Post-PC

In part of my blog catch up, the newly redesigned Andrew Sullivan, last Thursday:

I'd put "South Park" firmly in the post-PC category, as well as Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Dan Savage. When Colbert asked me in all seriousness on his show last Tuesday, "When did you choose to be gay?" no one believed for a second that he was anti-gay. Everyone in the twenty-something audience laughed. This is all a great development, and a generational one - a sign that the humor-free PC '90s have melted into something much funnier, much more honest, and yet also inclusive. The other key figure, I think, is Dave Chapelle, a comic genius who has somehow managed to create comedy that is ferociously close to the edge politically and in clumsier hands could be discounted as bigoted or dealing in the crudest of stereotypes. And yet, we're all in on the joke - black and white, male and female, straight and gay, stoner or crackhead.

I'm fond of using a Sara Silverman anecdote as an example of this.  A few years ago (I'm not sure how long, but she ended up getting into an argument with the president of the Asian Defamation League about it on Politically Correct, so it's been a while), Sarah Silverman told a story on Conan about getting jury duty, and really wanting to get out of it (at which point she issues the genius "The only funny part about jury duty is the 'doodie' part").  A friend suggested that she write something outrageously racist like "I hate chinks" on her questionnaire.  Silverman, not wanting to be mean however, decided to write "I love chinks" instead.

After telling this story, the Asian Defamation League issued a release condemning her use of "chink" as a racist comment, and blasted her for having used it.  This led to Maher inviting the president and Silverman on PI, etc, etc.

The point that the ADL missed was that her joke was about racism.  Call it politically correct deconstructionism.  A joke which, at its core, points out the extreme power we imbue these words with when they are, in fact, just words while still acknowledging their hurtful nature is not only a well-crafted joke, but a socially aware one.

I'm as sensitive to the insensitivity of language and the offensive nature it can have as any other white, middle class male, but there is a point when we have to realize that we can't talk about the underlying issues which make the language offensive if we are simply not allowed to talk about the underlying issues because the language has been made offensive.

It's why I think people like Howard Stern, who can spend 2 hours talking about lesbian sex, Dave Chappelle, who can spend 2 hours talking about race in a racially insensitive way, and Jon Stewart, who can spend a 5 minute segment talking about that tender area between the scrotum and the anus, are touching on more than just ribald humor.  Their edginess doesn't come simply from their willingness to use shocking, potentially offensive language (that legwork has already been done by the Lenny Bruces and Richard Pryors of the world), but because they use the shocking and potentially offensive language to underline the fact that the language is shocking in the first place, and there is a reason.

I for one, will welcome our new, politically incorrect comedic overlords.