Chris Rocked: The Social Bitch-Slapping of the Jester

Jester

The jester was the person appointed by the king to entertain the crown, social elite, and common folk.  This is the character in a deck of cards that is the “Joker.”  The Jester as a symbol represents someone that is exempt from persecution because it is their role to be satirical or combine common sense and honesty with humor.  This is why satire is such a powerful tool, it mocks inconsistency and stupidity with truth.  Laughter is something that is primal and instinctual, when we laugh it is a natural reaction to our preconceived notions being shattered by a piece of unexpected irony and we laugh without telling ourselves, “Laugh.”  

Violence

There is a narrative that has been picking up steam in recent years centering around “Violence.”  Everything that we disagree with or offends is starting to be considered an act of violence. Or worse, now even “Silence is violence” which is the social compelling of speech.  We’re conflating a difference of opinion with actual violence therefore implying that the appropriate response is to meet what we disagree with or what offends us with actual physical violence.  This is an idea that is only able to flourish in a society that is so paralyzed with social policing that the fear of making people uncomfortable or offended regulates our words.  How can you have a conversation of meaning if you aren’t willing to posit an opinion that others may disagree with?  

Hate

There has always been a wall that separated a comedian’s words from being treated the same way we’d treat the words of a politician or other public figures.  A joke is a seed of truth combined with humor, there is an unspoken social contract between a comedian and the audience that things are not to be taken personally.  But in a society where social politics is the personal, humor or a disagreement of opinion is conflated with bullying or a deeply personal attack.  In a world with a lust for martyrdom and victimhood we are conflating humor with “Hate Speech.”  In a society where we are broadening the definition of “Hate Speech” while simultaneously passing legislation outlawing hate speech, how are we to define the difference between irony and actual hate?  This past year there was a Dave Chapelle special that was met with controversy and labeled as “Bullying” or “Hateful.”  I watched that special and I am not saying that Chappelle was right or wrong in his statements but what I am absolutely saying is that he was not coming from a position of hate.  I do not know how anyone could possibly watch that special and walk away thinking that he is a spewer of hate unless they are actively wanting to be offended.  Outside of Chappelle, there’s been the trend of comedians refusing to perform on university campuses.  The reason for this being that in an environment that is said to be “Open and inclusive,” this setting has actually become the source of all that is intolerant and illiberal.   In tyrannical regimes of the past, present, and future, one of the first things tyrants do is root out humor because it runs counter to their power.  Humor is sought to be controlled because to laugh is to instinctually acknowledge that something has seeds of truth within it.

Sauron

If Will Smith applied that type of swing in “Ali” maybe the movie wouldn’t have been such trash.  The part of this that is forgotten is that Smith’s immediate reaction was laughter, his immediate instinctual response was “That is funny.”  It is then when the raw reaction was done that he made a conscious decision to be offended, this was very much a manufactured persona of a response.  Getting angry and inflicting physical violence is not “Strength” or “Being a man.”  “Strength” is being still and not giving into or succumbing to our negative emotions such as anger unless absolutely warranted.  Many of the greatest leaders of strength this world has ever seen practiced “Turning the other cheek,” an act much more impressive than getting up and bitch-slapping a much smaller man who was not expecting to have to be able to defend himself.   How would the world be different if Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. were not stoic in the face of adversity but instead lashed out in primitive and instinctual ways?  In a country that is the freest this world has ever seen where heroes of the past died in order for people to have the ability to say things they themselves didn’t agree with, there is a scent of rot within our culture where we’ve adopted an “Eye of Sauron” element, always scanning and seeking to find and silence dissidence.  Comedy is a self-regulating aspect of society that is a voice of reason, pointing out untruths in a raw manner.   It is in our best interest as a society to stop socially policing the words of our comedians and of one another.