Comedian Rowan Atkinson: Cancel Culture ‘Like A Medieval Mob’
British star has a long history of defending free speech against the language police
Published
2 weeks ago
on
5 January, 2021
Steve Watson
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
Rowan Atkinson, famous for portraying the characters Mr Bean and Blackadder, has once again hit headlines for slamming the rise of a destructive cancel culture.
In an interview with the UK’s Radio Times, Atkinson described online trolls trying to ban everything as “the digital equivalent of the medieval mob.”
“The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society,” he said.
“It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be ‘cancelled’,” the British comedian emphasised.
The Mr Bean creator fears for the long-term future of free expression https://t.co/PlJV5tr9dY
Atkinson also blasted social media, saying that it fills him with “fear about the future,” because it continues to lower tolerance for differing opinions, which widens divisions in society.
“What we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn,” Atkinson urged.
He noted that he has been on the end of the hate mob, not only owing to some of the skits in Mr Bean, many of which were written 30 years ago, but also because of his long history of standing up for free speech.
“It is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future,” Atkinson declared.
Atkinson opposed the introduction of so called ‘hate speech’ laws in 2005, describing the legislation as like taking “sledgehammer to crack a nut”.
At the time in 2009, Atkinson outlined where such moves to quell speech were heading, prophesising “a culture of censoriousness, a questioning, negative and leaden attitude that is encouraged by legislation of this nature.”
The comedian warned that it would only be “considerably and meaningfully alleviated by [a] free speech clause.”
“The clear problem of the outlawing of insult is that too many things can be interpreted as such. Criticism, ridicule, sarcasm, merely stating an alternative point of view to the orthodoxy, can be interpreted as insult,” Atkinson stated at the time during an impassioned defence of free speech:
In 2020, Atkinson was again targeted by the mob he speaks about when he publicly opposed Scotland’s ‘hate crimes’ bill, saying that it “risked stifling freedom of expression, and the ability to articulate or criticise religious and other beliefs”.
I looked to see why Rowan Atkinson is trending and it’s the usual. A comedian comes out in favour of free speech and is called ’problematic’. Forget the fact his career has been spent lampooning racists and fascism, that’s an inconvenient fact. He’s toxic now. Fuck off, Twitter.
Several other comedians have railed against the rise of cancel culture, including Monty Python star John Cleese, The Office creator Ricky Gervais, the ‘podfathers’ Joe Rogan and Adam Carolla, as well as Bill Burr and ‘politically incorrect’ star Dave Chapelle, to name just a few.
Cancel culture has seen some comedians self-censoring in order to appease the mob:
Great bit by @awilliamscomedy on how comedians play it safe to shield their careers from the outrage mob.
Comedy is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to cancel culture, however. There are signs that its tentacles are penetrating deeply into all aspects of society.
A recent study by leading education focused think tank Civitas revealed that free speech at the world’s leading universities is being eroded at an alarming rate.
The study found that within the past three years, more than 68 per cent of universities in the UK have seen free speech severely restricted, with academics unable to meaningfully discuss the nuances of issues such as race and gender.
The report notes that universities including Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews, three of the world’s premiere institutions are among those that have fallen into a “red” category for free speech following instances of “no platforming” of scheduled speakers.
The letter warned that cancel culture is creating a climate of risk aversion that is preventing anyone from dissenting from the monolithic consensus of social justice rhetoric, creating a “stifling atmosphere will ultimately harm the most vital causes of our time.”
San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images
Official figures out of San Francisco show that drug overdoses have killed almost four times more people than COVID-19 this year, and yet the government continues to hand out free needles to addicts.
“A record 621 people died of drug overdoses in San Francisco so far this year, a staggering number that far outpaces the 173 deaths from COVID-19 the city has seen thus far,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
“Many people overdosed in low-income apartment buildings and in city-funded hotel rooms for the homeless. Others died on sidewalks, in alleyways and parks around the city.”
Despite the deaths, the government continues to hand out some 5.8 million free syringes a year to drug users.
It also appears as though lockdowns have exacerbated illegal drug use throughout the state of California.
“Other areas of the state have seen a spike in drug use and overdoses amid lockdowns, including in Los Angeles County,” reports the Washington Examiner. “In 2013 in the county, fentanyl accounted for 3% of drug-related deaths. At the start of 2020, 42% of drug deaths were fentanyl-related in the area, and that number jumped to 51% when lockdowns were enacted in March.”
San Francisco’s homeless drug user problem is so chronic that in 2019, residents began desperately installing boulders on the side of streets in an effort to prevent camping.
A knock-on effect of the massive increase in the city’s homeless population has been the routine sight of feces on the street.
A 2019 study discovered that each case of poop that has to be cleaned up on the streets of San Francisco costs the taxpayer $32 dollars, with 118,352 recorded reports of human feces since 2011.
As we document in the video below, San Francisco is a shit-stained cesspool that is only getting worse, a situation increasingly being mirrored in other major Democrat-run cities across America.
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad gave a speech during which he slammed neoliberalism as being based on “total moral degeneracy” and representing the enemy of humanity.
Assad made the comments during a recent address at a mosque.
“Neoliberalism is based on promoting a total moral degeneracy and separating individuals from any principles or values and affiliations and beliefs in order to reach this moral degeneracy,” said the Syrian leader.
He went on to criticize the legalization of gay marriage and questioned why gay parents were allowed to adopt children.
Assad then criticized neoliberalism for creating the precedent that a child gets to choose his own religion when he becomes an adult and that he is not born into his family’s religion.
“This is against human nature,” said Assad, adding, “Ever since humans made their own idols and Gods, a child would instinctively belong to his family’s religion – they contradict humanity itself.”
After asserting that the push to legalize drugs was part of this drive towards moral degeneracy, Assad then turned his attention to gender.
“Neoliberalism now claims that a child is born and does not have a gender – the child chooses later to be a male or a female – very strange indeed!”
Assad concluded by saying, “Neoliberalism targets our humanity and by doing so it collides with religions because religions serve humanity while neoliberalism separates individuals from their values.”