Some very clear criticisms of the whole "comedy shouldn't be censored" mentality. Comedy absolutely should not be censored, but it should be able to be critiqued. As Thought Slime puts it, (some) comedians seem to want a double standard: they want comedy to be seen as thought-provoking and boundary-pushing, but refuse to allow it to be analysed and dissected, stifling critical thought and artistic examination.
The video goes into this a lot more eloquently, but the gist boils down to three main points:
- It's never "just a joke". Even Edgelord humour comes from a place of personal bias; making a joke that deliberately highlights a negative pattern is fine, but the underlying position is still necessary to review and consider (an example given is how the jokes around Trump and Putin being in a relationship are clearly homophobic, even if that isn't their intent it is part of the message being portrayed). Just because something is funny, doesn't make it just a joke, and most comedians will claim that their comedy is designed to raise a point, so analysis of comedy is sort of integral to it being a thing;
- Comedy, and comedians, will always goof. They will tell insensitive jokes, they will have cultural blind spots, and even the most careful will screw up. That should be allowed and criticised so that the comedian learns what they did wrong and can remedy it moving forward. It's therefore important that comedy breeds a culture where speaking out is encouraged and where comedians are happy to evolve;
- Censorship of comedy is bad, but you can't censor criticism of comedy either, they're equally problematic.
I also really like their comments on how comedy can just be to make people laugh. Not necessarily to laugh at others (and certainly not to punch down), but that comedy without a hidden message or desire to provoke thought is still comedy, and still has inherent value as an art form and skill.
If you're gonna ask people to be less sensitive and take a joke, maybe you need to be a little less sensitive and accept criticisms of that joke?
