Last week Daniel Tosh came under fire for allegedly making a controversial statement about rape to a packed comedy club. Bloggers from across the magical internets came alive with either explicit feminist offensives attacking Tosh’s “sophomoric” mentality and gall, or anti-censorship diatribes in defense of comedy and free speech far on the other side of the spectrum. While everyone seemed happy to pick a side and hurl random insults at each other, no one took the time to step back and discuss the bigger topic at hand: how badly we need to remove Kim Kardashian and every other “famous for fame’s sake” celebrity from the public sphere of consciousness. Allow me to explain.
Daniel Tosh’s words incited a small (impassioned, but still small) internet kerfuffle over the merits of free speech and the rights and responsibilities that free speech entails. Tosh was lambasted for making light of a horrible atrocity in our society, one that a glaring number of people have encountered at some point in their life. And yet, this is Daniel Tosh’s job. As a comic, a wordsmith, a wit, a poet, a “creative type,” if you will, Daniel Tosh is expected to expound upon subjects (whether topical or universal) and hold them up for the audience to view them in a different light. Ideally, one would like to believe that as a culture, we have progressed to a level where we can put any issue on the table for discussion. Whether to enlighten others, to educate others, to evoke responses out of others, or even to lampoon in the spirit of catharsis and healing, comedy has always worked as a pressure-release valve for society to try to cope with the absurdity of everyday living. For some people, laughter is the only way that they can look into the past and attempt to reconcile what has happened to them with what must happen for them to move forward. Additionally, the simple act of lampooning something (especially in the instance of true satire) gives voice to that which is being lampooned and raises the topic up as a talking point amongst audiences. While sexual assault is all too real for many people, for many others it is something that only happens in darkened alleys in badly written films. The majority of audience-goers will have no experience with said atrocities, and sometimes, being forced to confront an issue you would prefer to neglect is the only way to get the word out.
Am I defending Daniel Tosh? Yes. Will this have a point and tie back into Kim Kardashian? Almost there.
The point I’m trying to make is that Daniel Tosh, like every comedian and artist currently writing and performing, is invaluable and an integral part of our cultural identity. If this controversy has taught us anything it is that we must assign merit to those that entertain us. We must hold them in high regard and truly believe in our comedic heroes because they are the ones who shoulder the responsibilities of addressing topics that deserve our attention. Sexual assault is an absolute abomination. Should we deal with it by politely sweeping it under the rug and putting up innocuous billboards that say “Help is available?” No. We should address it onstage, in plays, on TV, in comic books, in stand-up acts, everywhere so that people can see that it is a terrifying, debilitating, destructive offense. We should dissect it, discuss it, lampoon it, laugh about it, worry about it, warn about it, and work it into the public sphere to ensure that there is no ambiguity as to how public perception should view it: negatively. Daniel Tosh was doing just that. Was he getting a cheap laugh out of pure shock value? Certainly. But was he also reinforcing the audience’s perception of assault as a taboo to explode the humorous value of his statement? Certainly. In one fail swoop, Tosh utilizes his role as the “villain” by bringing up such a controversial subject, and reinforcind to the audience that it is wrong by their deep, cathartic reaction. This is what art should do.
Fast forward to last night. At a premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado, a gunmen murdered multiple people in cold blood. It was an absolutely heinous act of madness. What is one of the first headlines I see when I open up the magical internets today? Kim Kardashian’s take on the event. Remember that entire tirade I went on, just a few paragraphs ago about how we must value who we deem worthy of our artistic value? It is for these very reasons. Kim Kardashian has no business commenting on any social construct of any kind, ever. She has proven this in the multitudes of…videos…that we have witnessed, both online and on television. The fact that a news organization (no matter how base) would give her any attention or merit whatsoever is absolutely disconcerting and speaks volumes as to what we ascertain as “relevant” in this country.
Polarizing topics such as these (and it’s hard to get any more polarizing than sexual assault and gun control) will obviously move you in one direction or another. And, anymore, it almost feels irrational to try to dissuade anyone to one side or the other because we all are so polarized. At the very least what we can look to take from it, and what comedians need to recognize, is that there is so much implicit power and responsibility that is bestowed upon those in positions of fame and regard. I’m very thankful that we have Tosh. Many disregard his humor as bro-centric, childish, and aloof. The truth is that he’s one of the greatest absurdist comics we have in his brilliantly irrational pacing and flow in his act. His misdirection is among some of the best and his general disregard for any and all sanctity is what sets him apart from most acts. Kim Kardashian, on the other hand, is literally everything that is wrong with our culture. In-bred in financial excess, Kardashian displays no redeemable human qualities and is part of the unfortunate era of celebratory self-aggrandizement. While all of it seems trivial (especially in the wake of such humbling events) it is a lesson for ourselves to wake up and evaluate where we attribute our adorations.
Source:
http://americascomedy.com/finding-comedians-merits-amongst-rape-murder-and-fame-whores/
via The News from http://kimklines.blogspot.com