The recent spate of public Quran burnings, first in Sweden and now in Denmark, and Moslem countries calling in their ambassadors – as if these demonstrations were state-sponsored – goes to the very core of the freedom of expression debate, though with an interesting twist. It’s one thing to say we will not tolerate blasphemy in our own country – all three of our religions of the Book have had a turn at this – but it’s quite another to say we will not tolerate blasphemy in your country either. Or, what seems to be in the offing, we will not tolerate in our own country what they would not tolerate our tolerating in our own country, even though, but for their not tolerating it, we would tolerate it.

There was a time, in the halcyon days of Western liberalism, that all is permitted save what is prohibited, and the latter required a preponderance of evidence of a high likelihood of either direct harm or incitement thereto. Hence Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses, and cartoon mockery of the Prophet, was tolerated, in fact celebrated by some, here in the West. Those days are over. That a complainant is merely offended is now sufficient, both in the classroom, and now abroad.

But the worst of Wokeism is the death of humour. If I can’t make fun of tablets that are transcribed and then magically disappear, then neither can Jesus say, “Peter, I can see your house from here!” Once Jesus jokes are gone, the next to fall will be all Jewish humour. And if Dave Chapelle is already on the chopping block, can Ned Flanders be far behind?

Let’s hope Hegel is right, that the Woke Inquisition bears the seeds of its own destruction. If Jesus didn’t make the woman at the well laugh then he wasn’t Jewish, and if he wasn’t Jewish, then theologically Christianity makes no sense. People catch on. A knock-down proof that Christianity makes no sense would be if no one were allowed to say Christianity makes no sense.

Too quick. The proof that Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” is on to something is that the Woke went ballistic over it. So no-platforming cuts sometimes this way and sometimes that. And sometimes both ways.

I understand blasphemy laws. If your Prophet or Saviour is open to being ridiculed by her fellows, it’s harder for the believer to take her Prophet or Saviour seriously. And in a theocracy, contempt for the mosque or church breeds contempt for the sultan or king. The dialectic is identical in the purportedly secular West. To make fun of a ‘vulnerable’ person is to deny the moral and political legitimacy of her protectors. And that just is insurrection.

So what’s emerging – for which I thank God – is a third-order sense of humour. “What’s black and blue and doesn’t like sex? The four year old in my trunk.” First-order it’s morally outrageous. Second order it’s outrageously inappropriate. But third order it’s prohibited, which makes sharing it all the more irresistable and delightful.

The soon-to-be demise of Wokeism is that they are oblivious to the sine qua non of our being what we are. If we’re in a wheelchair we may no longer be homo erectus. If we’re severely Down’s Syndrome we may not count as homo sapien. If we’ve outgrown what Richard Dawkins calls the God Delusion we may no longer be homo religioso. But if “That’s not funny, and neither is anything else!”, then we’re no longer homo humoroso. And if we’re no longer homo humoroso we’re no longer human beings.

Categories: Everything You Wanted to Know About What's Going On in the World But Were Afraid to Ask, Humour, Social and Political Philosophy

Tags: Dave Chapelle, Jason Aldean, liberalism, Ned Flanders, Quran, Richard Dawkins, Salmon Rushdie, wokeism