The Moral Case for Mockery

Bad ideas are everywhere, spreading like viruses. Ironically, the antidote is readily available. We just have to have the courage to use it. Seth Dillon, CEO of The Babylon Bee, provides the prescription.

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Script:

Bad ideas are everywhere…

Spreading like viruses…

Infecting every area of our lives…

And driving millions of otherwise rational people to embrace the irrational.

Here’s one obvious example. It illustrates a broader point I want to make about — of all things — the moral importance of mockery.

Ready for this?

We’re told by so-called experts with straight faces that men can become women and women can become men.

We’re told that sex is assigned at birth, rather than observed, as if doctors just make their best guess whenever they see a newborn baby.

We’re told men can become pregnant and “chestfeed.”

These aren’t fringe ideas promoted by radicals on Reddit. They’re mainstream, endorsed by once-respected medical organizations, highly-educated doctors, and popular internet wellness sites.

Go to healthline.com and type in, “Can men get pregnant?” and you’ll find this answer:

“Yes, it’s possible for men to become pregnant and give birth to children of their own… In order to explain, we’ll need to break down some common misconceptions about how we understand the term ‘man.’”

So the people who just told us men can get pregnant are going to clear up misconceptions for us? Hmm, I don’t think so.

It would be bad enough if these ideas were merely popular, but they’ve quickly gone from mainstream to mandatory.

You can’t criticize them.

You can’t even joke about them.

Comedians risk being canceled, and in some cases physically attacked, for doing so.

In a twisted way, this all kind of makes sense.

In order to prop up an insane worldview that can’t be defended, or even coherently articulated, you have to insulate it from criticism—especially the comedic kind that employs mockery to expose foolishness.

It’s embarrassing to be exposed as a fool.

So, it can’t be tolerated.

My team at the Babylon Bee learned this the hard way when we made a joke about Rachel Levine, a transgender health admiral in the Biden administration.

USA Today had named Rachel Levine as one of their “Women of the Year.” They were serious. But Rachel Levine is no more a woman than I am.

So, we fired back with this satirical headline: “The Babylon Bee’s Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine.”

The mockery, of course, was of USA Today — not the admiral.

Twitter — pre-Elon — was not amused. They locked our account for “hateful conduct.” “Delete the joke,” they said, “and you can have your account back.” We refused.

The intolerable truth you’re not allowed to speak is that Rachel Levine actually misgenders himself whenever he calls himself a woman. And pointing that out, no matter how it’s done, is not hateful conduct because the truth is not hate speech.

But this is how the system is rigged to safeguard bad ideas.

The leftists who dominate our media and culture are armed with both a sword and a shield. They can call anyone who differs with them a bigot, a transphobe, a Nazi. It doesn’t matter. They know, they’ll never get banned.

That’s the sword.

For the full script, visit: https://www.prageru.com/video/the-moral-case-for-mockery