The PC and Perpetually Offended Brigade

[Eoin McLove]

I agree.  There's a lack of creativity in much of today's comedy,  but that's probably always the case.  Interestingly,  I was listening to an interview with Stuart Lee last night and he was saying that there were alt-right types complaining that the Edinburgh Fringe festival was far too lefty and that right wing comedians weren't getting a look in and were being unfairly overlooked.  It turns out that nobody gets invited to that event.  Comedians book a venue,  show up and then perform to whoever decides to show up.  I found that very interesting.  I think that the lefty humour that endlessly makes fun of Trump (we get it,  he's retarded) is fairly redundant but then again,  if all the right has to offer is shock and outrage,  well that's equally unappealing to me.  I tend to like non- political comedy as it has far more scope for creativity and can really surprise you.  James Acaster is a recent enough discovery for me and his absurd,  but not too absurd (!), style cracks me up. I think the problem is that,  like most creative pursuits,  90% of comedy is total and utter diarrhoea.

[Trev]

The whole "haha Trump is an idiot!" thing in comedy got very old, very fast, but then the same thing happened when Bush was in office too.

I'm the same and tend to stick to non-political comedians these days,  stuff like James Acaster, David O'Doherty, Nick Helm

[Pedrito]

Yep, politics is literally the lowest common denominator, a sign, for the most part, of a complete lack of creativity or individuality. As for left or right comedy...well that goes back to my original point. Predictable, uninspired etc etc.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

A good comedian is a good comedian regardless of his political affiliations. You couldn't get more left-wing than Stewart Lee and he's a genius. Bill Burr does stuff which, I presume, is lapped up by the alt-right, but he's class too. There seems to be a new breed of comedian around, taken from within the ethnic minority groups, and they can get away with lots of stuff white comedians wouldn't. Loyiso Gola springs to mind, very funny and not easily placeable left or right.

[Pedrito]

Lee and Burr are very good, big fan of both, but they were doing their brand of comedy long before the current influx of wagon jumpers got on the scene. There are always shining lights, but I'm more referring to the type of comedy that just goes straight for it. Like a checklist of shit that every other b list comedian is talking about. I'm sssentially just talking about shit vs good comedians I suppose. Shit comedians in the past used love throwing around the race laden jokes. It became more sex based in the 90's an onwards. There were also the Bill Hicks clones. Right now it's the Donald Trump/racially insensitive schtick. Yadda yadda yadda, god be with the days etc...

[Juggz]

Other bands don't like his band, so boo hoo and a quick "All I ever wanted was a troll-free scene" 

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/imagine_dragons_frontman_reacts_to_corey_taylor__more_artists_trashing_his_band_it_has_added_to_the_depression_ive_dealt_with_since_youth.html

[Wiseblood]

He does come across as the sandiest vagina

[Eoin McLove]

Never even heard of this band. 

[Pedrito]

Shit band, deserve all the hatred and bullying they receive.

[Emphyrio]

John Boyne, the author of The Bot in the Striped Pyjamas, has a new book out which features a transgender character has had to shut down his Twitter because of the backlash he has received, for writing an article rejecting the term cis. The long and the short of it being he identifies as a man, not a cis man.

"I don't consider myself a cis man; I consider myself a man... I reject the notion that someone can force an unwanted term onto another."

I think that's a perfectly acceptable standpoint. As a gay man, he's faced enough hardship I imagine, and he's all for trans rights etc so I don't know what they're complaining about.

I'm not on Twitter myself but just picking one of the comments that seems to be the over-riding thinking... "John is not trans therefore this isn't his story to write."

Lord help us!!

[Eoin McLove]

Nonsense.  It sort of defeats the whole point of fiction.  That said,  I read A Ladder to the Sky,  and while I have enjoyed everything else I have read by him,  I thought this book was really poor.  Badly written,  half baked characters,  glaring plot, an appallingly clumsy denouement in one of the sections- oh no, I am now dying, I can't believe this is happening etc- primary school level writing.  The only thing holding it all together was a mildly diverting storyline, but it was ultimately shite.  Though how anyone might find it offensive, other than to the art of storytelling,  I'm not really sure.

[Emphyrio]

I just despair. I know it might be easier to just not let this stuff annoy me by ignoring it but fuckin hell, it's a world gone mad.

[Eoin McLove]

Never having been on Twitter and no longer being on Facebook really helps.  All the mad shit evaporates 

[Emphyrio]

I've actually eliminated that kinda stuff from Facebook through clever use of blocking/deleting. I should probably avoid The Journal too!

[Crow]

John Boyne, the author of The Bot in the Striped Pyjamas

Science fiction is it?