Berlinerblau advises comedians to self-censor, which is another way to promote censorship.
Free speech purists and libertarians might respond to this five-step program by fulminating: Voluntary self-censorship! Slippery slope! Isn’t art about liberty, man?
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Maybe, man. But perhaps comedians ought temporarily ease off the un-nuanced — and even Silverman’s more nuanced — punch down shtick. Just for now. Just until America divests itself of irrational hatreds and inequality in like a half century. Or half a millennia. Or whenever the Messiah comes.
[A poem by Kipling comes to mind … something about the Danegeld and never being rid of the Dane … — Ed]
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