Publications
Partners
When
critiquing comedians, particularly when critiquing offensive comedians, you
might come across the phrases "punching down" and "punching up".
Any
comedian can punch down - target people
who are already oppressed and marginalised and make them the butt of their
jokes. It’s an easy and lazy way to impress, as where they lack in skill they
can make up for in being "shocking" and "offensive".
A truly
great comedian will focus on "punching up", targeting those who are in power,
elevated by society into a higher position than the comedian. These comedians
will be focussed on shocking and offending those who are privileged and unused
to having their worldviews challenged.
While there
are always going to be those who believe jokes are just jokes, the importance
of comedy is often overlooked. Comedians can help change the world for the
better, or they can help bully people who are already bullied by society at
large.
So if a comedian
wants to use their comedy to make a positive difference in the world, (or at
least not make an actively negative difference) the direction they're punching
is going to be a genuine concern for that comedian. Basically, they won’t want
to use their platform to kick the underdog.
I've been
thinking that this is a concern that all of us should consider adopting.
In the
social networking age, the way we choose to communicate with each other is
becoming more relevant than ever. Like never before, we can meet and speak to
people who are from all walks of life, from all over the world, and from every
social circle you can imagine.
What this
should mean for humanity is that those who are used to having their biases and
prejudices reinforced by living in an echo chamber should be learning how
others think.
It should
help those who are privileged, who are used to having their stories being told,
who are used to being lifted up as heroes and main characters, to see and hear
and understand the stories of those who are less represented, and how those
less privileged experience the world.
Unfortunately,
a lot of people don’t want to listen. They just want to shout.
Today is a
great day to witness people all around the world punching down. In particular,
you should be able to see white people punching down at black people.
With the
Ferguson decision, many people are horrified and upset, and justifiably so.
Mike Brown’s family has been denied justice for his murder, his murderer
allowed to carry on with his life without even standing trial.
If you look
in the Twitter mentions or at the Facebook comments of almost any person
expressing horror, sadness, grief and shock about this, it’s filled with white
people either trying to claim nothing’s wrong, or acknowledging something’s
wrong but telling black people how they must respond to it.
Right now,
a message has been sent to black Americans that their lives don’t matter, and that
justice will not be pursued when those lives are taken away from them. And instead of realising how badly racism affects real
people and doing something to help in the fight against it, hordes of white
people are telling black people to shut up and accept things the way they are.
Martin
Luther King is being pulled out and paraded about like some sort of grotesque
zombie puppet, his quotes used to remind black people that they should be
peaceful and nice and not riot. Of course, Martin Luther King was peaceful, and
that didn't stop him from being murdered.
Black
people are hurting. Yet again, they’re being abused, justice denied them. They
don’t need white people to come along and punch down at them. They don’t need
lectures on how to behave. They need to be listened to and acknowledged.
If you're
white and you’re planning on trying to ‘splain why shooting a kid is actually justified, how
about you just don't? If you’re white and planning on trying to ‘splain what
the "correct" reaction to this should be, how about don't? How about, instead,
going after those who are continuing to allow these things to happen?
Let’s not
punch down. Let’s punch up.
Follow Laura on Twitter or visit her blog.
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
