One of the main things that originally caused me to speak out against modern feminism and the politically correct culture that underpins it was their war against comedy. I’ve always been a big fan of no holds barred humor, no matter who it was directed against. If something’s funny, it’s funny. For me, it really is that simple. A comedian could be making fun of white people, fat people, black people, or transgendered people, whatever the case may be. If it causes me to laugh, then I’m fine with it. Even if I don’t find something funny, if someone somewhere does, and there’s an audience for it, then I’m fine with it.
Within the last ten years, there has been a big effort to ostracize comedians who stray from the PC guidelines of acceptability. To me, this undermines the entire comedic proposition. When topics or specific people are deemed off-limits, it ruins what I consider to be one of the most valuable arms of free speech. The right to offend is the very basis of comedy. When that’s threatened, it pisses me off, and as I said, it was one of the main reasons I took up rhetorical arms against feminism. One after another, legendary comedians have begun speaking out against this trend as well. Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock are a couple recent names that come to mind. Now, John Cleese, of Monty Python fame, has added his name to that illustrious list.
Here are some of his recent comments on the subject…
The Monty Python star revealed that he has been advised not to perform to students as the fear of offending has expanded so far that any kind of criticism is now seen as “cruel”. Mr Cleese said it is down to people who cannot control their emotions, so seek to control others, and worries that it could lead to a society like that in the iconic dystopian Orwell Novel…
In a video for The Big Think, he explained: “I’ve been warned recently not to go to university campuses because political correctness has been taken from being a good idea, from ‘let us not be mean particularly to people who are not able to look after themselves very well’, to the point where any kind of criticism of any kind of individual or group can be labelled cruel.
“The whole point about comedy is that all comedy is critical.”
I watched this video the other day, and if I hadn’t been tied up with other matter, I would have already spotlighted it. I encourage all of you to go watch it at the earliest available opportunity.
The more people like Cleese who decide to speak out, the better. When people see performers they’ve loved all their lives speak out on issues of speech and creative freedom, they listen. Of course you will still have certain braindead idiots who will continue to clutch their pearls and refuse to change their fascistic ways, but most reasonable people will take heed.
