We need more people like Katie Rich

In yet another assault on free speech, SNL writer Katie Rich has been suspended from her job for a tweet that apparently mocked Donald Trump’s son Barron. This assault is more grievous than others because Katie’s tweet wasn’t some baseless rant of a comedian who was picking on the son of a man she obviously dislikes. Her tweet was dark humour of the most vintage form – Katie exposed the bigotry of conservative Americans through this multilayered tweet.

Censuring speech of this kind is the worst display of intolerance, and takes us a step back as a society.

The argument that it’s best to leave children out probably holds some water, but one has to unpack the tweet the way James Schlarmann, a comedian, has done to understand why it wasn’t meant to mock the kid at all.

  

Katie’s tweet read:

Below is James’ analysis of it:

"...if I unpack this joke, I don’t really find that Barron was the butt. In fact, it’s a joke that has a few different levels.

 

For starters, conservatives are very pro-homeschooling. Betsy Devos, Trump’s education secretary is all about vouchers for school choice, one of which is homeschooling. Because you know, who needs standards in education when you don’t care if the earth is 6,000 years old, or if climate change and evolution are liberal conspiracy theories right? So her joke was first a sleight against homeschooling.

Secondly, and far more importantly, it was a joke about school shootings. I know there has been talk on the interwebs about whether Barron is on the Autism spectrum, but there is literally nothing about Katie’s joke that you could take to be a dig at people with Autism. Unless you think she’s saying people with Autism are more likely to become school shooters, which in my mind kinda makes me question why you would assume she meant that. Unless we ask Katie and she tells us she thinks that people with Autism are more likely to become school shooters, that’s just some classic projection right there.

We also don’t know for certain that Barron is even on the spectrum. It’s pure speculation. So how the hell could Ms. Rich have even known this before she made her joke? She didn’t make mention of Autism, Asperger’s, or anything related to special needs kids. She made a joke about a spoiled rich kid and school shootings. How telling that the right is more upset that a joke about gun violence in the classroom was made than they are about gun violence in the classroom."

The above is simply brilliant. I have little in-depth knowledge of American society, but even if I did, the tweet would be a tough nut to crack. Hard to say which one impressed me more – the tweet or its unpacking. As far as the tweet is concerned, it's safe to say that Katie is bearing the brunt of being too smart for others' comprehension. But I fear people would want to shut her down regardless of whether they comprehend her.

What’s also troubling – as James also mentions later – is that conservative Americans, who have usurped the responsibility of protecting free speech from the PC liberals, were no less enthusiastic than them in calling for Katie’s removal.

We need to grow the fuck up.