Trenchant ridicule can be constructive
Chris Rock was in London last week with his new show, observing — not inaccurately — that many people are very afraid of offending others these days. Presumably some comedians are even more afraid now, having seeing Will Smith slap Rock at the Oscars in March; the sheer visibility of this event is likely to have dragged the assault of comedians further into the realm of possibility than it was before. As Kathy Griffin tweeted at the time: “now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theatres.” Last week’s attack on Dave Chappelle on stage was perhaps further evidence that the social norm “don’t hit people for making offensive jokes” is in some disrepair.
