(Source: Red Alert Politics (http://redalertpolitics.com))
Monty Python star John Cleese has a message to millennials: political correctness is going to kill comedy and lead to a society like George Orwell’s 1984.
Big Think released an interview with Cleese on Sunday where the comedy icon said that he was puzzled by the sudden push to censor offensive speech.
“I’m offended everyday,” said the comedy legend. “For example the British newspapers, everyday offend me with their laziness, their nastiness, and their inaccuracy. But I’m not going to expect someone to stop that from happening. I’m shall just simply speak out about it.”
“The idea that you should be protected from uncomfortable emotion is absolutely not one I subscribe to,” Cleese continued.
He referenced the well respected psychiatrist Robert Skynner, who described how the people who can’t control their own emotion need to try and dominate other people’s behavior.
The comic said he’s been warned not to go to university campuses because of this need by the very sensitive to dominate other people’s behavior and curb speech.
“The whole point about humor, the whole point about comedy, and believe you, me, I’ve thought about this,” Cleese continued. “That all comedy is critical. Even if you make a very inclusive joke like ‘how’d you make God laugh, tell him your plans.’ That’s about the human condition it’s not excluding anyone. It’s saying we all have all these plans which probably won’t come but we all believe… It’s still critical. All humor is critical.”
Cleese concluded by saying if we curb speech in order not offend a particular group then we will lose humor and a “sense of proportion.”
“Then as far as I’m concerned you’re living in 1984,” the actor said.
Watch the full clip below: