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- Political Correctness Can Lead to an Orwellian Nightmare
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John Cleese says political correctness has gone too far, especially on America's college campuses, where he will no longer go to perform. The very essence of his trade - comedy - is criticism and that not infrequently means hurt feelings. But protecting everyone from negative emotion all the time is not only impractical (one can't control the feelings of another), but also improper in a free society. Cleese, having worked with psychiatrist Robin Skynner, says there may even be something more sinister behind the insistence to always be politically correct.
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JOHN CLEESE:
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he co-founded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films: And Now for Something Completely Different, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.
In the mid-1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. Later, he co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis and former Python colleague Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures, both of which he also wrote. He also starred in Clockwise and has appeared in many other films, including two James Bond films as Q, two Harry Potter films, and the last three Shrek films.
With Yes Minister writer Antony Jay he co-founded Video Arts, a production company making entertaining training films. In 1976, Cleese co-founded The Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows to raise funds for the human rights organization Amnesty International.
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TRANSCRIPT:
John Cleese: I'm offended every day. For example, the British newspapers every day offend me with their laziness, their nastiness, and their inaccuracy, but I'm not going to expect someone to stop that happening; I just simply speak out about it. Sometimes when people are offended they want - you can just come in and say, "Right, stop that." to whoever it is offending them. And, of course, as a former chairman of the BBC one said, "There are some people who I would wish to offend." And I think there's truth in that too. So the idea that you have to be protected from any kind of uncomfortable emotion is what I absolutely do not subscribe to. And a fellow who I helped write two books about psychology and psychiatry was a renowned psychiatrist in London called Robin Skynner said something very interesting to me. He said, "If people can't control their own emotions, then they have to start trying to control other people's behavior." And when you're around super-sensitive people, you cannot relax and be spontaneous because you have no idea what's going to upset them next. And that's why I've been warned recently don't to go to most university campuses because the political correctness has been taken from being a good idea, which is let's not be mean in particular to people who are not able to look after themselves very well - that's a good idea - to the point where any kind of criticism or any individual or group could be labeled cruel.
And the whole point about humor, the whole point about comedy, and believe you me I thought about this, is that all comedy is critical. Even if you make a very inclusive joke like how would you make God laugh? Answer: Tell him your plans. Now that's about the human condition; it's not excluding anyone. It's saying we all have all these plans, which probably won't come and isn't it funny how we still believe they're going to happen. So that's a very inclusive joke. It's still critical. All humor is critical. If you start to say, "We mustn't; we mustn't criticize or offend them," then humor is gone. With humor goes a sense of proportion. And then as far as I'm concerned, you're living in 1984.
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"If people can't control their own emotions, then they have to start trying to control other people's behaviour."
I think that is one of the most illuminating and insightful quotes I have ever heard. Brilliant!
+Tom R It definetly made my top 5 of all time! Brilliant quot!
+Tom R ... Donald Trump.
+Tom R Agreed!!
+RapidRrobert
is an idiot.
Stop* not start
I am offended by political correctness.
Must be nice in that whitewashed world of yours.
non sequitur
Trigger warnings trigger me because I had a gun pulled on me once and it brings back bad memories. So change society and make new laws to protect my feelings, you would stand with me if you had any feelings of your own otherwise you're just victomofgunviolenceophobic.
CzechRiot
I find your being offended extremely offensive.
and political correctness triggers me. Please provide a trigger warning, so I know not to listen. :D
This is where young people are completely fucking up, sometimes I'm embarrassed to be a millennial.
What exactly is millenial again?
Same here, I will raise hell if the so called safe spaces are enacted.
+Madison Flores Someone born in the early 1980's until the year 2000
+Wastingsometimehere That's an interesting self-title we got. Anyhow; I don't seem to get it on why exactly we got more extremist at this new age. Sure, the accessibility of the globalization might open various oppurtunities and create groups, but never to an extent of a regime. What exactly tick off this "TRIGGER" phenomenon?
+Madison Flores While i'm all for equality and sensitivity, these overused buzzwords seem to come from Ivy League University campuses who forget the majority of us have no idea what they mean until later.
And to prove his point, the BBC banned Fawlty Towers.
Yes. It is Göring to get interesting with each Hit-lering and people are just Geobbeling it up.
What do you expect from a socialist created institution?
@@brianwesley28 Just don't mention The War !!
@@scottyd2262 I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it
The socialist created institution that financed and broadcast Fawlty Towers to begin with?
Twitter is going PC too
Instagram is awful with their PC.
+thorin dyer Because the worst bullies on Twitter just happen to have friends that work at Twitter.
+thorin dyer What's PC?
+Taleb Kabbara Political Correctness.
+thorin dyer Never go full PC bro.
The idea of preventing anyone from saying what they want to say bothers me more than anything and I would say I am an overly sensitive person.
+donotoperateoncrack I can be sensitive too. I'm offended too. People test me limits, but i can't police them.
+Wastingsometimehere I don't care if someone's sensitive. people should voice their opinions, not prevent others from voicing theirs. someone will always be offended, but their is always something someone will be able to laugh at. At least, I hope thats true
+donotoperateoncrack You can always say what you want. But you should also be man (or woman) enough to live with the backlash. That's what most people who hate political correctness don't understand! They want to be dicks AND be free of consequences.
+afhdfh Patently untrue. You're making a gross generalisation.
M Johnsen Just as the people who say that everyone and everything has become too pc these days...
John Cleese, being eloquent and concise as ever.
The left have stepped up their agenda, I'm sure there will be no such thing as comedy soon.
No organisation or person should be above criticism.
"Political correctness is the language of cowards" - Billy Connolly
I so agree with this statement
Some of the smartest people on earth are comedians. Or .... Comedians are among the smartest people on earth.
+RapidRrobert A high degree of social intelligence. Also, the fact that you have soo much time to observe other people's behaviour and think about it through different perspectives.
+Jared Langdon A lot of comedians I watch are well educated people (with or without university degree I honestly don't give a damn about truthology professors) and/or quite witty, can't really make humor without wit.Smart really doesn't mean education , just because you can remember Latin names of every human bone doesn't really give your word view on politics is any more relevance then my ability to remember boatload of dead writers. Yes if someone takes every word of some comedian to the heart, there is something wrong with him. But that isn't exclusive of comedian fans is it?
+RapidRrobert After all, you have got to be pretty smart to make a good comedy.
BlackBunik
But you are not a doctor so it doesn't really count.
Jan Kostrhun
Being a doctor does not mean you are smart either.
It's such a relief, it' so refreshing and uplifting to hear a little bit of common sense in a world that's been consumed by madness.
I wish John Cleese and his kind could stay around with us forever because we bloody well need them to be around.
Check out Slavoj Zizek, he has a number of BT videos on this subject.
Political Correctness is the triumph of emotions, victimhood, and false beliefs over logic and reason. It stifles intellectual discussion.
Sure... but a point that I think too many people miss:
the opposite of Political Correctness isn't the triumph of logic and reason over emotions, victimhood, and false beliefs.
"Political correctness" is just one end of a spectrum that has "emotions, victimhood, and false beliefs" at either end.
Leading to rule by emotional blackmailers, bullies who play the victim and propaganda artists. We are where we are. Men are women. Sex isn't real. I'm the biggest victim so your needs don't matter.
@@isays You hit the nail
@@isays what is your point
@@MikehMike01 rejecting PC won't make you logical or even more likely to hold true beliefs. OP is positioning the PC on one side of a spectrum with himself on the other, as right wing talking heads like to do. But being the opposite of PC won't give him these qualities he seeks. It will be just different emotions, different victimhood, and different false beliefs.
So I made a video about the exact idea 25 minutes long, and this is summing it in 3 minutes - brilliant.
+SkepTorr You may be brilliant, but John Cleese is a master!
+SkepTorr Editing monsieur, editing. Being able to say so much in so few words is an art rarely practiced.
+Shane Bowman - I beg to differ. It is an "art" practiced by the cultural-marxist MSM and politicians quite frequently. Most people (unfortunately) won't believe, or even try to comprehend, ANYTHING unless you can fit it onto a bumper sticker.
