Randall Munroe just sent me an e-mail.

[jedusor]

I figured since that poem was dedicated to Randall, he should know about it. So I sent him the link. Just got this back:

Almost sounds like William Carlos Williams.

This is just to say
that I have fucked your mom
on your bed in your
bedroom
which you were probably
hoping
I wouldn't do
forgive me
she was so sweet
and so hot

...which kind of shows that he thoroughly missed (or chose to ignore) the point of the poem, BUT still it is an e-mail from Randall Munroe and I am a little star-struck.

Comments

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Well, I am glad that he got back to you.

But way to miss the point, guy! Sigh.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Sorry! I tried. :/

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

I asked him if he was missing the point accidentally or deliberately and got this back:

Not sure. I was churning through hundreds and hundreds of emails and
just wrote the first thing that came to mind when I read it.

What point? Is it a reference to something, or do you just mean the
attitude of it? Sorry if I'm slow here.

-- Randall

You want to say anything, or should I spell it out for him? :)

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

I am actually starting to get a bit uncomfortable about this! I have had my say, you know? Maybe that is enough. I guess if I were going to spell it out for him I would say that it is really hard for us secular humanists to feel comfortably superior to fundamentalist Christians & Muslims when our guys also go around acting shamed and insulted if anyone suggests that their female relatives are unchaste. And maybe he could tone it down a little, because he's getting his patriarchy in his anti-sexism, and those are two tastes that just do not taste great together at all.

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, his "I fucked your mom" attempt to squick isn't instantly the same, from his point of view, as "moms having sex are bad."

That is, somebody can be squicked by their own mom having sex even if they believe fervently that moms should have sex.

Moms should be allowed to have sex. My wife, who is a mom, should definitely be allowed to have sex. My mom should definitely be allowed to have sex. I do not want to hear about it.

[badgerbag.livejournal.com]

But it is not about being squicked about a parent it is about owning a share of your female relatives' chastity and purity. So it is about women as property. Otherwise "I fucked your dad" would just as squicky.

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

You don't find that just as squicky? I totally do.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

But nobody ever makes "I fucked your dad" jokes.

(Ok, except for Penny Arcade that one time, for which I love them. :)

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

Yeah, The Merch was awesome :-)

Fair enough.

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

Damn! He SAID he wouldn't tell, the cad!

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Hey, I have known a long time that I have no say in what you do or with whom you do it. I learned fairly early on not to read the Post-Its on the bathroom mirror. (Which, come to think of it, would be pretty awesome if they were written by Randall.)

[crouchback.livejournal.com]

This was the funniest thing I have read in about a week.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

oh hey, does this need to be under flock? I was going to link to it.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Unlocked.