Comedy in America won’t really die, die as in dead, ceasing to exist, under Trump’s punitive censorship. By now those paying attention have seen clips of late-night comedians standing up for free speech and perhaps seen interviews with experts explaining why strongmen try to censor satire and humor which mocks them. You may have read articles like Why Dictators Don't Like Jokes, Dictators Seem Strong, But They Can't Take a Joke, and Comedy as a Revolution: Why Tyrants Have No Defense Against Laughter.
In “The Oldest Warning Sign: How History Links the Death of Comedy to the Death of Democracy” Thom Hartman wrote about the lesson of history and dictatorial censorship of comedy today.
There’s no need to expound on the “why” related to Trump and his anti-jokester juggernaut. I use that word deliberately because it has been most often associated with the Nazis in modern times.
Now it is used in reference to Trump:
Perchance AI seemed to have an opinion as to what was happening here in the United States with comics. Below is the first set of illustrations I got asking for “many dead clowns on the ground in a circus ring.”
As you can see it in the center bottom image there are seven clowns on the circus floor and eight in the dark in the background. I took one of the standing clowns in the upper right illustration and moved him into the one which I used to be the only featured clown still standing.
AI, the machine intelligence, put the clowns in the dark in the wings waiting to go on. I didn’t ask for this.
Attributing creative human thought to the computer, I’d say the “artist” wanted to convey the idea that the clowns behind the curtain are watching and waiting to see what happens to the daring performer before they go on.
If my brave clown goes down, who among those left will have the guts to take their place? See footnote 1
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I Include among the late light comics everyone writing satire and drawing cartoons mocking Trump.
Click above to enlarge image.