+Shane Bowman "It is when I struggle to be brief that I become obscure." ~ Horace
Mediocre people get a lot of mileage out of feigning indifference to public recognition when the reality is that they have little of lasting value to say and therefore nothing to _underplay_. Skep Torr, on the other hand, is the genuine article, and a *real* political animal. When he says he's devoted 25 minutes to fleshing out a sound bite you'd best believe it's going to be 25 minutes worth listening to.
I have seen a little bit of God in John Cleese. I have _heard_ a little bit of God in Skep Torr.
+SkepTorr ill never visit your channel like this...
I've never written equated humour with "a sense of proportion". What a beautiful use of language! John Cleese - a national treasure.
Sanity sounds so lovely. Thanks Mr. Cleese.
"people who can't control their emotion they shouldn't try to control other people's behaviour" well said!
And now, years later, the crybabies have banned Fawlty Towers episodes.
And humour is a distant memory.
June 2020 anyone?
The notion of Political Correctness = Blame culture. It encourages people to think it's the other person's fault that they are offended.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said 'No one can make you feel inferior without your consent'. No one can offend you without your consent. It is simply how you interpret what someone says or does. People need to take responsibility for their own interpretations, their own emotions.
Hypersensitivity is bad. Pain can make people grow or rather being able to take the pain makes people grow. We can't restrict thought even hateful thought because that shelters people from the reality of life. There are different people with differing views on life that aren't always good. The fact is that the words only hurt if you let them.
Thank you, John Cleese, I have loved your comedy for decades, even when it skewered some of the things I believe in.
You are one of the greats.
I wish my generation spent more time listening to wisdom like this. People are so obsessed with being progressive they've completely lost sight of lessons previous generations already learned for us.
Beautiful man. Beautiful views. Come to St Andrews university any time John Cleese. We're not part of the National Union of Students which means we have no censorship, no "tigger warnings" and no "safe spaces" Free speech is thriving and it's beautiful!
+Datroflshopper so, are you allowed or encouraged to smoke weed, take mushrooms, smoke dmt, and do lsd, and at the same time, post an image of muhammed the prophet on the walls of the university? Freedom of speach means nothing, if there is no freedom of action or freedom of thought.
+Omega Point Singularity there's a difference between being ostracised for expressing an opinion and genuinely doing something illegal.
Although you probably could put an image of Mohammed on your wall and nobody would care
+Goyathlay Amedeo "Your home is the ultimate safe space," unless a crackhead lies to the cops about buying a proscribed plant from you - then your home is everything except safe.
+Slagurth Roy Rogers loved his Trigger.
How fitting it is that circa 1984 is the accepted year the Millennial generation was born
quite.
***** It's not a perfect science. Different researchers define Millennials by different years. There are "tweeners" born from the super-late 70s to super-early 80s who have both Gen X and Millennial characteristics, but were too young or too old to really fit in one group or another. But 1984 is way too young to claim Gen-X
+David Curry I was actually born in 1984 (and yes, I love the book by the same name), and I HATE PC nonsense. I enjoy comedians like Jimmy Carr, and if he had to be PC there would be nothing left of his routines.
Almighty Shippo I wish people like you were the rule and not the exception, but I've seen them in person, and they're obviously everywhere online. Even some of my Millennial relatives are annoying stereotypes of PC culture and "everything is _______ist" thinking
David Curry It really is quite scary. This PC nonsense is what happens when people don't have real problems in their life, I guess.
He's absolutely right comedians criticize everything And that's why they're now not allowed on many campuses
"Political correctness has been taken from a good idea, which is 'let's not be mean to people who are not able to look after themselves'..."
He's not against political correctness, he's against its misappropriation to oppose any sort of criticism. I think that's an important distinction that many people in the comments fail to make. When Trump, for example, stands up and speaks against political correctness, he is excusing himself from criticism for racist and sexist comments. Anti-PC people came flocking to him in droves, and his rhetoric and actions have led to increase in hate crimes. That's why John Cleese thinks political correctness is a good idea. Before criticizing political correctness, we should ask what we think the term means, since the political right's effort to strip it of its meaning is also very Orwellian.
based on something Neil deGrasse Tyson once said:
*The universe is under no obligation to not offend you*
Or make sense to you, as the original quote states.
why compare it to fiction? just look at china.
