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Having followed Lindy West since the days her movie reviews would trickle down the I-5 corridor from the Stranger to the Merc, it's weird and sort of fascinating to see that the woman who got me to crack up at this review of The Blind Side is now the same woman who is basically running point in the fight to get male comedians to possibly rethink who they're aiming their next rape joke at, and why. It's also sort of crazy that there even has to be a fight, and yet, of course there has to be a fight, because no status quo has ever been shifted, even slightly, by just kinda sitting around and waiting for people to politely change their minds in private. It's never happened.

So, as Alison Hallett has been pointing out, the most recent skirmish happened on W. Kamau Bell's show, and then the fallout happened in Lindy West's inbox, and now, to conclude this little trilogy of Cringe and Yikes, here's Bell with not only a succinct sum-up, but a game-changing idea that could be to comments sections what scrubbing bubbles are to pesky soap scum and shower stains.

That sound you hear after Bell asks "Is this what it's like to be white?": that's one of the best sounds you'll ever hear from a comedy crowd, because it's the one where the laugh itself, while escaping your body, is surprised with a quick one-two to the gut from messrs truth and understanding.