So when Carr said, ‘Say what you like about these servicemen amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan, but we’re going to have a fucking good Paralympic team in 2012’, guess how those present responded? Did their jaws drop, aghast at a comedian’s insensitivity towards the British Army? Did others simply wheel themselves out in disgust? No. They laughed. And they laughed because they were at a comedy gig listening to jokes.
All it took though was for one person to decide that it was offensive, and from then on the gusts of proxy outrage keep the thing moving. (…)
Even Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington ought not to be beyond the purview of comedians, despite the BBC Trust recently criticising news satire programme Mock the Week for precisely that: making fun of Adlington. Frankie Boyle described her as resembling ‘someone who’s looking at themselves in the back of a spoon’. Cruel, yes, given her long, droopy nose and small, recessive forehead, but funny too, given her long, droopy nose and small, recessive forehead.
PLUS:
An atheist explains why his fellows hate Mother Teresa — and scolds them for their fixation on her. A must-read.
