be the stuff the mainstream would label as rightwing punching down chud comedy today (Gutfeld, Legion of Skanks or anything on GaS Digital, Kill Tony, Nick DiPaolo, Andrew Schultz, any of the MAN-o-SPHERE comedy podcasts)

>>213688665
10/10

>>213694364
Are you saying Joe Rogan isn't mainstream?

>>213694024
>off something no one could even prove
He acknowledged it, you retard

>>213695009
yes. there is no such thing as "mainstream" anymore.

>>213687321
That's how low we've sunk. Her face is disgusting.

>>213687255
This face was considered 3/10 25 years ago

>>213686396 (OP)
>What Happened to Mean Culture?
Woke and microaggressions.

Kurt Kobain did it.

>>213686396 (OP)
Gordon Ramsay is still around

>>213687779
AI, vtubers, streamers, mr beast, kendrik vs drake, Trump and Elon, Self driving cars...
Plenty of material

All of that shit just shifted to social media platforms, who needs mean spirited entertainment when you get called a loser/idiot/faggot by some random guy daily?

>>213693736
OK

>>213699105
Before it was a meme and back when video stores existed, I found out about this movie before any of my friends. I saw it for how terrible it was immediately. I proceeded to tell them all it was the best movie ever and they would have to see it. I was there for so many people paying money to see this movie because of my lies and I miss those times so much now.

>>213686610
whats funnier than a pile of dead babies?

>>213686396 (OP)
There is no separate mean culture anymore. It is our culture

>>213689470
Because feminists are losing ground
You’re going to be seeing a lot more propaganda in the coming months to garner more hatred of men and support for feminism