Tuesday, May 15, 2007

I don't know much about art, but I know what I like

My familiarity with Glenn Beck is limited, but his opening monologue here about the freedom of speech and its endangerment is one of the more concise digests of the subject I've seen. This is important. Believe me, I understand the fight against bigotry and hatred, but taking away one's ability to TALK about that bigotry and hatred doesn't make it go away. In fact, the less bigots are able to opine on ideas prejudicial, the more likely they'll strap a crude collection of M-80s and newspaper to a Baptist church. Like it or not, certain groups will ALWAYS hate other groups. However, those groups should be allowed to speak their minds.

Humor, however, is a different story. Humor, for some, is the only thing that makes life remotely livable. To mistakenly observe that our modern humor has become crass and insensitive is to ignore thousands of years of comedy. You're different, I'm different, we laugh about it. That's the way it's been for centuries. It's these very observations of how different we are that bring us together, whether it be flaws, quirks, generalizations, idiosycrosies, trends, desires, dreams. Jesus Christ, even those nauseating videos about the comedic power of pets are only funny because animals AREN'T humans. Are we going to have a fucking special interest group protecting the defamation of cats now?

Anyway, here's the clip. It's the first few minutes that are worth the viewing. After that, we get analysis. And we all know how shitty analysis can be.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Amen. Free speech is all but dead. Something that our founding fathers thought was so important, they decided to make it the 1st amendment. Special interest groups are killing America. It's supposed to be the land of the free. What ever happened to that FREEDOM? (See William Wallace).

Hackett said...

That was a great segment. Full of very good points. Unfortunately, the juggernaut rolls on as Opie & Anthony were "suspended for 30 days" from XM. Sources close to the show say they have actually been fired. Fired for something that, perhaps, 20 people complained about. As goes Jerry Falwell, hopefully so will go this Moral Crusade. ...what, too soon?

Matthew said...

Were we all watching the same show cuz all I heard over and over was, "Yes, baby...I love you," whispering out of Debbie Wolf's mouth.

mugwatch said...

Word word word. How else are we supposed to know who to punch in the face if the bigotry is no longer given a voice?

D.W. Jones said...

When did you get to be such a staunch Republican, Silva? I say we should have governmentally designated individuals whose job it is to be racially insensitive for humorous purposes. You should have to pass a strict examination and be licensed through the state. Everyone else must censure their speech. That way we can get our fill of "blacks and whites are different," and we'll know whether or not someone has a right to get their feeling hurt.