+Plusy I think North Korea fits the bill better. The population there is brainwashed to the point where anything spoken against the established regime is ++ungood.
+Q-Hack! it is un++good actually
+Gio Eufshi And there en-lies the beauty of double speak.... both are correct, or not correct depending on your point of view.
+Plusy Why talk about China or North Korea when Mr Cleese is clearly pinpointing the Western media and press. It's the culture of suppressing real human emotions that is in question, and you guys just conveniently say it's China and North Korea, not us. Bravo. Carry on.
+Sokar I just read your comment wrong then made an ass of myself. I deleted the comment, so it never happened. I thought you were part of the 50c army, all because my brain decided to block out the word "not".
I was never particularly fond of John Cleese or his comedy, but i have a new found respect for him and his speaking out about this modern distopia we are living in.
Cleese is right, University campuses and auditoriums where students are supposed to speak up to share thoughts and ideas are all self-censored...
The premise of Milan Kundera's novel "The Joke" was the nightmare of living in a totalitarian society where anyone could be convinced of a crime against the state and end up losing their job if they told a joke. That was a big hit in 1968, especially outside the Eastern Bloc from which it emerged. He was still a much talked of author about 20 years ago. He is probably considered uncool today by the same literary critics who once celebrated him. They might end up losing their job.
"Political Correctness Can Lead to an Orwellian Nightmare"
That's the point
That is a problem with extremists in all their forms.
I have noticed those who complain about being called politically incorrect, are only politically incorrect because they are factually wrong.
What about when someone correct people and tell them the facts and than be called a misogynist or racist?
even if they are factually wrong, political correctness shouldn't be used to shut them down.
***** That depends on what the facts are.
Papers like the Daily Fail and outlets like FOX don't HAVE to be called out on political correctness. They are, usually, completely wrong, frequently outright LYING on some things.
dangerouslytalented
No-one should listen to Fox News... :-P
+dangerouslytalented Oh I'd love to hear some examples of this.
Every time I hear John Cleese talk, I love him just a little bit more.
Soon, everybody will be afraid to speak.
Love you John, you are an intellectual and comedic inspiration to me!
Political correctness the idea that you can pick up a turd from the clean end....
Oh wait
Alternatively political correctness fascism with extra manners.
im stealing this for my facebook wall
ATADEMO Enlighten the masses as you see fit.
Lol, very good! :p
I like that analogy.
Pick up a turd from the clean end LMFAO!!!!!!! That good shit!!!! LMFAO!!!!!
Hooray, good videos! Welcome back, Big Think!
I couldn't agree more. Cruelty only comes from intent, not from humor. Of course, those who make jokes targeting demographics in a nasty way are often the people that say things like "I'm not racist, but..." or "I don't want Muslims in my neighborhood." But those people would have been horrid no matter if they told jokes or not, and it's that sense of hatred that's the problem. One of my favorite jokes was told to me by an almost seven-foot black friend... what do you call three black guys standing in a field? Antique farm equipment. We laughed over it as friends. Not as a man who knew his heritage involved a lot of torture and bloodshed and another man who had great grandparents holding the whip, but as two friends who enjoyed a joke. Tell the same joke in the shoes of a drunk, arrogant man trying to make a black man feel terrible about himself, and that's where the problems start to creep in.
Plus-good video with double-plus-good guest.
+3yearshardcore1 Even though the PC Thought Police would consider it thoughtcrime. :-)
+KonradAdenauerJr It's all over, lawbreaker! Your spree is at an end.
+ThatBeardedGuy Stop! You violated the law. Pay the court a fine or serve your sentence! Your stolen goods are now forfeit.
This video is so classic it will stand the test of time for as long as there are people on this earth.
0:56 "If people can't control their own emotions, then they have to start trying to control other people's behavior."
