Comedians running scared over perceived shift to "political correctness"

[Aeula]

i think freedom of speech is always, and should always, be more important than the feelings of others. it should be within anyone's rights to get up and spout the most racist, sexist, or whateverist jokes they want and there shouldn't be a damn thing anyone can do to stop you.

This. So long as they're not actively threatening to murder someone or blow something up etc... people should have the right to say anything that want.

[Elegiac]

This. So long as they're not actively threatening to murder someone or blow something up etc... people should have the right to say anything that want.

They do, no one is disputing this.

[tehealadin]

And again: freedom of speech offers protection from government reprisal, not from social reprisal.

It is not the government's job to protect people who say offensive things from getting their compeuppance.

Indeed. Though I wish more people acted in the spirit of freedom of speech (certain groups like to try and silence people who say things that they don't like, and cannot tolerate a world in which things they don't like exist), their right to criticise and protest has to be protected all the same, it should be for everyone or no one, from the overly offensive dickhead to the authoritarians, and all that is in between.

When the courts start enacting the will of the authoritarians, this becomes worrying.

[stabetha]

Or.. how about we don't allow people to be verbally abusive, just as we don't allow people to be physically abusive.

You won't get jailed for yelling any sort of slur once. You will for consistently doing so to a single person. Because that's harassment, just like if you followed someone and snapped an inch from their ear every second for a year.

this offends me you should go to jail for saying it

[announced]

They do, no one is disputing this.

hes talking about one comedian making an offensive joke and getting sued over it. comedians make jokes, thats what they do. getting sued every time they open their mouth shouldnt be an option. comedians should have a new law of immunity against any of their material (this is not freedom of speech i'm talking about but something new) so they dont have the option of being sued.

And again: freedom of speech offers protection from government reprisal, not from social reprisal.

It is not the government's job to protect people who say offensive things from getting their compeuppance.

there doesnt need to be a comeuppance for comedians. Their job is to make people laugh, some are provokers/dark humour and if you dont get that kind of humour, dont show up to their shows.

did i feel bad for seeing that handicapped kid getting made fun of? yeah sure. does he need a payout of 35k ? fuck no. all he deserves at the most is an apology. most likely they stacked the jury with 12 parents of disabled kids.

again i am not talking about free speech but simply adding a new law that protects comedians from lawsuits based on their material. this would be either an addition to free speech or something else entirely.

[Kraenen]

Comedians feed of censorship and political correctness and saying taboo things. I myself wouldn't be worried - heck it's a career opportunity.

When you can say anything there's no punch to being subversive. With restraint comes the desire to be liberated.

- - - Updated - - -

Pretending there is no PC on the right. How is the attempt at banning porn and video games going?

PC traditionally came from the right/cons - religious censorship and all that was fought against by liberals who believed no words or people to be sacred. Now we almost see a reversal, with the left/liberals taking to an almost religious censorship of words and the right being the main force in fighting them.

[JohnBrown1917]

Well, do you?

My waifu lives in the 2nd dimension. I can't even touch him.


Checkmate, atheists.

[stabetha]

Daily Reminder, Left-wing people (PC) has no humor sense. They will take anything that slightly offends them, and make a big deal from nothing.

Truly, the Retarded Group of Mankind. Can't take a fucking joke without being triggered. What the fuck is this shit?



Infracted for flaming. Don't refer to people as "retarded".

I wonder how many posts I can find of people calling Republicans/conservatives retarded that go with out an infraction?
# justavictumcomplex

[Deleted]

Daily Reminder, Left-wing people (PC) has no humor sense.

Infracted

Now that's Irony!

[Fencers]

Seems contradictory on the p[art of the comedians.

Supposing the performer wishes to have the license to say (in this case) any thing they want in the service of their performance; once that performance takes place, does not the audience have the same license to criticize the performance?

These seem to be poor comedians if their art is without risk.

[RickJamesLich]

Seems contradictory on the p[art of the comedians.

Supposing the performer wishes to have the license to say (in this case) any thing they want in the service of their performance; once that performance takes place, does not the audience have the same license to criticize the performance?

These seem to be poor comedians if their art is without risk.

I totally disagree here, many people take jokes too seriously now, to the point where if someone says an inappropriate joke on social media like twitter, they can lose their jobs and receive death threats. The problem is too many people, many of which are on the left, don't understand comedy doesn't come from a place of malice, but are so concerned with social issues that they have on blinders and can't accept people even poking a little bit of fun.

It's ok to get upset over a joke, but the left takes it to a level that is far beyond just being upset.

[Fencers]

I totally disagree here, many people take jokes too seriously now, to the point where if someone says an inappropriate joke on social media like twitter, they can lose their jobs and receive death threats.

