The Increasing Debate Over The Ever Present Display Of Political Correctness and Social Outrage
In the past few years, it seems that you can’t say anything about anything without someone getting offended. There’s one side where if you point out a fact that goes against a religious belief, you get dragged down. There’s another side where if you make a joke at a stand-up club about cancer, you’ll get booed. You’re literally making fun of cancer, not a person with cancer, but it will trigger someone who knows someone with it. Trust me, I’ve felt the brunt of that one.
Related: The Importance Of Political Satire In Paranoid And Dangerous Times
Social outrage on both sides of the aisle has been killing constructive conversations for the past decade. It doesn’t just encompass one sector of society, it has no enveloped everything in our culture. Some of it is warranted like not being okay that white supremacists and Nazis are running around hating Jews, gays and minorities claiming free speech to say insane garbage openly. I can feel the outrage and claims of “free speech” after I wrote that.
But then there’s the stuff that I’ve said on-stage at an open-mic that got laughter, but also people coming up to me after I walked off the stage and went to the bar that was truly bizarre.
Let me set the scene: When you do an open-mic at a comedy club, you go up and do about 5 minutes of what you think is your best condensed material. A big part of my set was talking about a family member who survived cancer. I won’t tell the joke, but I’ll give the gist: He went to the doctor to complain about foot pain. While he was there, the doc asked if he ever got checked for polyps and what not since he was that age. He got it checked and they found early cancerous polyps that were removed. Since they were unsure whether that was all of it, they removed part of his colon. He had to wear a bag on his abdomen for 6 months. It saved his life.
So, casually say to him after he has been through it all that his “foot saved his ass.” He started laughing so hard that he was crying. This was a cancer survivor laugh at a cancer joke at his expense. He appreciated it because he almost died, and a joke was crafted around what he has been through.
Now, I told the full joke in front of around 30 people. There were a few chuckles, some shakes of the head, and gasps. I walked off thinking I bombed, which I did, but for different reasons. I was at the bar, and a woman came up to me with that look a teacher gave you when you got in trouble in third grade:
Her – “You know, that isn’t funny to joke about.”
Me – “What?”
Her – “My brother had cancer. That isn’t funny.”
I looked at the bartender who locked eyes with me, cracked a half-smile, then walked off to a customer on the other side of the bar.
Me – “I wasn’t making fun of your brother.”
Her – “You were making fun of people with cancer, you piece of sh*t.”
Me – “Huh, no, I was joking about someone I knew who survived cancer.”
Her – “That’s not right. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Me – “Are you defending cancer? Should I not make jokes about cancer? Have you ever f*cking had cancer?”
Her – “That’s not the point.”
Me – “Yes it is. Your brother would laugh, but you are a pest.”
That went on for a bit, but that is only what I managed to jot down from recollection into the memo app on my phone.
Why are those who get outraged from something have nothing to do with what they are outraged for? Someone will make a silly joke on Twitter, and then they’re hit by a wave of hashtags and hate.
There’s even this weird misunderstanding of “PC Culture.” Politically correct culture? This has flipped upside down as well. Conservative media pundits and supporters keep using that as a shield against saying some insanely politically incorrect stuff. Can’t say the N-word? Oh, you’re just PC. Can’t rally for the Nazis with Richard Spencer? Well, you’re just a PC cuck.
What? Opposing Nazis is too PC? Telling this nuts to shut up means that I’m a “snowflake?”
Have you noticed how this is a sort of cacophony of mixing viewpoints? That’s because it is. It all is. If you’re on either side, everything you say will offend. I could tell someone to watch ESPN, but one person would claim it’s too liberal. I could tell another person to watch the TV show Lethal Weapon, but one person would say it’s way too conservative because of the open use of firearms. I love both, but I don’t attach anything like that until I bring it up.
I will even go as far as to mention this story that happened the day that I’m writing this. I was asked what day Easter was. Being a non-religious person (that will trigger people on the right), I had absolutely no idea. I said to just Google it since that’s so obvious. Then I get, “Everything is so f*cking PC now that they won’t even put the holidays on the calendar anymore. They don’t put any holidays on the calendar anymore. No one celebrates anything anymore!”
The time between mid-November and early January begs to differ.
Look, I’m not saying to be PC or not PC, but try to balance it out. If someone is on-stage telling jokes, they’re not being serious. If you hear a joke on a TV show, chill out. If you see someone shooting a gun in a show about police, that’s the point of police shows. If you think being racism is some kind of stance against PC culture, you’re just a douchebag. Stop using “PC” to spout stupid, ignorant crap to get your point across. That’s what that one side of the family does. Don’t be that side of the family, but I guess saying that isn’t PC.
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Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post, UPROXX, BGR and by just looking up his name.
Contact: jeff@socialunderground.com