Today I watched an old clip of a comedy show. It was rounabout 20 years old. The host of the comedy show said something which is very offending for a certain minority. I think I rather keep silent about which he talked. Even 20 years before the things he said were seen as very offending.
The people in the audience laughed loud. The Youtube comments praised him. How brave he was. And that today he would not survive doing that. (I think the person alluded to getting cancelled.)
I asked myself how to start my thoughts on it. Maybe with the observation of a paradox. In the US freedom of speech legally is a more important value than in my country. In my country if you deny Holocaust you might go to prison for it, or at least you get a big fine. There is a new court decision that if you insult a politican online you get very high fines. They already did some raides to show they take it seriously.
However in the US if you say something offending there are often bigger societal punishments than in my country. So societal there are bigger consequences like losing your job.
Personally I think the situation in my country is less toxic than in the US. Legally there are more constraints but societal the punishment some would call it the cancelling is less.
I think in the US many companies want to be seen as culturally progressive. In order to hide their capitalistic greed. I think experts say the development of the US will be future for my own country. At least when we talk about the societal punishment for saying offending things.
I think I am ambivalent when I think about it. Sometimes a politically incorrect joke can include certain wisdom. They can expose hypocrisy and unmask social problems. On the other hand I have the feeling many people don't think about this deep meaning of the joke. "The wrong people" laugh about the joke.
I think this is a common problem with policitally incorrect jokes. Often the peole laugh for the wrong reasons. Sometimes such a joke is meant to be thought provoking. Why am I laughing about this? Is this really morally right? I listened to a German speaking very controversial political incorret comedian. And she said this is not her problem who laughs about her jokes and for which reasons. I don't think she is either an anti-semite or racist even though her jokes are often kind of offending. She makes jokes about all kind of minorities. I think some jokes are not really thought through well. But I think she does not wan to harm the minorites. But in fact she might contribute to that. Some racists appreciate her jokes. And praise her.
The personal hypocrisy which I felt when I listened to her was the following. She has a child. She seems to be a loving mother. Let's say it had autism. Would she still make jokes about autistic people. (Don't know if she really makes jokes about autists). I had the feeling her family is pretty precious for her. And if someone made jokes about her on this topic I think she would be offened herself.
Personally I like if such a joke really contains a certain moral. Then I am also fine with politcial incorrect jokes. But often/sometimes they are shallow and they just should offend people, be as controversial as possible so that they get attention. Nowadays attention is more or less equal money.
I don't like controversial jokes if they are just for the sake of offending people. You can read so much of that on social media. But sometimes they can show social grievances.
Now one could debate if it was okay to hurt someone for the sake of making a deeper point. Many people would probably say words hurt in general. We have so different world views there is no way around of hurting other people. Others would reply but some people have the sole intention to hurt people and they defend themselves behind freedom of speech.
What do you think about that?
The people in the audience laughed loud. The Youtube comments praised him. How brave he was. And that today he would not survive doing that. (I think the person alluded to getting cancelled.)
I asked myself how to start my thoughts on it. Maybe with the observation of a paradox. In the US freedom of speech legally is a more important value than in my country. In my country if you deny Holocaust you might go to prison for it, or at least you get a big fine. There is a new court decision that if you insult a politican online you get very high fines. They already did some raides to show they take it seriously.
However in the US if you say something offending there are often bigger societal punishments than in my country. So societal there are bigger consequences like losing your job.
Personally I think the situation in my country is less toxic than in the US. Legally there are more constraints but societal the punishment some would call it the cancelling is less.
I think in the US many companies want to be seen as culturally progressive. In order to hide their capitalistic greed. I think experts say the development of the US will be future for my own country. At least when we talk about the societal punishment for saying offending things.
I think I am ambivalent when I think about it. Sometimes a politically incorrect joke can include certain wisdom. They can expose hypocrisy and unmask social problems. On the other hand I have the feeling many people don't think about this deep meaning of the joke. "The wrong people" laugh about the joke.
I think this is a common problem with policitally incorrect jokes. Often the peole laugh for the wrong reasons. Sometimes such a joke is meant to be thought provoking. Why am I laughing about this? Is this really morally right? I listened to a German speaking very controversial political incorret comedian. And she said this is not her problem who laughs about her jokes and for which reasons. I don't think she is either an anti-semite or racist even though her jokes are often kind of offending. She makes jokes about all kind of minorities. I think some jokes are not really thought through well. But I think she does not wan to harm the minorites. But in fact she might contribute to that. Some racists appreciate her jokes. And praise her.
The personal hypocrisy which I felt when I listened to her was the following. She has a child. She seems to be a loving mother. Let's say it had autism. Would she still make jokes about autistic people. (Don't know if she really makes jokes about autists). I had the feeling her family is pretty precious for her. And if someone made jokes about her on this topic I think she would be offened herself.
Personally I like if such a joke really contains a certain moral. Then I am also fine with politcial incorrect jokes. But often/sometimes they are shallow and they just should offend people, be as controversial as possible so that they get attention. Nowadays attention is more or less equal money.
I don't like controversial jokes if they are just for the sake of offending people. You can read so much of that on social media. But sometimes they can show social grievances.
Now one could debate if it was okay to hurt someone for the sake of making a deeper point. Many people would probably say words hurt in general. We have so different world views there is no way around of hurting other people. Others would reply but some people have the sole intention to hurt people and they defend themselves behind freedom of speech.
What do you think about that?
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