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I love John Cleese but he's gotten a bit "Old man yells at cloud" in his dotage IMO. (Odd trivia: John Cleese is into Gurdjieff, or was.) Look, I'm a left-lea

I love John Cleese but he's gotten a bit "Old man yells at cloud" in his dotage IMO. (Odd trivia: John Cleese is into Gurdjieff, or was.) Look, I'm a left-leaning SJW type, but I'll stand by the idea that when "PC" goes beyond common courtesy and starts becoming an OOC mob-power thing, that's bad. There's a point to be made about historical context: women weren't allowed to wear pants until about twenty minutes ago; Black folks in America have had a bit of a rough time, and many still do; everybody everywhere reverts to savage form when pushed outside their comfort zone. Things are a bit rough here. Let's all keep calm and be nice to each other, we're all in this together. In re: PC in comedy, specifically, I have what I call the "Lenny Bruce test". When you feel the urge to tell an off-color joke to a mixed audience stop and ask yourself first, "Am I Lenny Bruce?" Check carefully and be sure. If you're Lenny Bruce, go ahead with the joke, it will probably land, and if it doesn't, who cares? You're Lenny Bruce. However, if you check and find that you're not Lenny Bruce, carefully put the joke down and back away. It's probably not worth it. (In case it's not clear, that was [an attempt at] a joke. Comedians should say wtf they want. Only the worst sort of person kicks a Fool.)

seiferteric 6y ago
Maybe I am wrong but since he is a comedian I get the impression that his issue is with the taboo nature of criticizing other cultures when criticizing western cultures has been allowed and applauded for his whole career. Think about all the self criticism of western culture that has happened in the past century from colonialism, religion, Woman's rights etc. and for the most part we are better for it. If you are to look at other cultures with the same lens, there is a lot to criticize, but if you do so you are accused of racism and xenophobia. Of course good comedy should be critical and should not be bound by taboos and must be more than "isn't it funny/weird how these people are different". Nevertheless I do feel it is very difficult to criticize outside ones own culture these days without unfair accusations even though these other cultures are now a part of your own country.

seiferteric 6y ago

Maybe I am wrong but since he is a comedian I get the impression that his issue is with the taboo nature of criticizing other cultures when criticizing western cultures has been allowed and applauded for his whole career. Think about all the self criticism of western culture that has happened in the past century from colonialism, religion, Woman's rights etc. and for the most part we are better for it. If you are to look at other cultures with the same lens, there is a lot to criticize, but if you do so you are accused of racism and xenophobia. Of course good comedy should be critical and should not be bound by taboos and must be more than "isn't it funny/weird how these people are different". Nevertheless I do feel it is very difficult to criticize outside ones own culture these days without unfair accusations even though these other cultures are now a part of your own country.