Yesterday I wrote a piece that divided my audience far more than I thought it was going to, and it was interesting to see the responses from both sides of the argument.
The piece revolved around the moment Tony Hinchcliffe, of "Kill Tony" fame, got up to do a short comedy routine. Hinchcliffe told some very off-color jokes, some of which were racial. If you watch "Kill Tony," none of this surprises you. His show allows for unknown comedians to do a 60 second, no holds barred set, followed by something of a funny interview/burn session. It's honestly fantastic entertainment, and a celebration of free speech if ever there was one. It's not for the first row of the church and the content crosses almost every politically correct line, but I think the show is great fun and necessary in this day and age. What would surprise you more is that within all that edgy comedy is a lot of heart.
The point of me telling you all that was to point out that someone in the Trump campaign, Trump's family, or possibly even Trump himself, watches Kill Tony and decided to give Hinchecliff a moment up on that stage. Coming from me, who spends a lot of time looking into the cultural aspects of our society, this was a solid move. "Kill Tony" is a very popular show, and having Hinchecliffe do a bit is a no-brainer.
And he did his bit at the Trump rally at MSG to... mixed reviews.
As I wrote of Hinchcliffe's segment, he got more groans than laughs, but groans aren't necessarily a bad thing. Oftentimes you get groans from people who heard a joke they're not supposed to laugh at but still found funny. It happens all the time in comedy. Matt Stone and Trey Parker made an entire show out of that kind of reaction, and that's been running for decades.
Naturally, the left became indignant and outraged over Hinchcliffe's set. Making jokes that cross politically correct lines is an awful thing to do according to them... well, unless you are them. George Lopez can insinuate Mexicans are thieves, but Hinchcliffe can't make a joke about a floating island of trash named "Puerto Rico."
(READ: No Laughing: The Left Is Losing It Over the Jokes at Trump's Rally)
As I wrote in the article, Hinchcliffe was doing all this in good faith and telling edgy jokes without prejudice. He spends a lot of his time as a roaster on "Kill Tony," so you're probably going to get a lot of burns tossed at various people, and he doesn't let anyone off the hook. Everyone gets made fun of, as it should be. Hinchcliffe even said later that he vacations in Puerto Rico, and loves it there.
Was Hinchcliffe's routine the funniest set you've ever seen? No, it was probably the wrong venue for some of these jokes. The crowd was probably more keen to hear jokes at the expense of the left, which is why the P. Diddy joke landed so well.
It's okay to think the set wasn't all that great from a comedic standpoint. Even Hinchcliffe noted that he was out of his element, but I think the real focus isn't that some of those jokes bombed, it's that too many on the right had a reaction of fear.
Too many conservatives and Republicans responded with, "you are giving the left ammo." They were worried that the left was going to use it to bash Republicans with and possibly damage Trump.
I'm going to be completely honest with you, it was disappointing to see. It shows me that there is too much fear of the left still within the right, and that there is still a willingness to adhere to political correctness in order to pacify a people who fully intend to utilize it for the purposes of cultural domination.
To be fair, I completely understand that, from a perspective of tactics, Hinchcliffe's jokes might offend some people enough that they'd turn their back on Donald Trump and either vote for Harris or not vote at all. That I get, but I would also remind everyone that at this stage, the vast majority of Americans right now are in their respective corners and are voting for who they're going to vote for, if they haven't already. Most Americans want a better economy. Trump will give them that, and some comedian telling offensive jokes is highly unlikely to move the needle here.
But I want to focus on those who were worried about leftist backlash.
Don't be.
Firstly, the left will find something to get angry about no matter what you do. Even if you do everything perfectly and say everything in a very safe way, they will invent something to get angry about. You've seen this happen repeatedly in recent history, whether it's Justice Brett Kavanaugh or some smirking kid in a MAGA hat. The left isn't out to play the game fairly. If you're right-handed, they'll accuse you of being phobic to left-handed people.
Do not walk on eggshells around these people. They will be throwing eggs at you regardless.
Secondly, and more importantly, we have to normalize good faith jokes, even edgy ones, that allow us to laugh at and with each other, and understand the different between a joke told in good faith and a joke told with actual prejudice.
One of the most effective ways the left controls society is telling us what we can and can't laugh at, which is dangerous. Comedy is a way to see the truth through absurdity. Laughter is a medicine for the mind and heart, allowing you to see through the politically correct veil and strip power from things that have become too powerful.
For instance, the left has made our racial differences so severe for decades now that we can't joke about them. I'm happy to say that this is starting to get better, but there are still clearly too many people who freeze up when a joke is made at the expense of another race. All racial jokes are racist is the programming, but that's just not true. Comedians have been demonstrating that fact for ages.
In a way, I want these jokes to be made so that the left will get angry and freak out about it. This is a fight I want to have. I want to point out that these boring wokescolds want everything taken too seriously. I want them to accuse me of all sorts of social sins, so I can force them into the town square to publicly prove it. I want to put them on the spot and make them define even good faith comedy as racism.
They will lose because ultimately all severity is undone by levity. Ironically, the more mature people in the room are the ones cracking jokes at the unjustifiably outraged. Eventually, the person screaming "I'm offended" will have to be answered with "okay, be offended." If we don't start doing that, then we're effectively handing rule of our culture over to the permanently unhappy.
I'm not okay with that. Fear of accusations of various social sins is how they force political correctness on us and make every debate and talking point their home turf. While I'm not suggesting we just start pushing edgy jokes on everyone for the sake of it — obviously there's a time and place — what I am saying is that you shouldn't be afraid to tell one in good fun. Don't worry about making the left mad, they're already mad. They've been mad. They'll always be mad.
Stop being afraid of them.
