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“Comedy is society’s great disinfectant.” – Me

I’ve written on multiple occasions about how important comedy is to a civilized society. In fact, I believe it so much I made a video on RedState about it that went somewhat viral. If you haven’t seen it, you should watch it, because I’m about to double down on this after the reaction to the comedian at the Trump rally. 

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The thing about comedy is that when it’s good, it doesn’t just make you laugh, it heals your mind. Every day we’re infected with severity and reality gets distorted through social expectations and politically correct brainwashing, whether we like it or not. The cool thing about comedy is that you can walk into a comedy club knowing a thing is true, and then walk out understanding how absurd that thing was all along. 

How many times did we take something really seriously until an episode of South Park highlighted how ridiculous it actually was by viewing it through the lens of absurdity? For a lot of people, the answer was quite a few times, because South Park legitimately altered the course of American events on more than one occasion, including relatively recently with their episode about wokeness at Disney. 

(READ: Did South Park Have a Hand in Altering ‘The Marvels’?)

At Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally, Trump invited comedian Tony Hinchcliffe to do a short bit at the microphone. It had some laughs, but my favorite parts were the ones that got groans. They weren’t groans of anger or frustration, but the kind of groan you hear when someone finds something funny that they’re not supposed to laugh at. It’s the sound of a bunch of people shedding a little more of the seriousness about a subject that society expects them to be severe about. 

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Hinchcliffe, the creator of the comedy show “Kill Tony” in Austin, Texas, and honestly one of the funniest shows on the planet, made inappropriate jokes that sometimes got a little racial. Automatically, when you hear that, your brain immediately puts you on guard, because racial jokes aren’t supposed to be funny. Race isn’t that thing you joke about. 

Except it can be, and it’s better for everyone when it is joked about. Race has become an all-too severe subject in our society, and it’s done more to divide us than almost anything else. Hinchcliffe told some stereotypical jokes about Jewish people, he thinks that the floating island of trash in the ocean is called “Puerto Rico” and poked fun at the border crisis by asking the Hispanic people in the crowd to cheer. He said Israel and Palestine should settle their beef with a best-out-of-three rock, paper, scissors game, which Israel could win easily because Palestine will always choose to throw rock. 

Yet, Hinchcliffe wasn’t being racist. In fact, he was being the opposite. He was treating everyone as equally up for lampooning, and was making good-natured jokes, even if they were burns. In the same way, men get together and insult each other because slamming each other is fun and actually brings them closer. We all laugh at each other and ourselves, and that’s healthy to do. 

One of my favorite running jokes about white people actually comes from my friend and colleague Jeff Charles, who jokes about “people of whiteness” consistently putting themselves in positions to be mauled horribly by dangerous animals by treating them as our friends and pets. It’s funny because it’s true. Tragedies have occurred, it truly is a stupid thing we do, and it’s still funny to point out. 

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My point is that no one is offended by this, and no one should be. No one race should be so above reproach that we can’t crack jokes at each other’s expense. Making a race, or any group into a sacred cow, only invites issues for that particular group. 

But let’s get back to Hinchcliffe for a second. He made the Puerto Rico joke about the island being floating trash. Tim Walz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez watched that bit and went off about how racist Hinchcliffe, and indeed, all Republicans are for making such a joke. AOC attempted to pass off the idea that this reveals how the right views anyone who is poorer than them. 

Were Hispanics, or Puerto Ricans in particular, offended? I’m sure some were, but I found some interesting reactions to the joke from people who were from Puerto Rico… they didn’t care. They might not have liked the joke, but they understood it was a joke. 

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Not that the left doesn’t make jokes themselves, it just seems to be okay when they do it. George Lopez told this joke at a rally, implying that Mexicans are thieves. 

No one got angry about that one. 

But no one should. Jokes are there to alleviate societal pressure. Some of the best jokes that make you laugh and really feel something are the ones that aren’t supposed to be told. You can see the proof in the way dark humor is often used by soldiers, police officers, emergency first responders, and anyone with a high-pressure job that often involves tragedy. Humor heals the mind and eases the heart. 

The left doesn’t want you to take things less seriously. It wants you to be as severe and humorless as they are. It needs you to feel like some things just can’t be questioned. It’s adamant that you not discuss some subject without a reverent tone. It wants you to recognize their sacred cows as legitimate. It wants you to bend the knee to them, and never ask why. 

That’s just not healthy. It’s not healthy for you, and it’s not healthy for society. 

Laugh more. 

And if you’re as tired of the humorlessness of the left as I am, then how about joining me in the VIP Program, where I tend to cut loose from time to time and tell you what I think without filters. It’s super cheap, and we’ve made it even cheaper. Just enter promo code “SAVEAMERICA” and we’ll give you 50% off your sign-up price. 

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If you do, you’ll get podcasts, videos, and articles not available to non-members, and when you’re behind a paywall you can have a more fun than usual. So join today!