The fight between the ancients and the moderns has always been going on. Reformers against conservatives, to arms!
These days, a wind of change is pushing “outdated” columnists and comedians out. Normal ! But old young and young old also collide in the merry melee. Some pipe heads are more fired up than others in every age group. Or frankly limited, green or gray. Go find yourself there.
One thing is certain, the collective spirit, flying over generational walls, espouses changes in society. Women, minorities have invaded the professional field. Human rights are (in principle) better respected than before in the West. In this social climate, many gags and insults become downright hackneyed, vomiting prejudice, rearguard rudeness, bias.
Hence the cry of revolt of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois against the columnist Gilles Proulx, who had launched names of birds to the deputies of Quebec solidaire – “bastards”, “junk”, “gangrenes” and other tweets – at the Richard Martineau broadcast on QUB radio. QS will not file a complaint, on second thought. Just a warning! But that resonated.
Yes, times are changing, and not always for the worse.
Social media celebrates the carnival of slander; the fact remains that on the airwaves, we become more circumspect. Remember that freedom of expression was also at stake in the Proulx affair. A lawsuit is sometimes lost. And then the real part is played elsewhere. No need for legal arguments and motions of censure in Parliament. Public tolerance, capital in the world of communications, will ultimately determine the fate of the Gilles Proulx of this world. If too many listeners get bored… If the game gets tough…
In Quebec, a guy like Jeff Fillion, who had become more of a nuisance than a bait for his Radio X, was chased by his victims and chased off the airwaves. He saw his bank assets frozen. Here he is stranded in a pirate radio like Robinson Crusoe. The moderator was in vain shouting at the censorship, his cord had broken.
Richard Martineau, however virulent towards wokism, had already sighed in front of his boss after Gilles Proulx had again spoken of “feathered cigarettes” and “big torches” at his microphone. THE jokes of mononcles of yesteryear oozing contempt for minorities and women pass less well than yesterday. So much the better ! No one reforms a character like Proulx, a sort of Captain Haddock at the Château de Moulinsart. We keep it a while longer, proforma, with its excesses, its archaisms, its chastised French and pursuits in its crosshairs. And we end up firing him as a dinosaur.
The comedians also made the breaststroke-ancestors at the Gala Les Olivier, where millennials have paid the head of their elders. Some flayed evening lost their sense of humor by being offended. They were not there to respond to this satire, it must be said. If they had been able to orchestrate their own number while making fun of the excesses of the woke movement, it would have been fair game. An intergenerational comic duel, why not?
As Dany Turcotte said to Everybody talks about itthe case will at least have raised a debate with repercussions on the next gala, which should be more inclusive next year.
The former jester of the king would no longer wish to perform on stage: “Too mononcle exceeded for that! However, this militant documentarist for LGBT rights seems to us much more sensitive than before. Turcotte specified that in another era, the production encouraged him to make this type of (mean) jokes to TLMEP. Note, he could have opposed it… The producers of this show are obviously launching a new message to the comedians on the set, like: “Take it easy! »
If he went back on the boards, Turcotte would be more on in his sketches, more refined than yesterday, having himself changed with the times. If he went mad again too.
Other comedians improve with age by renewing the genre or by making social changes the very subject of their shows. As for the veterans clinging stubbornly to their lost monounclitude, they had better drop the microphone before being quietly squeezed. Note: young shoots that are too dogmatic and puritanical stun the public accordingly. No one has a monopoly on the razor.
Mike Ward’s jokes about a minor handicapped person wouldn’t make many people laugh anymore. Nevertheless, the censorships of a too chilly time give hives to many spectators. We wish all these hilarious people to also learn acrobatic dance and to swing their company together.