During the 1980s in Australia a Comedian (Mark Mitchell) done a characterisation of a Greek Greengrocer named 'Con'. Many people thought that it was in bad taste against the Greeks BUT the majority of the Greek population in Australia LOVED it, just like the reaction by Aussies towards Monty Python's 'Bruces'. As Oscar Wilde said 'There's only one thing worse than being talked about and that's NOT being talked about."
"how do you make god laugh? Tell him your plans" = Gold
I find it funny how many people here didn't really listen to what John was saying here at all. The sentiment is not that people should be uncritical of offensive behaviour of speech-such criticism is part and parcel to freedom of speech as a concept-but that placing restrictions on what people can or cannot say because it might cause offence is inherently unjust and antithetical to the principle that supports free thought and criticism itself. Saying something someone said bothered you is not the same as demanding that they not be allowed to speak, but the fringes of both sides seem intent on conflating them in order to silence those that they disagree with-whether whiny lefties who can't take a joke or rightist cretins who are afraid of progress.
I'm not so sure about that one. I'm not accusing everyone commenting by any margin, but there are definitely a few people giving me "yeah, those uppity [fill in group] should sit down and shut up!" vibes.
+ConvincingPeople Best comment here, yet. It's sad how many of the anti-PCers here think they're applauding someone who is actually pointing just as much to them in his criticism as anyone. If the point is to avoid excessive political correctness, if effort to allow people to speak their mind, then one should consider that those who are offended are also speaking their mind. Attempts to shut them down, call them names or otherwise bully them, are exactly what the Anti-PC are complaining about. People are prone to confirmation bias; it's easier to cast stones than it is to face a mirror.
Did you see your own huge bias there? You refer to "leftists who can't take a joke" and "rightist cretins who don't want progress". Wow. In your mind, left is merely being too sensitive but the right is against progress? I'm on the left and I can absolutely see
how the left is utterly destroying so much of what we cherish.
BL1 ...how? And who's cherishing what, exactly? I know that folks like Carl of Babylon like to pretend that there's some vast left-wing conspiracy to censor everyone and infringe on free speech or whatever the fuck, but honestly, do we really want to equate some folks getting riled at their school for paying a Breitbart employee to speak to them with the sort of people who think "religious liberty" means the "right" to throw people out of their restaurant for "looking gay"?
There are and have been economically left-wing regimes with violently illiberal, authoritarian social and political attitudes, whose blunt, unsophisticated top-down implementations of ill-conceived economic policy have caused untold destruction and misery to their peoples. Soviet Russia is an obvious example, and Maoist China, but just look at what Maduro is doing to Venezuela right now and you can see what this can lead to. But in America? We had the PMRC; now we have Twitter Marxists. The vast majority of the political establishment is to the right of centre, and much of it is culturally and socially conservative in a way that the better part of the electorate simply *isn't.* There have been many victories in the realms of rights and liberties and I think that the public wants more, but thinking that the Left has enough power in the Anglosphere that its worst elements can effect any grand sweeping changes is a pretty bizarre form of hubris on the one hand and giving the weenie squad too much credit on the other.
If you say something important, some people will be offended. If you say something, everybody can applause, it contains nothing of any importance.
this is so spot on and hits the nail on the head for today!
Long live John Cleese!
I’ve come from the future, pc has managed to destroy America.
BendixX69 You’ve come from the future and you chose to arrive in 2020?!🤣
Andrew P sure why not?
Someone needs to make the line between being kind to people and destroying liberty clearer
Thanks, I needed that!
Excellent, excellent presentation from John Cleese. He sums up perfectly where political correctness has gone wrong in recent years.
Some people make shouts of sexism/racism etc to make money (e.g. professional victims like Anita Sarkeesian), some do it to intentionally cause trouble with bogus accusations (e.g. the current ridiculous accusations against Richard Dawkins of sexism) and others just need to develop thicker skin.
I always feel like.. there's a difference between saying a thing that might offend someone, and going out of your way to push someone's buttons and try to offend them just for the sake of making them feel bad. The former is fine, because some things that need to be said will offend people. But the latter is where I draw the line. There's no reason to say something you know will make someone feel bad for the express purpose of making them feel bad, assuming they haven't done something to warrant it anyway.
But then the latter is not really humor. Humor has to be funny and there is nothing funny in bringing someone down.
