Quote: SlagA @ July 17 2009, 9:39 PM BSTSo many factors here in my opinion.
It partly depends on your fan base. If enough people love you, you're cute and speak with a Southern drawl, you'll get away with saying exactly the same thing that would get a fat ugly uncouth Northerner like Manning pilloried. Al Murray is notably borderline, I can't decide if he's fat and ugly.
If you label it (as Leevil says) as ironic then people will still laugh at what is essentially a racist joke but in an 'enlightened' sense. Making the racist the butt, apparently gives a guilt-free laugh. There's a certain Little Britain sketch where the audience are laughing at what's essentially a filthy racist tirade before the camera reveal. If they laughed after the tirade, then yes, it was ironic and the racist is the jerk. But before the reveal there's absolutely no excuse for the audience to laugh. Ironic, post-ironic, or not. And I'm awkwardly aware of a certain video of ours which does stretch that boundary.
The odd selection of acceptable and non-acceptable targets that you rightly note is ludicrous and an example of PC hypocrisy. Either all nations / races are off the list of acceptable targets or all are on it. But Political Correctness reveals that it's not interested in true fairness and equality in society; it's more about establishing a new order of inequality. The way forward is real equality for all, not overcompensation for historical injustice. The new system of inequality ensures that the pendulum will eventually swing back and forth, as it has done repeatedly.
That the colour of your skin (Chris Rock / GGM) determines whether what you say is racist is another example of this new inequality. Surely it's the content that makes it racist, not the person (or their ethnicity) that spoke it?
When it comes to racism, religion, or other touchy subjects, it should be all or nothing. Either everything is open to comedy or it's all off-limits. For certain cultures and heritages it's open season for anyone from inside AND outside said culture to make remarks that would be totally unacceptable coming from a white middle-class comedian.
Wow, that's great article! ('cos that's how I see it) Some excellent points there, SlagA.
