I had noticed this trend, but interestingly came at it from the other direction: the only people we permit to speak the truth to us are comedians. The likes of

I had noticed this trend, but interestingly came at it from the other direction: the only people we permit to speak the truth to us are comedians. The likes of Dave Chappelle & Louis CK for example. Can anybody else get away with talking honestly about race? If it's not a joke, we can't even handle it. Or in politics it's been Jon Stewart & Colbert. In that realm the cognitive dissonance is so high, you'd rather just shoot yourself. Unless it's a joke, then it's bearable. Humor is how we deal with traumatic contradictions. It's just sad that these areas (race & politics) are still about traumatic contradiction rather than solved problems we can move on from.