Monday, August 13, 2007

Not Allowed to Mock Insensitivity

Wow! You can't win! The do-gooders are always telling us how bad "insensitivity" is and always condemn it vociferously but when a TV comedy show subjects insensitivity to mockery that is wrong too -- or so Australia's public broadcaster is learning:

"Advocacy groups are angry the first episode of the ABC's Summer Heights High contains a "rape joke" and cruel references to the handicapped. They want the references cut before the show airs next month.

The mockumentary's rape joke comes when a teacher says the school playground once had huge bushes. "But we had a girl raped behind them, so we had them removed and the kids have done an anti-rape mural, which is nice," he says.

The ABC's TV head of arts, entertainment and comedy, Courtney Gibson, said the target of the humour was the teacher, whose "bigotry and prejudices are exposed."

Source

It actually doesn't even sound all that insensitive to me. A bit thick, perhaps, but do we have to wail every time we mention something unpleasant?