by Peter Löcke //
"Disabled people also have a right to be made fun of."
The provocative statement comes from the mouth of Herbert Feuerstein. Who doesn't remember the cabaret artist and journalist who died in October 2020? Feuerstein was editor-in-chief of the satirical magazine MAD for many years, known to most people as the congenial partner of TV legend Harald Schmidt. Even in more relaxed times, the much-quoted sentence sparked a public debate about the supposed limits of humor.
The relaxed times are over. Political correctness and cancel culture are on everyone's lips. Today, the question is not whether I can make a joke about disabled people. Today, the question is what word I should use instead of "disabled". Disabled people or rather people with disabilities? Access to modern events is no longer disabled-friendly. It is called barrier-free, of course. However, the events themselves are full of barriers. Can a senior dance troupe wear kimonos and sombreros? at the BUGA in Mannheim? The case is currently causing a stir in Germany. How much varnish did those responsible drink to want to ban such a harmless costume? Will sombreros soon be followed by nachos, tortillas and tequila?
De gustibus non est disputandum. You can't argue about taste. So there is much debate about taste. Especially when it comes to the serious topic of taste, humor, a real cultural dispute has broken out. What may and must humor do and what is forbidden? What is funny and what is not? As is so often the case, the truth lies in the eye of the beholder. The truth lies in the viewer's judgment and expectations. Some people like wet carnival humor and a musical background to encourage clapping and laughter. The other likes dry English humor. Black and nasty. I prefer the latter, but who am I to explain and dictate to another person what they should find funny. Political humor is where it gets really exciting. With satire and cabaret. Here I am less cautious and less cautious.
Be careful with Uwe Steimle and Lisa Fitz. They were initially considered controversial. Nowadays, it is important to keep a democratic distance from controversial people. You have to distance yourself from such people under public law, i.e. dissolve the employment relationship by mutual agreement. Steimle was suspected of being close to the AfD. Alt-leftist Fitz was suspected of being a Corona lateral thinker. Dieter Nuhr and Lisa Eckhart are currently considered controversial. The outcome of this humor war is open. I'm particularly worried about Eckhart. A woman who dresses, shows and feels confidently as a woman? An Austrian woman with intellect who makes fun of climate stickers and woke excesses? Highly suspicious for the predominantly left-wing language and humor police. A thorn in the side of the Böhmermanns of this world. Here, I confess, I'm becoming a policeman myself, even though it's repugnant to me.
The self-proclaimed satirist Jan Böhmermann, the state queer commissioner Sven Lehmann, the journalist Georgine Kellermann. It amuses me that so many fighters against the patriarchy and against binary thinking have the syllable "mann" in their surname. Is it my place to criticize the seven-time Grimme Prize winner Böhmermann? Of course. I criticize anyone who calls children rats, insults women as turds and calls a Turkish president a goat-fucker. I am ashamed to have to quote such verbal derailments verbatim. Where has the subtle humor of Loriot gone? Where has the courage, quick-wittedness and intelligent sharpness of Harald Schmidt gone? The Harald Schmidt who foresaw that a Böhmermann would go far as a riot box.
A comedian should be a jester. A jester with the freedom to be a fool. Anarchic, crazy and uncomfortable. The most important thing, however, is that the jester should criticize the royal family and not the common people. That hardly ever happens anymore.
So I was all the more pleased that it happened at this year's FAZ congress. A who's who of politicians and prominent experts were invited. Olaf Scholz was there to explain the turning point. The military expert Carlo Masala, who was passed around on talk shows, was there to talk about the Ukraine war from a NATO perspective. Melnyk was there to ...? No. I didn't watch that. The interviews were conducted in an uncritical to obsequious manner. So far. So normal. So planned. What wasn't planned was the appearance of court jester Harald Schmidt as an intermission filler because the chancellor's plane was late. Enjoy the 15-minute performance. My personal highlight?
"As soon as you are in favor of arms deliveries and war operations, you are pushed into such a green corner."
FAZ presenter Helene Bubrowski had a hard time pulling Harald Schmidt off the stage. What he said did not correspond at all to the basic moral tone of the other protagonists at the congress, which was dripping with lectures and political alternatives.
