In Richard Bernstein’s article, “‘Just Kidding’- But at Who’s Expense?” he discusses the prevalence of political incorrectness in comedy/theatre/the media today, and talks about whether it is an issue or not. What I grasped from reading this article is that Bernstein does not believe that all prejudice/racist/sexist jokes should be entirely abolished from comedy. He seems to think that in today’s society we take comedy too seriously, and put too much energy into trying our best to be as politically correct as possible. Bernstein claims that the culprit is the internet. Due to the internet, comedy is viewable everywhere and it’s listened to in all parts of the world. There are listeners are from all different backgrounds, races, genders, and religions, which means that comedians need to be a lot more aware of who is listening when they try to make an insensitive joke.
In the article, he asks the reader many questions. He asks, “Why is it that even as the society becomes ever more publicly respectful of all groups, some entertainment figures – from rap lyricists, who are saying some of the most abrasive things these days, to stand-up comics – make their fortunes by ridiculing the very groups toward whom most of the rest are elaborately polite?” He then asks, “Is the society hypocritical? Is it just not paying attention? What are the conventions that we as a society observe, perhaps unconsciously, and what do they tell us about ourselves?”
The questions he poses are really impressive because they bring up good points, and he is showing that he is skeptical of our society today. I believe that these entertainment companies often feed off of this type of humor because people in real life feel like they can’t use prejudice humor. Therefore, these comedians can portray a specific sense of humor that regular people in their daily lives don’t feel comfortable using. I think it is refreshing for people because they spend so much time in their life being careful of what they say so it’s fun to watch a person who portrays this idea of not caring. Although this makes sense, I do think that Bernstein brings up a good point- this is in many ways, hypocritical. If we don’t want to be offended by anyone, we shouldn’t be supporting comedians that often aim to offend specific races/sexes/identities/religions.