I’m old enough to remember when joking about the president of the United States made you a racist. I made fun of him anyway, for a living, and a lot of people didn’t like it. But at least nobody ever called the cops on me.
Lisa O’Donnell, Winston-Salem Journal:
The Surry County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a comment made by a North Surry High School student about President Donald Trump during an improv performance.
The comment was made on Wednesday morning during a sketch about jobs in the White House in front of about 45 students in the school’s media center…
The school system did not reveal what the student said, but described it as in “poor taste.”
Maybe it went something like this:
Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Donald Trump.
Donald Trump who?
You gotta be kidding, literally everybody on the planet knows that name.
Okay, probably not. It must’ve been funnier than that, or it wouldn’t have offended anybody.
Hat tip to Robby Soave at Reason, who notes:
This is one of the dangers of having police in schools in the first place: Minor disciplinary matters that should be addressed by parents, teachers, and councillors end up getting handled by the cops. And the police influence makes it much more likely that misbehaving teens will find themselves unnecessarily involved in the criminal justice system.
That’s true. It’s also a sign of the times, in that nobody has a sense of humor about their own team anymore. Dave Chappelle tells some funny jokes about the LGBTQRSTUV community, and everybody goes to battle stations. Shane Gillis says some stupid stuff about Asian people, and he gets fired from SNL before he even starts. Some high school kid in North Carolina tells a Trump joke, and the other kids’ parents literally call the police.
And the worst part is, the cops didn’t just laugh and hang up!
Here’s another idea: Instead of dialing 911 when you hear a joke you don’t like, why not lighten up instead? A joke is just a joke. Your feelings are just your feelings. Nobody is hurting you unless you decide to stay hurt. Get over yourself.
Okay, go ahead and yell at me now. Obviously, it’s the only thing that makes your pain go away for a little while.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member