Something that irritates me to no end is when people blur the line between artistic expression and hurtful speech.
For me, its simple, and simple is always better because it allows one to demarcate the boundaries between what acceptable language is, depending upon the medium in which it is being delivered.
Now to the point.
Art, Comedy and Cinema should be off limits with regards to censorship. Anything goes in these areas. These are mediums of artistic expression, and expression is only deemed healthy if it’s given 100% free reign, wherever that may lead.
One of the more notable cases concerned Michael Richards (referred to as “Kramer,” on Seinfeld (1989–1998) who was chastised for saying the word nigger, (yes, I said it) which, in any other medium might offend the intended recipient. However, Mr. Richards was not walking down the street when he said this. In fact, he was in a comedy club.
Now, I have been to comedy clubs and I remember voluntarily making the decision to pay for my ticket. I then voluntarily drove myself to the club, paid for my two drink minimum, and then put myself, voluntarily mind you, in a position where I might get made fun of in any numerous of ways; this is what comedians do, they fuck with you.
Even if Mr. Richards said this out of anger, it is occurring in a comedy club where drinking is taking place. This is a place for adults, adults that should have a developed sense of humor. But when a couple of offended black people play the race card, all hell breaks loose. The next thing you know Jesse Jackson has to chime in, as he always does, and then they start calling for Mr. Richards to apologize, which in my book is totally insane. I understand the reason he did make an apology; he had to save his career because of a few opportunistic idiots.
Further, if you are painting a picture, you should be able to paint whatever you want. If you are making a movie, again, you should be able to create any movie you wish, and with regard comedy clubs, you should be able to say the words nigger, cracker, wap, oreo, half-breed or whatever, because again, its a COMEDY CLUB.
Finally, if a ban on the word nigger is fully instituted in comedy clubs, then we also need to ban all racial slurs, because white, yellow and brown people should also be protected, right? Of course not. If we start down the road of banning a single word in a comedy club, then all offensive words must be banned, and if that became a reality, there would be no reason to visit comedy clubs anymore because they would no longer be funny.
So, to all of you niggers, porch-monkey’s, camel-jockey’s, whitey’s, crackers, waps, oreos and half-breeds, have a good fucking afternoon, and please, remember to laugh
