Steven Crowder: Barack Obama Mocking Special Olympians, Wanda Sykes, and David Letterman Are All Hilarious
OK, that’s not exactly what he says — but surely Crowder can excuse a repulsive headline if it’s more entertaining? At least if you accept his logic, that is . . .
Proof that the way you react to a controversial joke is heavily influenced by your particular station in life — even though you know you’re motivated by pure principle and nothing else. Crowder, a comedian who engages in pretty edgy comedy, wants the freedom to say controversial things. So Crowder manages to excuse jokes that many sensible people find tasteless, at a minimum.
Barack Obama’s Special Olympics joke on Leno? That was a “surprisingly funny, off-handed moment,” according to Crowder. Wanda Sykes hoping Rush Limbaugh’s kidneys fail? Not her funniest line, Crowder admits — but still part of an “overall funny routine” that Republicans were wrong to object to. Letterman’s crack about Palin’s daughter getting knocked up? That was “worth a chuckle” — not the “phony outrage” displayed by humorless Republicans.
Crowder is a great guy and one of the funniest conservative talents on the Internet. And I agree with him that some of the outrage over some of these jokes is exaggerated and in some cases even manufactured. But much of it is genuine — and again, it depends on your station in life.
For example, I didn’t get outraged by Barack Obama’s Special Olympics joke (a position that, curiously, itself outraged some of the very people who today claim to back up Letterman’s right to tell an “edgy” joke). I just mocked Obama as someone less articulate than advertised — and then mocked him again. But there were those with ties to Special Olympians who were genuinely outraged. Their outrage wasn’t manufactured, and they weren’t being humorless — because, Crowder my pal, it wasn’t a funny joke.
My reaction to Sykes and to Letterman is similar. They showed a lack of class, and their jokes weren’t funny. While I disagree with some of the more violent reactions to Letterman’s joke, I can understand them, and will not be quick to judge the sincerity of my fellow Republicans — who, remember, still have a deep wellspring of genuine outrage to draw on, stemming from the way Palin and her family were treated during the campaign.
So I say to Crowder: keep being funny. But I happen to disagree with you fairly strongly on this one.
And please: don’t tell me I’m humorless if the joke I’m laughing at isn’t funny. Sometimes it’s really the other guy who lacks the sense of humor.