'Stupidly politically correct society is the death of comedy', warns veteran comedian Mel Brooks

UK Telegraph ^

[ameribbean expat]

society's "stupidly politically correct" sensibilities will lead to the "death of comedy", the veteran Hollywood comedian Mel Brooks has warned.

Brooks, known for his plethora of acclaimed comedy movies, said political correctness was becoming a stranglehold on comedians.

"It's not good for comedy. Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks," he said.

"Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering in the king's ear, always telling the truth about human behaviour."

The producer and director said that his iconic western parody Blazing Saddles could not be made in today's political climate.

[ameribbean expat]

Blazing Saddles. Best comedy ever.

[ifinnegan]

Brooks has always been a big liberal.

You reap what you sow, Melvin.

[Sasparilla]

“The sheriff is a...the sheriff is a...”

[DiogenesLamp]

Blazing Saddles could not be made in today’s climate.

[DoughtyOne]

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The so-called birthright citizenship clause:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

There are two tests here.  

Lets look at test one.

Here's how Leftists read it.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

Does this grant citizenship to all persons born in the United States?

On the face of it no.  It doesn't even come close to saying that.

The inclusion of an additional stipulation in addition to simply being born on our soil, renders this a false premise.  All persons are not granted citizenship for having been born here, without being judged to be under the jurisdiction thereof.

For this reason, it is a false premise to state every person born in the United States is a citizen.

Now lets look at test two.

...and subject to the jurisdiction thereof...

Leftists love to claim that illegal aliens must abide by the laws of the United States (all except immigrating legally, I presume).  This they use as primafacia evidence that illegals aliens "...are subject to the jurisdiction thereof,...".

Is that true?  NO, and it's a very easy thing to test.

The very inclusion of this verbage in the amendment deligitimizes this claim.

If being on U.S. soil made illegal aliens "...subject of the jurisdiction thereof..." all by itself, this further stipulation would not have been provided.

If all illegal aliens were subject to the jurisdication thereof, the Citizenship claus would read, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Jurisdiction language would not be necessary, and it would not have been included.

The jurisdiction language had to be addressing something different than merely being present in the United States, when being born.

Conclusion:

The 14th Amendment does not grant citizenship to illegal aliens born on U.S. soil.

[BlueStateRightist]

That’s the irony. Jewish comedians helped create politically incorrect comedy. Along with black comedians, they mastered it. Now both groups are destroying free speech.

[EEGator]

Seconded.

[Michael.SF.]

Every black person I have ever talked to about this movie(that may be three all totaled) loved the movie.

Any black Freepers care to weigh in?

[EEGator]

Why are you spamming threads?

[freefdny]

I saw a special screening of Young Frankenstein where Mel Brooks spoke afterwards this summer. He spoke and answered questions for over an hour. It was great and he was very funny.

[BlueStateRightist]

I have personally met and spoken with Mel Brooks. He’s the same guy as he appears in the movies. He’s a funny human being to the core.

[stylin19a]

Charlie: They said you was hung.
Bart: And they was right.

[Jamestown1630]

My husband saw this thread, and is lining up Blazing Saddles to watch again. It’s one of the funniest movies ever made.

[boop]

Yes, Mel Brooks is a super liberal.

That is WHY he made Blazing Saddles.

His intention was to make fun of prejudice and racism.

I'd say he did a great job with his movie.

Really, a KKK member, or a Black Panther circa 1974 HAD to find it funny.

As did normal people.

He even makes fun of himself and his Jewish heritage with the Indian chief character who speaks Yiddish, and is a big-time racist.

Self-deprecating humor can be very hilarious.

Too bad we're living in 1984, the book.

Not 2017.

Not 1974, either.

[rey]

Brooks was a draftee and a veteran of the Bulge. Supposedly defused land mines.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Oh hell no, so much for being “liberated” by “liberals”. Humor comes from the word “human” and God forbid we should celebrate the beauty of our differences. Rather, pointing them out is now considered “hate” no matter what the context. I blame this ALL on the Republican party that does NOTHING to confront the constant tidal wave of propaganda by the left with this sh*t. Kids are constantly exposed to it and never ever hear an opposing point of view. Our schools are constantly allowed to pollute them, our media is never exposed, and criminals are propped up.

[DoughtyOne]

I had two workups in my editing program.

Before posting these, I went back and copied a post that was in HTML. It was the wrong one.

I caught it, but not until I’d posted it about ten times.

I contacted the Moderator and asked to have them all deleted.

Sorry. Folks reading this, I apologize.

[ameribbean expat]

“Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering in the king’s ear, always telling the truth about human behaviour.”

And that’s what the Left can’t handle. Who will make The Great Comedy about the American Left...reductio ad absurdum?

Mel Brooks? Doubt it. Always hardest to recognize the faultlines in your own world. Somebody new, following in the footsteps of Andrew Breitbart and James OKeefe. I’ll be watching though, when they do.

All I know is ridicule is a powerful and as yet unleashed weapon. But when it is unleashed on the American Left, Netflix traffic will soar.

[mylife]

The guy is still right.

Blazing Saddles was a side splitting riot.

[Gen.Blather]

My final job, which was at a Fortune 500 defense company, required all employees to sign a contract. It was a multi-page “ethics” statement. It had nothing to do with ethics but covered such topics as what you could and could not talk about at work. There could be no discussion involving religion, race, and a few other topics. Another clause stated that, “I will not, under any circumstances, tell a joke.” When I asked the HR lady why she answered with a wide-eyed expression, “You have NO idea who you might offend!” I wanted to say, “Well, I really don’t care.” But I knew that was a walk-out-the-door statement and I needed the money.

Although the company was very professional, it was the most oppressive place I ever worked. Incidentally, how’s this for irony? The company was doing something so illegal that the only way they could avoid being shut down was to sell the company. So much for “ethics.” (They had a large percentage of contractors. They were adding burden on the contractor’s billed hours instead of simply passing them through with a markup. I told my boss about this during my second week, after I had seen my project numbers. He said, “Stop! Don’t tell me this. Don’t send a memo. I have to maintain plausible deniability.”)