So You’re a Subversive Artist, Are You? di Nick Gillespie
Il potere dell'ironia è davvero tanto sovversivo?
A me non sembra...
... Comedy is “inherently subversive” and you might get “killed” for mocking the room? Not literally... Truth be told, there’s nothing inherently subversive about comedy...
Anche i più trasgressivi non spostano consenso, se la raccontano solo tra loro...
... Bill Hicks, often lauded as “truth teller” about corporate power, was no more a threat to the Republic than is Carrot Top....
La comicità non è mai sganciata dalla parrocchietta. Anche i nazisti avevano i loro comici...
... Does anyone doubt that Nazi Germany had its own version of the Capitol Steps, the dreary comedy troupe that does hacky song parodies poking fun at John Kerry’s snowboarding fiascoes, John Boehner’s skin tone, and Hillary Clinton’s pantsuits? You can almost hear their hoo-larious version of “We Didn’t Start the (Reichstag) Fire” or “Ballroom Blitzkrieg,” can’t you?...
La comicità? Una sequela di stronzate per divertirsi tra affini...
... 90 percent of comedy, including “serious” comedy, is, to paraphrase an iron law formulated by the science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, crap. Put another way: How many standup comedians (besides Gandhi of course) have changed the world?...
Nessuno cambierà mai il mondo con una battuta.
Da questo punto di vista allora meglio le rock star...
... Even rock and roll bands have a better record at spurring social change than do comedians, with the Velvet Underground’s sadomasochistic aesthetic that was condemned in the free and communist worlds alike inspiring Czechoslovakia’s bloodless overthrow of communist tyranny...
Vuoi capire il mondo? Vuoi cambiarlo? Metticela tutta, studia, informati. Divertirsi e divertire serve a ben poco...
... Whatever good points I made were not by being funny (the producers of each show wisely insist that non-comedians don’t do jokes) but by being well-informed and persistent...
La risata non serve a capire...
... the main function of comedy, especially political comedy, isn’t to stretch people’s minds or get them to confront the limits of their systems of knowledge...
I comici – tra tutti gli oppositori al potere – sono i più codardi, gente che sta sempre con la mano sul maniglione dell'uscita di sicurezza: "stavo solo scherzando"…
... At least since the Romantic period, virtually all artists have claimed to be subversives, to being “oppositional” to the status quo... they can retreat when the heat comes down and aver, “Hey, I’m just a comedian!” Jon Stewart, that would be you...
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Ma a che serve allora la comicità? Semplice: a segnalarsi come brillanti appartenenti al gruppo giusto...
... The main purpose of much and maybe even most creative expression— whether we’re talking fiction, video, art, music, journalism, comedy, you name it— is to virtue-signal, to show to your audience that you already agree with each other and that you are politically correct (however your group defines it).. .
Perché a noi libertari piace South Park? Perché è affine alla nostra religione (o ideologia). Dice quel che vogliamo sentirci dire. E’ politicamente scorretto e la cosa ci manda in sollucchero. Né più né meno...
... Such in-group virtue signaling is as true for libertarians as it is for liberals and conservatives, alas. Don’t we all love South Park not because it challenges our deepest-held beliefs– but because we agree with most of the show’s anti-authority, anti-Al Gore, anti-nanny-state messaging? It’s nice to see our broad world view being validated from the big stage...
La comicità è un'arma politica, non uno strumento per cercare la verità...
... What libertarians writ large need to do is recognize that if we want to subvert the current order— and we do, in all sorts of ways— we need to be simultaneously expressive and persuasive, to explain what we believe, why we believe it, and why it will lead to a world that is more prosperous, more peaceful, more interesting, and more sustainable that what we have now. Sometimes our cultural work will involve humor, sometimes it will involve earnest policy work, sometimes it will involve three-handkerchief journalism...
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La posizione di molti: la risata è anarchica, è inerentemente anti-autoritaria...
... Comedy [is] inherently subversive to any incarnation of human conceit. As an art form, comedy is inherently anti-authoritarian. Comedy itself is anarchist insofar as it celebrates and bears witness to a world that the state must deny...No. Il comico è un moralista. Oltretutto un moralista superficiale e abborracciato, cne conosce solo la pars destruens. Ma fa niente, in fondo il mestiere del comico è un altro, quando pretende di essere qualcosa di più di un buffone.
Ma se il comico si considera più di quel che è, la sua comicità si trasforma in tragedia...
... If comedy is tragedy plus time, tragedy may be when comedy starts taking itself so seriously that it stops even pretending to be entertaining...
Vuoi cambiare qualcosa? È la cultura che conta, non la comicità. Il comico può contribuire, ma sappia che è solo una rotellina. Non solo: è una rotellina faziosa che dà il suo minuscolo contributo. Non è affatto la sovversione incarnata, questo deve toglierselo dalla testa...
... The challenge before those of us interested in creating a world that is more free, more fun, and more libertarian is to create culture— everything from standup comedy to journalism that stands up— that is engaging, provocative, and irresistible...
