As politics becomes more personal than ever and activism enters spheres of the domestic life and the self, the comedy that claims to reside in and arise from human actuality fails to catch up. While Political Satire and Political Comedy seems to be gaining momentum and becoming a subculture industry in itself, mainstream comedy is taking a hit. The big names of this industry like Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Maher have talked heavily about how Political Correctness aka PC Culture will be the death of “good” comedy. The argument that comes in is that comedy speaks truth to power and thus, restricting it with what is okay and what is not then makes it another establishment as well and also reduces its capacity and power to talk more freely about anything and everything.
However, what is absolutely necessary to be talked about is whether this face of comedy can really be considered “good” comedy. Can someone be considered competent if they choose the easiest and least effective way of doing their job? Comedians who make the conscious decision to take a jibe at the historically marginalized and ignored are, then, navigating what makes the privileged and the ignorant feel at ease which, to be honest, isn’t that hard. When they reserve an entire stand-up slot to insult how disruptive personal activism is, they try to console the consciences that are brought to unrest by communities disrupting systems and structures of oppression. They are telling the ignorant that it is completely fine to be indifferent to other people’s struggles because the struggle is the butt of the joke anyway, that political movements are going too far and are basically impractical now, that it is okay if you can’t make sense of it because that isn’t your privilege interfering but it is just that activism does not make sense in itself. They reduce the conflict of political activism and passivism to nothing but convenience. This, then, becomes a space that convinces people to only resist and deconstruct oppressive structures when it is convenient to them. And guess what privilege brings along with it? Safety and comfort. So, there is a huge chance that this audience and this comic circle will never step out of their comfortable existences and for sure, never for someone else.
Mainstream comedians argue that they speak truth to power but are they doing that at all? Are they questioning the institutionalized and systematic structures of oppression which are the medium of creating and maintaining power centers? I, personally, don’t think so. All these comedians are doing is furthering means of oppression and further marginalizing the already marginalized by making fun of and being insensitive to their histories of oppression and then delegitimizing their movements and narratives when they rise in resistance.
But most importantly, it is absolutely essential to see the kind of world this anti-activism front of the comic space is demanding. When comedians take the stage and make the rise of activism or political correctness the butt of their joke, they further the idea of political passivism. What these comedians, then, are asking for is a less political space, a less political world. It is easy to notice that a stand for less politics can only come from a privileged position, an identity location that has not been politicized for you. What they are arguing for is less sensitivity, love and kindness for those who come from histories of hurt and trauma.
UnshelteredPolitics 