KILLING JOY

Derek Hunter


Remember when you could have fun at
someone else’s expense? Not in a mean-
spirited way, but in a fun way. Ribbing your
friends, your enemies, and just about anyone
you had a funny comment about was a time-
tested way of having a little fun in life. It
wasn’t personal, and nothing and no one was
off limits. That day is done.
The political correctness movement ruined
honest political discourse, funny movies and
decent sitcoms, and now it’s sucking the joy
out of everyday life for people uninvolved in
any of those things.
It may seem like a lifetime ago, but it was only
the 1970s when “Blazing Saddles” was made
and embraced by a culture simply looking to
laugh. It was offensive. It was silly. But most
of all it was funny. Same goes for “Airplane!”
Richard Pryor and George Carlin were mocking
people and cultures, and it was hilarious. Now
we are no longer ready to laugh; we’re ready
to be offended. No, we seem to crave being
offended.
Maybe there were a bunch of people in the
pre-Internet age with hair-triggers to outrage,
but licking a stamp and the speed of the U.S.
Post Office didn’t allow for them to mobilize
and terrorize people easily enough for it to
matter. But I somehow doubt it. Political
correctness had not yet sucked the fun out of
life, and people could laugh at themselves. But
the Internet has empowered these pathetic
loners to unite, connect with like-minded
parents’- basement dwellers, and form a cabal
of “thought policers” to demand subordination
and get it.
Plus, and most importantly, there wasn’t a
major political philosophy built on the concept
of dividing people to obtain power.
As progressives went from an unwashed few
in coffee shops in Manhattan and Berkeley to
unwashed hordes in elected offices,
newsrooms and tenured professorships, they
forged an Outrage Industrial Complex ready to
be offended on behalf of others. They were
quick to cry racism at any joke that involved
someone with different amounts of melanin.
They were quick to cry homophobia if the
target was gay. Actually, they’re just quick to
cry – and cry loudly enough to scare anyone
who simply heard crying and didn’t want to be
blamed for causing it.
Progressives took a nation that was getting
along pretty well and highlighted differences.
Rather than focus on what we all have in
common, they demanded we “celebrate
diversity. That celebration has mutated into a
club with which to pound anyone who steps
out of the line they’ve placed us in.
Political correctness was weaponized, then
monetized, and now it is the Sword of
Damocles hanging over everyone’s head, ready
to drop if we don’t use their approved
nomenclature.
There is an entire industry in the United States
of people who make a lot of money being
offended on behalf of others. Media Matters
for America employs an army of sad, lonely
people paid to spend their days consuming
media they despise in the hope they can find
something they can twist into a slight against
some victim group progressives have created.
Every ethnicity, sexual proclivity, religion,
body shape, etc., has a well-funded
organization claiming the mantle of leadership
on its behalf ready to jump (and fundraise)
should someone string together words in an
unapproved order. It’s pathetic.
There’s an effort to alter the First Amendment
moving through the Senate right now, but
there’s really no need for it. We, as a society,
have voluntarily forfeited the reason for it
already. The horse is dead; stop kicking it.
If you don’t use the proper hyphenate before
speaking of someone not sharing your skin
tone, you’re worse than Hitler. If you don’t
marinate in guilt over injustices committed
before your birth, and govern your life and
vocabulary accordingly, you might as well
tattoo “History’s Greatest Monster” on your
forehead.
Remember, “live and let live? It’s been
murdered. The “celebrate diversity” crowd
demands conformity of thought and language
and wields enough power to make life hell for
anyone who strays from the reservation.
I don’t hunt, despite my last name. I don’t get
those who do. That’s what grocery stores are
for.
But I respect those who hunt and eat what
they kill. And even though I don’t get it, I
realize I don’t have to. As such, I don’t
understand the idea of big-game hunting. I’ve
never looked at a beautiful animal and
thought, “I want to fly to the other side of the
planet and shoot one.” But again, I’m not
forced to engage in it. But the Outrage
Industrial Complex not only can’t fathom why
other people hunt, it won’t accept that they do
and it demands they stop.
Kendall Jones, a Texas college student, loves
hunting big game and spends a lot of money
flying to Africa to take part. I don’t get it, I’d
never do it, and I think it a rather bizarre
compulsion—even though the meat went to
others. But it’s her life and money.
That didn’t stop others from attacking her for
what she likes to do. They even started a
Facebook page calling for her to be killed . She
exists differently than I do or would, but it
would never occur to me to demand she not
live that way. But I don’t make my living
feigning outrage over things with which I am
not involved.
Axelle Despiegelaere is the latest target of the
Outrage Industrial Complex. She’s not a
politician or public figure, or even an
American. She’s just a Belgian soccer fan. The
attractive 17-year-old was photographed at the
World Cup and landed a modeling contract
with L’Oreal. An amazing story, right?
Well, it was. Now Axelle is yet another
cautionary tale.
Seems the 17-year-old beauty also is a hunter
and posted a picture of her over one of her
conquests to Facebook before the USA vs
Belgium game saying, “ready to hunt
Americans today haha.” Clearly a joke, but
joking isn’t allowed anymore.
The media has always found joy in building
people up, then knocking them down, but
they’ve never done it with such speed. Media-
created “outrage” over the photo already has
cost Axelle her gig with L’Oreal.
Live “wrong” and the Outrage Industrial
Complex will make sure your life is hell. Live
under their boot or else. It’s disgusting but not
at all surprising.
We live in a time of dichotomy. We’ve never
had more access to information and greater
ability to communicate our thoughts, but
we’ve never had more forces aligned against
us ready to destroy us for simply being
individuals.
I suspect this flirtation with fascism will be
temporary, that there will be a line crossed
that will have the vast majority of Americans
rebelling against it in the name of liberty. I
just hope that comes before the Outrage
Industrial Complex does kill the First
Amendment and codifies its will into law.