I Hope I Don't Offend?

When starting this blog I did have a few reservations. To write something, put your name on it and effectively publish it to the world can be a risky thing. Now I'm not saying I have particularly provocative views or anything, on the contrary even, but so often now we are seeing people at the centre of a media witch hunt for something they've said or written, and it does get you thinking. I could here launch a tirade against Nick Griffin and the BNP and get all journalistic on you. I won't. Instead I was thinking about the recent offenses in comedy as this has cropped up a lot in the last few days.

Whenever I see comedians being heavily criticised for a joke I'm filled with what I can only describe as immense frustration at people kicking up such a fuss. Now I know that these days, even post-SachsGate, comedians are continually looking to outdo each other and as such have hit pretty much every taboo imaginable, but when they do so, isn't the purpose to get a reaction?

Jimmy Carr's the latest to be brought under the microscope for the following joke:

"Say what you like about these servicemen amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan, but we're going to have a f***ing good Paralympic team in 2012."

Now obviously this could be deemed insensitive to the men and women serving overseas, but to read it this way is to miss the point. Carr isn't seriously suggesting there's an official somewhere excited at the latest recruits for his olympic team, he's commenting on the horrible reality that our soldiers face and mocking the very idea that a person could find any sort of positivity from what's occurring. To quote the Times, the joke is 'an absurdist response to a horrific truth.' To be offended by it is to misunderstand.

It does bring to mind the fine line that comedians tread. Take Frankie Boyle- recently given the boot from Mock the Week for his comments on Olympic Swimmer Rebecca Adlington. The reaction to this is perhaps more understandable. His comments about her looks were insensitive and potentially hurtful, but as Adlington's agent highlighted, it wasn't the initial comment that proved disruptive but the subsequent media furore that followed. You have to wonder would the reaction have been so heated, had Boyle not targeted a recent Olympic Medal winner? We could debate whether a joke that targets one specific person can be considered cruel or an attack, but that's a post for another day.

To wrap it up, what's irritating is the hyper-sensitive media microscope pointed at every gag or slightly risky comment. It's a world where we just can't take being offended anymore! I'm not saying it's not great to have an opinion and of course, there are limits as to what we want to hear, but particularly where we know things are done as a basis for comedy, it seems there are certain people/press just waiting to voice their dismay at being offended.

The great Steve Hughes says it better than I can.