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Comedian Rowan Atkinson: Cancel Culture ‘Like A Medieval Mob’

British star has a long history of defending free speech against the language police

Published

4 months ago

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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.

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”.

Atkinson also opposed the introduction of homophobic ‘hate speech’ clauses into UK law in 2009.

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.”

In 2012, Atkinson further railed against “insulting” behaviour being classed as a criminal offence.

“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”.

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:

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.

Last year, 150 of the world’s top intellectuals, authors and activists signed an open letter decrying leftist cancel culture, censorship and the totalitarian march of “ideological conformity.”

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.”

In the US, the Deputy Secretary of The Department of Homeland Security also recently warned that the actions of tech companies in embracing cancel culture, and censoring opinions they do not agree with constitutes a “grave threat to national security.”

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Roger Daltrey: The ‘Woke’ Generation is Creating a Miserable World

“It’s terrifying.”

Published

14 hours ago

on

5 May, 2021

Dave J Hogan via Getty Images

The Who legend Roger Daltrey says the ‘woke’ generation is creating a miserable world that serves to stifle the kind of creative freedom he enjoyed in the 60s.

The iconic frontman made the comments during a recent appearance on Zane Lowe’s Apple Music 1 podcast.

“I don’t know, we might get somewhere because it’s becoming so absurd now with AI, all the tricks it can do, and the woke generation,” said Daltrey.

“It’s terrifying, the miserable world they’re going to create for themselves. I mean, anyone who’s lived a life and you see what they’re doing, you just know that it’s a route to nowhere,” he added.

The singer noted how he was lucky to have lived through an era where freedom of speech was encouraged, not silenced.

“Especially when you’ve lived through the periods of a life that we’ve had the privilege to. I mean, we’ve had the golden era. There’s no doubt about that,” he said.

Daltrey also slammed the negative impact that social media has had on the world, saying it has undermined truth.

“It’s just getting harder to disseminate the truth. It’s almost like, now we should turn the whole thing off. Go back to newsprint, go back to word of mouth and start to read books again,” he said.

While Daltrey’s comments may not be mind-blowing, any celebrity speaking out against the mob that has cannibalized culture is something to be applauded.

Once again, this only tends to happen with older celebrities who have already passed their peak of fame and entered icon status. They are beyond cancellation.

For any up and coming celebrity, or even one who is at the top of their game, to question ‘generation woke’ is career suicide.

Which makes it all the more ludicrous to continue to see identitarians, notably the LGBT movement, continue to claim they are ‘fighting oppression’ when their mantras are echoed by every cultural institution, media outlet and corporate entity in the west, while anyone who utters a whimper of dissent is swiftly cancelled.

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“What Are the Symptoms of Chlamydia” Most Googled Sex Question as STDs Soar

Searches asking about STD testing quadruple.

Published

1 week ago

on

26 April, 2021

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As STD rates soar in America, new data has revealed that the most popular sex question over the last year was, “What are the symptoms of chlamydia?”

Disgusting.

Research by health clinic From Mars finds that the search term racked up more than 2 million hits in 2020 while searches for “STD testing near me” also quadrupled between April 2020 and the end of the year.

“Search queries are an X-ray into the public psyche, and when it comes to sex and relationships, we may have some issues,” reports Axios.

As we highlighted last week, the search data correlates with the continuing rise of STD cases in America.

Sexually transmitted diseases hit a record high for the sixth straight year, with CDC researchers finding a 30 per cent increase in STDs from 2015 to 2019.

According to the latest data, 2.5 million Americans had either chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis infections in 2019, with chlamydia cases rising 61 per cent and gonorrhea cases spiking 42 per cent among young people aged 15 to 24.

Meanwhile, early data on searches for 2021 indicates that more relationships are breaking down, with queries for “What is ghosting?” having doubled between November 2020 and February this year.

Maybe all that promiscuous, STD riddled, sexual degeneracy has got something to do with it.

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Carla Bruni: Cancel Culture is “Seeking to Invade Humanity”

Slams phenomenon as a “puerile” attack on real culture.

Published

2 weeks ago

on

22 April, 2021

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Famous fashion model Carla Bruni has slammed cancel culture as a “puerile” attack on authentic culture that seeks to “invade humanity.”

Bruni shot to global prominence after she married French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008, but she had a successful career in modeling and the music industry beforehand.

Bruni made the comments in the context of an Instagram post dedicated to two deceased French comedians, Michel Colucci and Pierre Desproges. The pair were popular in the 1980’s but wouldn’t be allowed to perform their act now due to political correctness.

“Obsessed by their image [as] upholders of morality, a whole load of people without culture, without experience and without courage are trying to impose their narrow-minded ideas on us,” wrote Bruni.

“Their sterile, uniform and puerile ideas are seeking to invade humanity,” she added.

Bruni didn’t mince words when she asserted that cancel culture was killing satire, freedom and democracy itself.

“If we have the misfortune not to think like [the cancellers], they rush at us with all their dictatorial energy to try to make us be quiet. Humour is quietly disappearing as a result of their moralising speeches, freedom is in its death throes, creation is lifeless and democracy in great danger. In short, it is not good to joke in 2021 and it is certain they would have had your skin.”

The comments echo similar sentiments expressed by Rowan Atkinson earlier this year, when the actor and comedian described online trolls trying to ban everything as “the digital equivalent of the medieval mob.”

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