The college circuit used to be
where many newer, edgier comedians built their audience and reputation, and
where some established comedians remained relevant by connecting with a new
crop of fans. But in recent years those fans seem to have traded their funny
bones for a very humorless hypersensitivity toward the feelings of others.
In a recent, wide-ranging Vulture interview,
comedian Chris Rock was asked for his
thoughts on the controversy back in October about talk show host and comedian Bill
Maher speaking at UC Berkeley’s commencement. Ironically, considering that this
is the 50th anniversary year of the Free
Speech Movement at Berkeley,
students disinvited Maher over remarks he had made about Islam that some
found “racist and bigoted.”
Curiously, it was the university
that stepped up in support of free speech over student objections; the
administration reinstated Maher’s invitation, asserting in a statement
that it fully respects and supports Maher’s right to express his opinions and
does not intend to “shy away from hosting speakers who some deem provocative.”
“Well, I love Bill,” Rock answered,
“but I stopped playing colleges, and the reason is because they’re way too
conservative.” Politically
conservative, the interviewer asked? Rock’s response says a great deal about
the current state of American youth in higher education:
Not in their
political views — not like they’re voting Republican — but in their social
views and their willingness not to offend anybody. Kids raised on a culture of
“We’re not going to keep score in the game because we don’t want anybody to
lose.” Or just ignoring race to a fault. You can’t say “the black kid over
there.” No, it’s “the guy with the red shoes.” You can’t even be offensive on your
way to being inoffensive.
Maher wasn’t the only commencement
speaker this year to have been confronted by politically correct sensibilities:
Condoleezza Rice at Rutgers University, International Monetary Fund head
Christine Lagarde at Smith College and former UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert
Birgeneau at Haverford College were all successfully
shut down. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, women’s rights proponent and fierce critic of
Islam, was denied
an honorary degree at Brandeis for similar reasons.
Political correctness, Chris Rock said, is “stronger
than ever.” The atmosphere on today’s campuses is that of intolerance of anyone
and anything that could conceivably give offense, that challenges students’ biases and makes them
feel uncomfortable. Thanks to the comforting embrace of Orwellian speech
codes, safe spaces, and
trigger warnings, too many young people
place a high priority on the protection of their feelings and beliefs. They’re wary
of testing received wisdom and expanding their horizons, and they cling to
favored illusions while wrapping themselves in the force-field of victim
status. The result is a reflexive sensitivity that renders the comedy
routine of someone like Rock completely toothless and pointless; hence, no more
college tours.
Rock told his Vulture interviewer that he began to notice this dismal state
of affairs “about eight years ago. Probably a couple of tours ago. It
was just like, This is not as much fun as it used to be. I
remember talking to George Carlin before he died [in 2008] and him saying the
exact same thing.”
Carlin, of course, was an
uncompromising champion for free speech. “Political correctness is America’s
newest form of intolerance,” Carlin once complained,” and it’s
especially pernicious because it comes disguised as tolerance.” He was surprised by the
censorship from “the politically correct people on the campuses,” and groused
about the tortured, evasive wording forced upon everyone by the “Political
Language Police” in a misguided attempt to avoid being judgmental. “Politically
correct language cripples discourse, creates ugly language, and is generally
stupid,” he declared.
Universities exist – in theory,
anyway – to open up students’ minds, not circumscribe them. But political
correctness is so much the “new normal” that the students themselves have
become their own intellectual jailers. It may take another couple of
generations of hard work to dismantle that and reopen the American mind. Too
bad Chris Rock abandoned that field, because comedy is a uniquely powerful tool
for challenging one’s perspective and saying what cannot be said.
(This article originally appeared here on Acculturated, 12/15/14)
