Has the western world lost its sense of humour?

realitykeeper

The witch hunt following the Harvey Weinstein scandal has besmirched the reputations of men who have done little more than make casual contact with a woman. The smell of sour grapes is noticeable indeed. It seems that these days, if someone has a grudge or is in a bad mood, they can vent and reputations are ruined.

If a woman dresses in a provocative way in order to look attractive, the person she has dressed to impress (whether that person is known to her or whether he is the as yet unidentified Mr Perfect) may never approach her now because of the witch hunt. Of course, the obnoxious drunk who she does not want to attract will still pester her because the obnoxious drunk is still an obnoxious drunk.

This type of reporting on your fellow citizens reminds me of the Soviet Union during the cold war. The USSR always seemed to be a sad place where nobody ever had any fun. In those days James Bond used to have a sense of humour and plenty of one liners. Nowadays, he seems dour and hunourless.

The point being that as the west moves more towards a leftist/socialist position, it is becoming more like the way the USSR used to be.

Manach

I do not believe it has gone to the same levels as the Soviet Union, from what I read of the handling various dissidents and historians such as Michael Burleigh. But the tone resonates. There were humour magazines in the country, eg Krocodil, which lampooned the accepted topics which were deem by the party acceptable, Westerners and Capitialists etc. However other topics were deemed off limits, the Party, and any such humour was career ending if this ran afoul of the censor.
In the West now, there are no official censors as such. Instead there is a ticket of private hosting rules, eg Facebook code of conduct, and various hate speech laws which mean that the potential for offence is just as real and career threatening. On recent instance is the Count Dankula clip, where as a joke he taught his pug to do a Hilter salute. The court case for this offence is in its second year.

Pat Mustard

realitykeeper wrote: »

the person she has dressed to impress (whether that person is known to her or whether he is the as yet unidentified Mr Perfect) may never approach her now because of the witch hunt.

I see this as confined to the USA at the moment, although perhaps it will travel here too.

Harvey Weinstein is not a good example of the lack of fairness involved in trial by media but even he has not yet been arrested in relation to the complaints which were made against him.