Good thing the law doesn’t agree with you
@@mforge348 I wasn't talking about the law. Just general common courtesy.
Here here, very glad more people are speaking out about this
"when people cannot control their own emotions, then they have to try to control other peoples behaviours". the brilliance of John Cleese - he just waved away social justice warriors and PC culture with a simple flex of his intellect. This man is my hero.
I am inclined to agree with this. Freedom of speech is important.
That said, people have a bad habit of using the anti-political-correctness 'hat' to basically accomplish the same goals as heavy-handed political correctness. Just go watch any given feminist video giving a measured critique of, gosh I dunno, videogames for example, and you'll have waves of people trying to shut them up while somehow (unironically) complaining about political correctness.
The door doesn't swing both ways for some people, regardless of which side you're on. Though I've seen heavy-handed PC initiatives that I thought were more harmful than good, I've seen a lot more anti-PC initiatives that were hypocritical and far more intentionally harmful.
There's a middle-ground somewhere, where people's varying views can co-exist without animosity and ostracizing. I've yet to hear a better suggestion than to simply develop a healthy respect for other people's views, without losing the healthy respect of your own. Unfortunately, both PC and anti-PC 'activists' are not leaving room for each other in the discourse. And I feel like that defeats the entire purpose of both sides' views.
+MouseAndShiraz there were the feminist videos where a plumber saving a princess in video games amounts to men wanting women to be victims. that is a statement that people might disagree with. I agree that when you lump people into groups. All these things being pc, and all these things not being pc. you get people that ignore whats actually being said because the person saying it may be pc. There are a lot of unintentional things that are extremely benign to get offended by, and many of those things did more good for people than it did harm. I really have no interest in associating good memories playing video games with misogyny.
Edited: Also, I didn't know anita re-enabled comments. Although,I've only partially watched some of her videos. they are hard for me to watch.
+donotoperateoncrack People *should* disagree with things, and have a conversation, and try to understand where the other side is coming from. That's sort of my point, and people merely posting counter-arguments and the like are not who I am talking about. What I am talking about are people who threaten, insult, shame, lie, false-flag, organize boycotts, etc. These are people who really have no business complaining about the PC, because if they had a genuine interest in free speech, then they would be comfortable with people like Anita existing and commenting in that space.
It is that discomfort that drives their frustration and anger, and their desire to shut down the conversation rather than engage in it, in much the same way as it is discomfort that drives the frustration and anger of heavy-handed pro-PC individuals. It is an entirely hypocritical goal to say 'my speech is fine even though you disagree with it and it makes me uncomfortable, but I disagree with yours and it makes me uncomfortable; thus you shouldn't speak.' Which is what is happening, more often than not.
+MouseAndShiraz
Silencing feminist critique? What a joke. It was because progressive gaming media silenced every reasonable criticism of that criticism and called every problematic game "for sexists" "for losers" "for racists" "for pedophiles". It was logical that gamers went angry after that.
Progressives were pyromaniac firemen for that case,sorry.
+What Ever You are entirely welcome to that opinion! I think you were living in an echo chamber though. I was paying pretty close attention to both sides during the whole gamergate thing - I'm a gamer, and a student of ethics and psychology, so of course I followed it - and I have a very different recollection of events. But I'm not trying to change your mind.
+MouseAndShiraz freedom of speech is an incredibly important principle and it means all are allowed to speak.
Anita showcased some hate comments in her ted-talks and after that never enabled the comments, so people who have been discussing anita have been discussing it with like-minded people. the people who don't agree her discuss with the people who don't agree with her. the people who agree with her, discuss with the people that agree with her. there are a lot of things we don't want to hear, but if we silence those voices. All we'll be hearing for the rest of our lives are only the things we want to hear.
Great point, it's funny or at least serendipitous that I was pondering that very same point in regard to humor. All I would add is that at the end of the day a joke is to be joke, and anyone who takes a joke to seriously is either missing the point or pointing out how it is not a joke...if it's going for anything other then a laugh it's not humorous. I love satire and I think this describes exactly that sense of humor.
Best Big Think I've seen in quite some time.