Bill Hicks did not give a shit.

I think any comedian working today should aspire to the same.

[Dextroden]

Bill Hicks did not give a shit.

I think any comedian working today should aspire to the same.

You can give all the not shits you want. Ain't gonna save you from nonsense fines if this is how things will be run in the future.

[breadisfunny]

Next on the list of Tennisace's loaded questions. "Do you still beat your wife?"

i beat mine with a cactus daily. why do you ask?

[omfgreally]

I wonder how many posts I can find of people calling Republicans/conservatives retarded that go with out an infraction?
# justavictumcomplex

thank god, I am not the only one that sees this going on. Also in before "Infracted for saying god"

[RickJamesLich]

You can give all the not shits you want. Ain't gonna save you from nonsense fines if this is how things will be run in the future.

IMO the real comedians today aren't even comedians, dudes like Milo Yianoppolus and Gavin McInnes, that literally go to these campuses on a regular basis and discuss this shit with the students at their own door step. Not just doing it in a comedical way, but fighting the power and paving the way for the ordinary comedians to discuss topics that many would consider taboo.

[May90]

But if I don't think what I'm saying is offensive, apologizing only reinforces the idea that what I'm saying is offensive.

If I define Faggots (fags) as people who are lame and annoying, that is my prerogative. If someone who thinks it is a derogatory word for homos gets offended, why would I apologize? That is not what the word means to me. If a British person says fag, they are probably talking about cigarettes. Should the person from before be offended? Should Britain apologize?

Well, it is not always that ambiguous. Sure, if I say, "Nice weather!", and someone says, "How dare you! I worship weather, and you are saying it is only 'nice'?! How dare you offend me by berating my god!!!", there isn't much I could have done to prevent it. On the other hand, it would be stupid to tell someone, "You are a fucking stupid piece of crap", and then say, "Well, I didn't know how he would react. I had no idea he would get offended! Why should I apologize?".

Some common sense is still needed. Reactions to words are not infinitely relative, and there are some common reactions that are almost guaranteed to occur. Yes, there are some people who are constantly looking for someone to get outraged by and offended at. But there are also some things almost guaranteed to offend almost everyone they target, and those things aren't nice to say.

---

Plus, I think, the point of apology is exactly to demonstrate a good will, that you didn't mean ill. If you were an asshole on purpose, then apologizing doesn't really make sense to me. Except in the aftermath, when you reconsidered your actions.

Times change. That's why someone being fined by the government for offending someone has happened in real life.

The precedent has been set by Canada. Now, we just see if our country is stupid enough to go "Great Idea!"

There is a difference between someone offending someone else, and someone being offended by someone else. You can't fine people for the reactions of others, but you can fine them for their actions. If the guy said something that Quebec sees as going beyond the guaranteed free speech and into a civil offense zone, then he will be fined. If he said something that is within the limits of the guaranteed free speech, then he won't be fined, regardless of whether someone got offended or not.

Mockery of a disabled kid is very far into the grey zone in between free speech and verbal abuse. I'm not sure if even in the US the guy would get away with it.

I'm pretty sure specialists have worked on it, and concluded that it's not a good idea. And even if it were, it is illegal to do in the US, so you'd have to amend the constitution first, and good luck amending the first amendment.

Positions on this vary strongly between governments. Apparently there is no consensus on this yet.

[Rennadrel]

Bill Hicks did not give a shit.

I think any comedian working today should aspire to the same.

George Carlin was telling PC people to go screw themselves 20+ years ago. He'd be livid if he were alive today, at how much political correctness has tried to stifle comedy.

[Super Friendly Kitty Cat]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/comedian...ness-1.3691079


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http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/comedian...ness-1.3691079

How do you feel about this debate?
Is political correctness more important than ensuring we live in a decent, caring society?

Isn't there a thread already on this topic?

Personally any Artist that creates Art should be freely able to do so without governmental repercussions or punishment.

In this situation if clubs and other venues decided to not have this particular comedian perform at their club, it is the club's right not to. The government, or whatever stupid "human rights commission" shouldn't be worrying about this and should be focusing on more important matters.

Such as the epidemic of adult muslim men living on Canadian welfare who fly to Middle Eastern countries and marry young children as wives and bring them back into Canada, all while Canadian Tax Payers pay for this.

Maybe not worry about the comedian....

[RickJamesLich]

thank god, I am not the only one that sees this going on. Also in before "Infracted for saying god"

It's a pretty common thing for the mods to ban and infract people if they disagree with their viewpoints, under the guise of violating forum rules. Meanwhile, they don't bring the same response if the person violates the forum rules but they tend to agree with the message of their post.