Comedy Censorship: The Penultimate Step Before Totalitarianism

Over the last 10 years or so, ideas about fairness and equality have changed drastically in Europe and America. Almost all of it germinated in colleges and universities. And most of it mind-bogglingly stupid. When I hear about it, I feel afraid for my grandchildren. What kind of Orwellian world will they have to live in?

I tell myself to calm down. Not to worry. These new ideas are so contrary to the actual experience of living in the real world, that they can’t possibly last much longer. But if they do last, what then?

For someone like me, someone who is not comfortable doing and thinking what I’m told, the thought of a world where my grandkids are deprived of not just freedom of speech, but freedom of thought… that scares me.

And it’s not like it can’t happen. It has. And it has always preceded totalitarianism. Because there is nothing more effective in establishing control over a population than establishing laws that restrict speech.

The best way to do that is to convince the population that certain types of speech should be illegal. So, they begin with the most offensive forms of speech and move outward from there. First, they outlaw racist, antireligious, and xenophobic speech. Then sexist and homophobic speech. Then any speech that is dubbed “hateful,” including anything that might be offensive to fat people, to short people, to sick and disabled people, and – what we see happening now – even to pedophiles.

The final hurdle in controlling speech and thereby controlling thought is to regulate humor.

Humor has always been the refuge for speech that would otherwise be politically and socially unacceptable. That’s because political and social humor has a message that totalitarians cannot abide. The message is: Relax. Stop fuming. None of us is perfect. All of us are flawed. Our flaws are human. They unite us. Let’s poke fun at our differences and, by doing so, recognize our common humanity.

In Europe and in America, the totalitarians have made good progress in recent years in their campaign against humor. Click here and here.

And here’s a way for you to judge for yourself: Could any of these very funny bits have been included in The Office if it were produced today?