I'm a great believer that artists should never apologize for their art you put something out there you paint a watercolor you make a joke you make a television show whatever it is uh if people are offended that's their problem all right everyone let's talk about Rowan Atkinson the legend the comic genius and yes Mr Bean himself this guy has not only mastered the art of making us laugh without even saying a word but has also thrown himself into debates on one of the hottest topics today Free Speech Atkinson's views are a sharp witty defense against
the evergrowing culture of outrage and trust me he's got some bold thoughts that'll make you rethink your stance on censorship so if you're ready for a roller coaster of clever non-nonsense truths stick around and hey if you enjoy this don't forget to hit subscribe and join us for more mind-opening content let's kick things off with Rowan's take on the purpose of Comedy do you worry about where comedy is going not great CU I it's a cyclical thing you know one minute you know certain jokes or certain attitudes and outlooks are just out of fashion and
in the end you know the whole point of a joke is to is to entertain people and if people are not entertained then you haven't you know fulfilled your brief and um so I you know I'm a great believer that we we must have free expression and uh in comedy you must be able to make jokes about absolutely anything I mean the only only question is you would be wise to choose a context in which it's going to be appreciated because not all jokes suit all contexts you know the joke you you know you tell
around a table in a restaurant with some friends is not necessarily something for prime time TV you know that's a pretty obvious statement but you'd be surprised how people like to abuse the context of of of comedy and people often say you know did you hear that joke that that comedian said in that Netflix special can know did you think that right or wrong and I'm and all I say is I wasn't there I haven't heard the joke I wasn't in the audience when when the comedian said it um I don't know what the what
the atmosphere was in the room if people pay to see a comedian they've got to accept whatever uh they provide I'm a great believer that artists should never apologize for their art you put something out there you paint a watercolor you make a joke you make a television show whatever it is uh if people are offended that's their problem it's not yours you've done your bit if they don't want you to work for them again then that's you know that may become your problem but the you you've done you know you've done your bit and
you've done your best and uh it it's up it's up to the audience to judge I'm a I'm a great believer that if a joke has an appreciative audience no matter how small no matter who they are then it is worthy it should be as it were he's blunt the point of a joke is to entertain simple right but in today's world where every punchline gets dissected he's got a solid point and here's the kicker he doesn't think comedians owe apologies just because someone decided they were offended think about it if audiences willingly pay to
watch a show shouldn't they be ready for what they're about to get after all they signed up for that humor Buffet no substitutions allowed and Rowan's stance on free expression doesn't stop with comedy my starting point when it comes to the consideration of any issue relating to free speech is my passionate belief believe that the second most precious thing in life is the right to express yourself freely the most precious thing in life I think is food in your mouth and the third most precious is a roof over your head but a fixture for me
in the number two slot is free expression just below the need to sustain life itself that is because I have enjoyed free expression in this country all my professional life and fully expect to continue to do so personally I suspect highly unlikely to be arrested for whatever laws exist to contain free expression because of the undoubtedly privileged position that is afforded to those of a high public profile so my concerns are less for myself and more for those more vulnerable because of their lower profile like the man arrested in Oxford for calling a police horse
gay or the teenage ma arrested for calling the Church of Scientology a cult or the cafe owner arrested for displaying passages from the Bible on a TV screen when I heard of some of these more ludicrous offenses and charges I remembered that I had been here before in a fictional context I once did a show called not the 9:00 news some years ago and we did a sketch where Griff Jones played Constable SA a manifestly racist police officer to whom I as his station Commander is giving a dressing down for arresting a black man on
a whole string of ridiculous trumped up and ludicrous charges the charges for which cpal Savage arrested Mr Winston kadogo of 55 Mera Road were these walking on the cracks in the pavement walking in a loud shirt in a builtup area during the hours of darkness and one of my favorites walking around all over the place he was also arrested for urinating in a public convenience and looking at me in a funny way who would have thought that we would end up with a law that would allow life to imitate art so exactly to him the
right to express oneself freely is fundamental ranking up there with the basics of survival he's enjoy enjoyed the luxury of speaking his mind but he's worried about the rest of us getting shut down over silly things imagine being fined because someone thinks you insulted a horse it sounds absurd but these cases are real and to Rowan it's a grim echo of one of his old sketches where people got arrested for the most ridiculous reasons only this time it's not a punchline Rowan's message is clear when offense becomes a reason for punishment we've lost sight of
