Trigger Warning: Jimmy Carr's 'joke'

didyw

Just saw a thread on Facebook defending Jimmy Carr's right to make what has been described in the Guardian as this:

"In a widely shared clip from the show, [His Dark Material on Netflix] Carr joked about the horror of “six million Jewish lives being lost” before suggesting the deaths of thousands of Gypsies at the hands of the Nazis had been one of “the positives” of the Holocaust."

The usual comments against the 'woke' brigade and 'it's a joke for heaven's sake' ensued but I must admit to feeling shocked myself when I read what he'd said.  

Regardless of our own feelings about gypsies (or more accurately, 'so-called gypsies') I don't think any holocaust deaths are a laughing matter.

Nanny Beach

Same here, but I don't like him anyway. Gone off Whoopi Goldberg saying it wasn't racist, because only white people were involved!

februarysgirl

I wonder if the "it's a joke for heaven's sake" brigade would be so willing to defend a joke about abused children. Given the reaction to James Gunn's tweets about them (which he made a number of years ago and apologised for shortly after they were posted), it's unlikely. It does seem as though that the majority of the people who don't have a problem with it are the ones who aren't the butt of the joke. I think there is a line in comedy that shouldn't be crossed but who decides where it should be drawn? 

Dovefromabove

My thought is that Jimmy Carr is a complex comic, and that the joke is a sort of double bluff with the intention of causing cause folk to question why most people only know about the Jews being killed in the holocaust, and know nothing of the learning and physically disabled, gay, travelling folk and other non-Aryan minorities who were rounded up and exterminated.

I suspect that if awareness of all the horrors of the holocaust is raised Jimmy Carr will feel he has been vindicated. 

Unfortunately nowadays many people and most of the media are only accustomed to less complex comedy. I hope he has a very thick skin. 

KT53

I generally have no problem with jokes which some people find offensive as most jokes tend to be at the expense of someone or something.  This one I do think is a step too far.

didyw

I'm now involved in a row about it on FB. 
"no one’s laughing at the victims, they’re laughing at the joke he said. If you don’t like the joke then fine, but people can make jokes about everything and anything. It comes down to personal taste and if it isn’t for you then don’t watch and move on"
and
"they're not laughing at the victims, they're laughing at the joke, which is merely laughing at how ridiculous it is to say it was a positive thing because obviously it wasn't actually."
But in defence of my comment:
"he is literally saying it is positive that the gypsies died in the holocaust. If that’s not laughing at the victims I am not sure what is."
The last word (for now) is this:
"that’s just a typical Jimmy Carr type joke really."
Oh well.  I'm done with it now.  

Dovefromabove

That’s just one of the reasons why I’m not on Fbook. 😶

Chris-P-Bacon

This is a quote by Noam Chomsky whose work I like have studied.. a little.

"Goebbels was in favour of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin.
If you're really in favour of free speech, then you're in favour of freedom of speech for precisely the reasons you despise. Otherwise you're not in favour of free speech."

And in more broader terms.. a piece by Jorden Peterson of whom I'm also a big fan..watch from 49:00 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyz86a9AjLA

Dovefromabove

The problem with social media is that it makes people reactive rather than reflective. 

It wasn’t a ‘ha ha that’s funny’ joke … it’s intention was to make you think and ask why. 

Biglad

I bet he's hating all the free publicity

philippasmith2

Dovefromabove said:

My thought is that Jimmy Carr is a complex comic, and that the joke is a sort of double bluff with the intention of causing cause folk to question why most people only know about the Jews being killed in the holocaust, and know nothing of the learning and physically disabled, travelling folk and other non-Aryan minorities who were rounded up and exterminated.

 

I am surprised if most people are unaware that it was not only people of Jewish extraction who suffered in the Holocaust.
Even my English Language students from Germany were well aware of this back in the 1990's. I wonder what led JC to make that assumption ? Hardly the point tho.
It is quite noticeable that comedy show audiences will laugh at each punch line delivered.  That's why they go after all - to be amused rather than offended.Maybe some of them got home and had a rethink ?  Who knows.
Comedy is a fine line these days but I'd prefer the attitude here rather than those countries which don't allow any sort of deviation.