Morality and humor are not compatible. The natural enemy of humor is moralism. That was also Feuerstein's motivation, the reason for his provocative sentence about the disabled. I well remember how much an acquaintance of mine, who was in a wheelchair, laughed at the statement. My disabled friend had the same sense of humor and the same attitude as Herbert Feuerstein.
"I'm suspicious of people who wrap their morals in a napkin to avoid getting themselves dirty."
Articles identified by name do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher.
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5 Responses
Wie man das opportunistische Medien-Chamäleon Nuhr und Lisa Eckart in einem Atemzuge nennen kann, erschließt sich mir nicht … ich intressiere mich für beide nicht sonderlich. Aber sollte der Opportunist Nuhr jetzt auch „umstritten “ sein, hat er doch wieder sein Ziel erreicht, öffentliches Interesse zu wecken. Armes Deutschland!
Once again, you've stung and stirred up a veritable wasps' nest with wonderful accuracy! Wonderful instinct!
Humor is the open button that prevents you from bursting your collar ....
The cover picture is cute - did he tell her a good joke about monkeypox? I would recommend that the senior dance troupe cancel their performance and suggest to the Buga management that they now call themselves the Bundesgartenzwergschau - or is that already taking place in Berlin?
(im Regierungsviertel ? eines der Felder, wo politischer Humor immer genug Themen finden kann.) Steimle, Fitz : „umstritten“ ? super, die beste Werbung – dann hört man ihnen gerade deswegen zu – und den vielen anderen, die Standvermögen hatten und haben wie Monika Gruber, Helmut Schleich, Reinhard Mey, Nena ,….. ~~Böhmermann ist nicht umstritten – jemand nannte ihn mal einen Mainstream-Callboy und das triffts ganz gut. Grimmepreisträger x 7 ? das sagt was aus über den Stellenwert desselben und andere Preis-träger (hat einer von denen ihn zurückgegeben ? )
Humor is when you laugh anyway, and morality and humor are like sodium and water. What has happened over the past few years - Prof.
Bolz called it a pandemic of fear; and indeed there was and is a plague going around the world: moralism - the natural enemy of humor, as Mr. Löcke so aptly writes. However, the sticky, smelly moral roundup can do nothing against the prickly, resistant humor plant that keeps breaking through cracks, crevices and harmless dry soil, making it almost foolish for the
all the spiritual and virtue guardians of our time. ***for a good night*** another poem by Joachim Ringelnatz :
(slightly modified_ he agrees...) with coronavirus headlines,
Monkeypox rocks,
Gonococcus kieken,
Morels are echoing,
even pores have ears !
.
In our society, we are experiencing a sustained radicalization of people who go with the flow. Seemingly a contradiction, but the exclusion of dissenters through what is called cancel culture is fundamentalism of the majority. This mindset believes that it is impossible to be wrong. That makes it highly dangerous. The rejection of dialog within society is deeply undemocratic and inhumane. A healthy development of a community becomes impossible - not only in a cultural and political sense. The parallel abolition of market mechanisms and restrictions on freedom rights in economic life lead to an unstoppable loss of prosperity for the broad masses and favor those who want to promote monopolies. Harald Schmidt is a real ray of hope, who knows, maybe he retired back then for good reasons. When Wei Wei left Berlin some time ago, I also thought he had understood. He certainly had to develop fine antennae in China.
Ich lach‘ immer an der“falschen“Stelle.Als junger Erwachsener in lockerer Runde bei ZDF-Comedy“warum lacht ihr da, das ist überhaupt nicht lustig!?“.Schon als 12jähriger im Kinderkino, plötzlich klatschen alle und ich bin genervt, „das kriegt auf der Leinwand doch eh keiner mit!“.Heute verstehe ich das, die waren als Kinder schon“umerzogen“und ich war noch nicht einmal richtig“angezogen“.Eine Ahnung bekam ich durch eine Kurzgeschichte des Neurologen Oliver Sex:Authisten lachen das TV aus..“…weil alle lügen!“.Es ist die kindlich,natürlich befreiende Reaktion auf Widersinn,oder „kognitive Dissonanz“,werd ich nicht los.Ich war schon immer“schlauer“und zugleich“dümmer“als die anderen.Merkt erst keiner hehe…“sehr schlau“…bis ich dann an der falschen Stelle lache,oh oh…
As soon as one is against arms deliveries and war operations, they are already for it again...