Academic champions bad-taste jokes

An academic has argued that no joke should ever be banned, no matter how offensive it could be.

Professor Christie Davies of the Social Affairs Unit think-tank has published a pamphlet, The Right to Joke, claiming that political correctness has hijacked harmless gags.

And he says that acts like Bernard Manning, pictured, are not racist.

"Black people are not offended by Seventies television," he said. "If you don't like the jokes you can turn off.

"The jokes are not racist. It's humour.

"You are insulting the intelligence of the public if you say they can't tell the difference between a serious point made in a news programme and a joke. The burden of proof is with the people who want to ban the jokes."

However, Chris Myant of the Commission for Racial Equality, told the Western Mail that such jokes helped establish a racist climate.

He said: "Jim Davidson's racist jokes don't mean every listener goes out and commits a racial assault. But the more we have a public acceptability, the more likely it is that some people will think it is all right to go out and cause racial assaults.

"These jokes are offensive if used to deliberately hurt people. You may say if you don't want to hear Bernard Manning, don't go to his club. But it is another thing if someone in your workplace constantly jibes at you. Because it's a joke doesn't mean that it can't hurt."

In a follow-up interview with Radio 4's Today programme, Professor Davies said that people in the States were scared of sharing jokes for fear of falling foul of the authorities, just like those who used to live behind the iron curtain.

"What shocked me there was the extent to which employers will monitor and scan people's emails to make sure they're not exchanging jokes," he said.

"I also found that people were as nervous about telling me jokes as the people had been when I collected political jokes in Bulgaria in the communist period."

"Having seen one half of the world going crazy, I don't want our half going crazy."

Professor Davies said he would even be happy for TV to broadcast bad-taste jokes about the likes of the Morecambe Bay tragedy.

"If you had a comedian and you gave a warning in advance, why is that any different from all the television you put out that are full of obscenity?"

Mocking the afflicted. Disability and comedy

Published: 18 Feb 2004