This should be shown everywhere.
This sounds real bad but I'm gonna say it anyway, but John Cleese would be an excellent Older Hitler in the series The Man In the High Castle.
+rpatto92 Well, he did play a "Mr. Hilter of the National Bocialist party" in Monty Python...
I think he'd be even better as an older version.
i've always said political correctness is one of the banes on society. along with religion and greed...
Wherever you go there will always be people who hate you, mock you, want to physically abuse, Rob, scam you, but there are also good people everywhere, and if you dislike something try to avoid it.
It is so lovely to hear a celebrity who gets it....you have always been a great actor and comedian Mr.Cleese....and now I find that you are a stand up human being as well....thank you....we need more celebrities like you.
How many times can I like this video?
When humor goes,
so does freedom.
Humor,
especially in the most desire circumstances,
is evidence of freedom.
So many excellent quotes in that video. Thank you, John
one year later .. watched 2nd time .. again stunned .. and the reality at campuses became WAY WORSE -.-
Thing is, Political Correctness *is* leading to an Orwellian Nightmare.
The Batman agreed
PC is to be mocked openly and aggressively.
One of my absolute best ever lines from Fawlty Towers is the "samaritans were engaged"
This is simply fantastic! Bravo!
103 thumbs down for Sir John Cleese.
103 fucking degenerates.
Cleese nails it. There's no place this PC nightmare is thriving more than the San Francisco Bay Area-especially in Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley and Marin County. 1984? Not even George Orwell had that kind of imagination.
thank you mr. cleese!AND you are right and we are in 1984 that orwell warned us about years earlier.
Excellent video!
Fuck yeah. Love ya Cleese.
I'm all for the free exchange of ideals, regardless of personal offense.
However, one of the things that I see happening over and over again. Are people using anti-PC reteric as an excuse to act like clueless clods without being called on their crap. As if freedom of speech only applied to them and theirs. And that anyone who criticized them was violating their rights in the name of Political Correctness. When in fact, they are just disagreeing.
Which is what freedom of speech is all about. That on one has the right to not be disagreed with.
+Andrew Banks The P.C people are the ones who do that shit mostly.
Great. Thanks. Thats right up there with "I know you are, but what am I".
Again. Unless they are creating laws that say you can't say shit. Then it's prefectly legitimate criticism for someone to disagree with what you say. or how you say it.
lindinle : Is harassment protected under freedom of speech in any other form, other then E-Com?
Would it be OK if I harassed you?
Perhaps I could follow you about? Leave threatening messages to you on your doorstep. Call your job. Your spouse. Talk to your kids at their school.
That would be perfectly fine with you. Right?
lindinle : and it's no wonder why you're alone and friendless.
But that doesn't answer the question.
Is harassment a protected form of free speech anywhere?
The answer of course is no.
So your point is moot.
lindinle : You can insult me all you want, childish as it is.
You are however wrong. Harassment is not legally protected. It is a criminal offense akin to stalking, punishable by incarceration.
Also. It's not me that s getting upset by this.
My question is, why are you?
I always thought humor was the ultimate equalizer. There is a fine line between "clowning", as I phrase it, and "bullying" someone with jokes about them. It really comes down to personal interaction.
I completely agree and would go further to say that our comedy on many levels in propagandized and streamlined to heighten fear and bias. Comedy in mainstream america focuses on laughing derisively at others behaviors, beliefs and looks. It is used to separate and not to bring awareness or inclusion. We no longer see very much intelligent humor. One line is taken from, for example, a politician, and is exploited for humor for months on end. No variation. There is a fine line with humor that educates, creates compassion and allows us to laugh at ourselves and become better people. One great example outside monty python of course, is 'all in the family'. Carrol O'conner created a character that we knew was completely from a place of fear and if not checked could create devastating consequences personally and possibly on a greater scale. But he was also compassionate and we loved him. We see him -- with all the subtleties and complexities and we saw it out the gate. That is humor with genius. Today we are drowning in humor of hatred and bias - of fear and judgment - of apathy and self-righteousness - of propaganda and indoctrination - and we desperately need an infusion of genius.
