The One-Way Street of Mainstream Comedy
In 2003, the then-Governor of New York State, George Pataki, granted the first posthumous pardon of its kind in the state. The removal of the conviction was bestowed on the late comedian, Lenny Bruce, whose arrest for obscenity during a stand-up routine set a dangerous precedent. For the third time, Bruce's comedy had piqued the ire of authorities, and his contentious comedy even got him banned from England.
55-years hence and one can be deceived into thinking the world has changed, those who are not so naive, know otherwise. Lauren Southern's entry into the UK found a barrier more impregnable than the Strait of Dover (before Eurostar). Worse than accusations of obscenity is Southern's detention under the Terrorism Act 2006 - enacted under Prime Minister Tony Blair - that pushed to detain suspected terrorists without charge for up to 90 days. The resulting furore over the decision caused a U-turn, with the government vowing these powers would only get enforced in extreme cases.
Comedy's sanitising abilities allowed comedy to sear away the shadows under a glaring spotlight. A sacrosanct form of mockery that allows anyone to launch most jibes at others, a harlequin tweaking the foibles of those in power. Although the sands shift amid a tide of disruption, seas get choppy and so do political allegiances. Factions get their hands on comedy, and akin to all forms of propaganda becomes a parody of itself.
Samantha Bee's commentary show Full Frontal is such an example of how comedy turned into propaganda. The comedienne showed a picture of Ivanka Trump holding her baby, posting the image on Twitter. After praising the photo's beauty, Bee went on to then jibe at Ivanka that she should have a word with her father regarding the President's immigration policies. Bee then referred to Ivanka as a feckless cunt; a joke though one not going down too well among detractors. Since the gag, advertisers have pulled their support from Full Frontal, leaving it exposed to the criticism and over-reacting pearl-clutching of modern "outrage." The problem is, this construct came from a left-wing made Frankenstein's monster; now it's alive and needs slaying!
Critiques of culture came mainly from at least a left-centre perspective, to begin with, so the notion of "speaking truth to power" is an aspect they wish to own. In 2018, we find ourselves with an inverted cross in the eyes of the holier-than-thou mainstream media elites and those "voiceless" they claimed to represent now ranged against them. The deliciousness of this incident, days after ABC cancelled Roseanne after a "racist" tweet, is that the very people that decried Roseanne's actions are now getting a taster of their own medicine! Unfortunately that medicine is a placebo that fails to dull the pain of the wound their carefully manufactured monster drove into their midriffs.
#minds, #news, #politics, #maga, #freetommy.