the bigger picture Atkinson then digs into why criticism has become so dangerous the clear problem with the outlawing of insult is that too many things can be interpreted as such criticism is easily construed as insult by certain parties ridicule easily construed as insult sarcasm unfavorable comparison merely stating an alternative point of view to the Orthodoxy can be interpreted as insult and because so many things can be interpreted as insult it is hardly surprising that so many things have been as the examples I talked about earlier show although the law under discussion has been on the
statute book for over 25 years it is indicative of a culture that has taken hold of the programs of successive governments that with the reasonable and well-intentioned ambition to contain obnoxious elements in society has created a society of an extraordinar authoritarian and controlling nature that is what you might call the new intolerance a new but intense desire to gag uncomfortable voices of dissent it's like Society has become so allergic to criticism that even harmless sarcasm is seen as a criminal act he calls this the new intolerance a fake open-mindedness that only tolerates people who think
the exact same way it's a kind of group think that pretends to be Progressive but actually stifles real progress he's got a point when everyone's so focused on silencing each other nobody's left to ask the important questions here's where Rowan's solution comes in I am not intolerant say many people say many softly spoken Highly Educated liberal-minded people I'm only intolerant of intolerance and people tend to nod sagely and say Yes wise words wise words and yet if you think about this supposedly inarguable statement for longer than 5 Seconds you realize that all it is advocate
a in is the replacement of one kind of intolerance with another which to me doesn't represent any kind of progress at all underlying prejudices injustices or resentments are not addressed by arresting people they are addressed by the issues being aired argued and dealt with preferably outside the legal process for me the best way to increase society's resistance to insulting or offensive speech is to allow a lot more of it as with childhood diseases you can better resist those germs to which you have been exposed we need to build our immunity to taking offense so that
we can deal with the issues that perfectly Justified criticism can raise our priority should be to deal with the message not the messenger as President Obama said in an address to the United Nations only a month or so ago laudable effort to restrict speech can become a tool to silence critics or oppress minorities the strongest weapon against hateful speech is not repression it is more speech and that's the essence of my thesis more speech he's all about building a tougher Society one that can handle a bit of offense without crying foul rather than policing speech
He suggests we should face it let it roll and let people develop resilience think of it like an immunity booster he says if we really want a world that can handle tough ideas we need to stop hiding from them and start listening even if it makes us squirm a little and maybe just maybe we might grow stronger for it finally Rowan warns us about the outrage industry a media frenzy that thrives on blowing things out of proportion as Lord dear says you know the freedom to be inoffensive is no Freedom at all the repeal of
this word in this Clause will be only a small step but it will I hope be a critical one in what should be a longer term project to pause and slowly rewind a creeping culture of censoriousness it is a small Skirmish in the battle in my opinion to deal with what sir Salman rushley refers to as the outrage industry self-appointed Arbiters of the public good encouraging media sto outrage to which the police feel under terrible pressure to react a newspaper Rings up Scotland Yard someone has said something slightly insulting on Twitter about someone who we
think a National Treasure what are you going to do about it and the police panic and they scramble around and then grasp the most inappropriate Lifeline of all section five of the public order act that thing where you can arrest anybody for saying anything that might be construed by anyone else as insulting you know they don't seem to need a real victim they need only to make the Judgment that somebody could have been offended if they had heard or read what has been said the most ludicrous degree of latitude picture it someone tweets a minor
insult and next thing you know it's a front page Scandal the scary part authorities feel pressured to step in even if no one's actually harmed this is where Rowan's alarm bells ring the loudest when could be offensive becomes the standard for punishment freedom of expression starts looking less like a right and more like a privilege that can be yanked away at any moment Rowan Atkinson's words are a reality check for a world that's increasingly afraid of real conversation if we want a society that truly values free expression we've got to be willing to handle opinions
that push our comfort zones so what do you think do you agree with Rowan's stance on free speech and comedy or do you see it differently let us know in the comments and if you enjoyed this breakdown don't forget to hit that like button subscribe and share your thoughts let's keep the conversation going