What's going on? Did Big Think flip a 180 and decided to stop with the identity politic BS and start doing some more actual Big Thinking?
+homeycdawg Even some of the identity politics people are beginning to complain about being stifled by PC culture. Or to put it another way, it's cannibalizing itself. No idea if that's the case here, but it's possible.
+Bill Jacobs well to use a fantasy term from one of the fantasy novels I read when I was younger. Evil cannot create and is destined to destroy itself ( dragon lance trilogy xx something years ago )
***** On the contrary, I'm quite pleased that they are finally offering different points of views, because for the past year they've been pushing almost exclusively progressive views, which tend to be more "big feelings" rather than "big think".
Wow he just ASSUMES that God is a man in that joke. I am offended.
Time to change your thoughts
+Jesus Christ How dare you come here with your son of God privilege and harass this innocent child of Shrek and Nicki Minaj?!
Thank you John Cleese
"When you are around super sensitive people you cannot relax and be spontaneous because you have no idea what's going to upset them next. And that's why I've been warned recently don't go to most university campuses because the political correctness has been taken from being a good idea, which is let's not be mean in particular to people who are not able to look after themselves very well, that's a good idea, to the point where any kind of criticism of any individual or group can be labelled as cruel. And the whole point about humor, the whole point about comedy, and believe you me I have thought about this, is that all comedy is critical....If you start to say we mustn't criticize or offend them then the humor is gone. With humor goes a sense of proportion. And as far as I'm concerned you're living in 1984." -John Cleese
Very insightful, Mr. Cleese. I'm currently reading Orwell's classic, (and recently read his 'Animal Farm'. While he was describing Stalinism, how he describes it is looking awfully like a lot of our 'modern' world. They should be on everyone's reading list.
America vote trump or end up in 1984
People need to start differentiating between actual political correctness, and the "Political Correctness" American conservatives complain about. When American conservatives complain about "Political Correctness", most of the time they just mean "being nice to *different* people".
Well said!
"How do you make God laugh?"
"Tell him your plans."
Okay, that gave me a chuckle.
From what I've seen, people who whine about "political correctness" are just upset that people call them out for saying racist or homophobic things, this isn't a free speech issue, this is people bitching about others who don't agree with their bigotry. See: Donald Trump
+Ryan SJW detected.
+Ryan Like when police in Rotherham were afraid of being called 'racists' if they went after Muslim gangs raping 1,400 children? Or when people seeing suspicious activities by the San Bernadino shooters did not report it, because they feared being called 'racists'?
Political correctness kills.
Exactly 👍🏾😚😌
GodZirraAnim I love buzzwords too :)
+Ryan SJWs usually do.
Which one is your favorite?Cause you used three.
Bigotry.Racism.Homphobia.
All things I bet have a very fast and loose definition in your skull.
Or maybe it's privilege?Is that your favorite buzzword?
I've never heard the "Tell him your plans" joke before, and despite (or maybe due to) the general seriousness of the topic, it caught me off guard and made me laugh.
Thinking “it can happen” isn’t helping the problem. It doesn’t just happen one day.
A scholar, gentleman, and Python. Thank you for your wisdom and humor.
- A Silly Walk enthusiast. 😊❤
"Political correctness is political etiquette, not politics itself." - Robert Hughes.
Excellent!!
Sir Cleese, I love your mind and the work you did with Python and throughout your career and along with your colleagues is nothing short of brilliant, but we are living in 1984. Our nightmares became real and we are all rushing head first into anything that can take us away from the daily horror. This is where we are as a species, but those of us who wish to offend, to critique, to question, to search and find truth that exists regardless of source, of feelings, of sensibilities, we are required by our existence to never give in, never give up, and pull no punches. From one artist to another, I hug you.
John Cleese has been nailing it for decades.
Just reading "Brave new world" by Aldous Huxley and I had to check 3 times the date of realease - it is so spot on!
30+ years ago.
It was young people who were fighting older people for the right to say/do what they wanted.
Now it is the reverse.
Weird.
☮
Agreed
keeping in mind being critical is not the same as being hostile
Mr Cleese, That was so illuminating. It is true ... what a great communicator .