I am old, I am old, old, old.

Heh.

I suspect that it is the years that have worn away my edginess (if I ever had any) to find the soft and squishy center.

Or perhaps it is that there is a truly a generation of people who have come to maturity (of a sort) with a completely unregulated and unmoderated outlet for their Id, and rudeness and audacious ignorance are admired and rewarded over civility and educated discourse because they think that’s the way it should be?  Is it outrageous censorship just to ask people to be polite when it’s appropriate?  Should I admire someone who comes into my house and shits on my carpet just because he’s breaking a taboo?  Are there no taboos that must not be broken, not by artists or thoughtful people, but by people just looking for an excuse to act like assholes?    Maybe I’m really just get tired of trolls and trolling masquerading as irony or worthy humor.  Of people so cowardly and limp-dicked that they have nothing better to do than to anonymously slam anything and everything just for whatever atavistic thrill they must get out of it.

There’s a bunch of sites, some funny most not, that blast a bunch of manufactured rage against what, to me, are the wrong targets.  Especially against minorities, those with disabilities, or even, yes, web comic artists.  I read some really savage and mindless stuff out there, and it’s as though I somehow wandered into a drunken frat party for redneck morons, even on supposedly mainstream news and social networking sites.

I think of the comics  - the truly great, rude comics - who have always been funny.  Guys like Carlin, Foxx, Leary, Pryor, Murphy, Chris Rock - funny guys who cuss and are clever, and talk about things that are absurd in daily life or else attack hypocrisy and petty or grand injustices with biting satire.  Those guys always, in my opinion, piss off the right people: The smug, the cruel, the selfish, the powerful - the maliciously stupid, or the willfully ignorant.

I never saw them attack truly benign or harmless people or institutions, except to sometimes point up some silly or arbitrary thing that was just, well, funny.  When Maher attacks religion, it’s because he sees something genuinely destructive in the institution or the practice of it.  Agree or disagree, he’s at least got a point.  When Carlin made his seven dirty words list, he was talking about the arbitrary nature of language and communication.  He was breaking social taboos because he was making you think about why they’re there in the first place.  When Pryor uses the N word (which I, after a lifetime of social conditioning, still can’t bring myself to type) he was using it in a truly ironic way, and also in the context of his own experience and culture.  And these guys were so funny that even the people they pissed off couldn’t deny that they were funny.  And they started conversations and arguments, not just flame wars.

Yes, sometimes the socially acceptable behavior is a bit oppressive.  Sometimes people get offended too easily, and we go too far to avoid it.  But words do have an impact, even in this cynical world where we can consider articulate speech to be little more than a smooth lie.    True eloquence can communicate great ideas or profound concepts or motivate a generation to progress or to great deeds.  Conversely, a racial or religious slur that isn’t in context can ruin more than someone’s day.   Common decency shouldn’t be derided as being “politically correct,” especially if all you’re doing is acting out because you’re angry or ignorant and want to make someone else look stupid.

Anyway, that’s a bit of rambling, because it’s been in my head for a few days.

Also, naturally, I want to mention that you all are an extraordinary bunch, and it is always a pleasure to read your comments and conversations.  I do insist that we keep things civil here, and I am very appreciative of your willingness to do that.