Comedy (Even Bad Comedy) SHAN'T be Censored

I had a blog post written for today about why e-books are to paper books what Buzzfeed is to journalism, but fabricated internet outrage has postponed our originally scheduled programming.

I tried my best to not get caught up in the fake outrage that is the Nicole Arbour, “Dear Fat People” video:

[The video is as annoying as the picture makes it out to be]

But as someone who's pursuing a career in writing and operating a blog about writing, I felt it necessary to put the hysterics surrounding this video in-check.

First and foremost, lest we forget that Nicole Arbour is a self-proclaimed comedian. Her job is to be funny. And, sometimes, part of being funny means being edgy, if not downright crude.

Moreover, Arbour is from Hamilton, Ontario - Canada's white trash capital. Did people - especially Canadians - really expect some forward and progressive genius from her?

(See what I did there? I made a joke at the expense of the 520,000 fine, hard-working people who live in Hamilton. Do I think that all those people are the embodiment of Canadian white trash and backwardness? No! Only about 519,000 are...Go TiCats!)

The point I'm trying to make is that it's her job - literally - to say things that make people laugh and/or feel uncomfortable.

And that's why I love comedy and comedians. Comedians are the sworn protectors of our unique western privilege to say what we want, when we want, without fear of prosecution. And with a comedian's right to say that which offends some, comes the right of those 'some' to turn the other way.

Every writer, actor and budding YouTube star, whether they agreed wholeheartedly with Arbour or found her video abhorrent, should be defending her right to say it.

English literary giant, Ian McEwan, in a 2015 commencement address to graduating students of Dickson College said these impassioned words about free speech:

"...I would like to share a few thoughts with you about free speech (and speech here includes writing and reading, listening and thinking) – free speech – the life blood, the essential condition of the liberal education you’ve just received. Let’s begin on a positive note: there is likely more free speech, free thought, free enquiry on earth now than at any previous moment in recorded history (even taking into account the golden age of the so-called ‘pagan’ philosophers). And you’ve come of age in a country where the enshrinement of free speech in the First Amendment is not an empty phrase, as it is in many constitutions, but a living reality.

"But free speech was, it is and always will be, under attack – from the political right, the left, the centre. It will come from under your feet, from the extremes of religion as well as from unreligious ideologies. It’s never convenient, especially for entrenched power, to have a lot of free speech flying around."

Maybe, though, you aren't convinced by the free speech argument; especially when there's such a strong link between bullying (fat-shaming included) and depression and suicide.

If you're of that opinion then where was your outrage when Meaghan Trainor made our collective ears bleed with her 2014 hit (I use that term very loosely), "All About That Bass"?

Who can forget those empowering, skinny-shaming lyrics that had every preteen boy, girl and soccer mom across liberalised western cultures jiving and booty-poppin' 'til the fruit juice and cake ran out at Sally's birthday?

"Yeah, my mama she told me "don't worry about your size

(Shoo wop wop, sha-ooh wop wop)

She says, "Boys like a little more booty to hold at night"

(That booty, uh, that booty booty)

You know I won't be no stick figure silicone Barbie doll.

So if that what you're into, then go 'head and move along"

Ah, right! There was no outrage!

You know why kids are so fucked up? Because there's zero consistency in morality in our culture. Morality is arbitrary at best.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone can travel the world with their musical, "The Book of Mormon," and people will bust a gut at the expense of every practicing Mormon on earth, but write the same play and have it star Muhammad and WATCH OUT!

Even though I didn't find Arbour's video funny, I have to give her kudos for how she's handling the criticism online:

Comedy (even bad comedy) shan't be censored. It needn't ask for permission.

...At least that's how it ought to be.

Yet comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock said they won't perform at colleges anymore because the crowds are too politically correct.

Joe Rogan, in a recent podcast with politically-incorrect Concordia University (Montreal, QC) professor, Gad Saad, said he stopped playing colleges "a long time ago" because of the extreme sensitivity of students.

The internet is a great tool. But in the same way a knife can be used to either cut vegetables or, say, stab humans, the democracy that comes with world-wide-communication can hurt just as often as it heals. The beauty is you aren't forced to subscribe to anything.

Again, to my fellow writers out there, try to approach fabricated outrage like the Arbour video with an objective mind. In an era where people are literally being killed for jokes (Charlie Hebdo) and imprisoned for opinion (211 journalists jailed world-wide in 2013), it's imperative we defend one's right to say or write even that which we find appalling and distasteful.

Sticks 'n stones, friends. Sticks 'n stones.

Happy Scribbling,

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