Bob Collins
The Three Stooges made comedy by poking fun at Hitler. Is ISIS off limits?
Saturday Night Live pushed the envelope over the weekend when it presented this parody of Toyota’s Super Bowl ad.
David Gianatasio, at AdFreak, says Americans should be able to take it.
Western teenagers and young adults (like Jihadi John) who choose to join extremist groups only recently hit global headlines. We’re in new and unfamiliar territory, processing gut-wrenching details and struggling, as individuals and as a society, to understand.
That’s why the debate is so important. And so wonderful. We should never have to reach a “safe place” or stoop to group think as we parse provocative concepts. SNL is free to say whatever it wants, and viewers are equally free to express their agreement or take umbrage. Jousting in the marketplace of ideas, defending our opinions with fierce passion—that’s what America is all about. Or should be all about, at any rate.
But SNL sustained a withering barrage of criticism on social media from people who said there’s nothing funny about ISIS.
