Here―and once again, apologies for not being able to embed non-YouTube videos―is a stand-up bit that was quite celebrated when it first came out. Louis CK is a talented comic who has since been exiled from polite society for behavior that could be called sexual harassment but might be better characterized as "being a moron."
But this routine was hailed as brilliant and insightful, in a way that always rankled me. Because already, people seemed to have stopped asking questions.
First of all, if someone says that they're privileged because "I can get into a time machine and..." well, the question that raises is, "What time machine? Where is there a time machine?"
And any time of history? Not if you land someplace ruled by Genghis Khan and his Mongol Empire, friend. For that matter, you wouldn't get far in Ancient Rome speaking this barbarian Teutonic tongue. It doesn't really make sense to talk about white supremacy on a global scale before the start of the sixteenth century when the powers of Western Europe started expanding across the oceans.
The thing is, if you say that group X has always wound up on top at any time in history, that's not very different from saying that group X is innately superior.
2 comments:
I knew about Louis CK from the furore that erupted a couple of years ago but I hadn't seen him perform until now. I can't say his routine amused me, particularly because he reminded me of a diminished version of George Carlin, certainly without the insight and intelligence, and without Carlin's (never mind Richard Pryor and Lennie Bruce), abilty to ask people to question the failures of their own biases.
You're right about his lack of historical perspective in this routine too and your examples ring true. For instance, not many people nowadays are aware of the Barbary slave trade that lasted about 250 years and enslaved more than a million European Christians.
George Carlin had a rare quality among comedians in that he came off as truly independent. Despite orienting his output toward the counterculture, he wasn't convinced of the inherent rightness of any side and didn't feel the need to hold back on what he thought about sacred cows. This quality, as I say, is rarer than it should be. It's necessary if you want to tackle fraught subjects without pandering.
I had forgotten about the Barbary slave trade. Or at least I didn't think to mention it. It's not really a pleasant topic, but it is interesting. Slavery seems to have been a point of competition at some points in history.
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