If You’re Being Offended, Your Society Is Doing Something Right.
The little bald man has a strange presence on stage. He’s not much to look at, but he can hold the audience’s attention better than a celebrated pop star. His brutal honesty about his perversions is stunning. The name of his comedy special (listed above) indicates he’s going to say offensive things and he does.
He says things so blood curdlingly awful, you sometimes feel guilty for laughing. But, laugh you do. You laugh hard and so does the audience.
As I watched a video of Jim Norton’s comedy special and laughed until tears came out of my eyes, a thought came to me.
I’m so lucky to live in a society where this can take place.
I’m lucky to be part of a society where I can be offended. This strange bald man isn’t pulled off stage and beaten for the things he says. He’s allowed a stage to go on, because he’s considered entertaining by a certain segment of the population.
If you live in a Western style representative republic, you may not think much of this privilege of being offended.
So what, he’s a comedian, what’s the big deal?
It is a big deal, because in the history of the world, freedoms such as these weren’t…
