The problem with offensive jokes is the same as the problem with pornography.

No, I don't mean they're both great. Even if they are.

I mean just like the line between art and pornography, there can be a fine line between comedy and hate speech. It's all in the intention of the creator and the eye of the beholder. Similarly, you can make 'artistic' pornography, and racist jokes can be used to stir up hatred.

It's a tough one, but the problem is it's all subjective. There's no simple way to objectively judge someone else's intentions besides looking at patterns, and even that's not always black and white. So to speak.

The problem is, you either allow all speech or you censor what you don't like. Just remember, as recent elections have shown, you may not always be the one who decides what to censor if you go down that path.

I get that hate speech is horrible. Racism is never good. Free speech at least lets you know who is saying what. It also means you can say what you like back.

"Mike Ward, a Canadian comedian, was recently fined $35,000 for telling a joke that made fun of a specific child with a disability."
FTFY
That's not the death of free speech, that's being rightly sued for damaging someone's reputation.

@Hef
"rightly sued"?
for basically calling a kid ugly?
how is calling someone ugly damaging a persons reputation?

maybe you can explain to me how this young man's reputation was ruined by a joke,that it deserved to be litigated in court?

I think you're coming at it from the wrong angle.

Why should this comedian feel like he needs to take the low hanging fruit of making fun of a disabled boy?
He doesn't. He shouldn't.
Everything he cops after that is fair game.
He's lucky he didn't get the death penalty for making fun of a disabled boy, because that's the minimum sentence in my country.

He downplayed the boys disabilities as coming down to just being ugly. Not true and kind of mean. Gabriel is a child after all. Thats like making fun of Justin Bieber or Hannah Montana. Wait. So this kid is performing publicly and cant handle mean comments? Really? If he is so fragile and cant laugh idiots off, dont make him do publicity stunts. Id say everybody got what they had coming.

Risque jokes are about the adrenalin of walking the edge, sometimes you just fall off (and get a fine, possibly, or a punch in your stupid face).

Ok, in the interest of fairness I did some further research on this issue.

He was fined a total of 42,000 dollars. This does not count his accrued court and legal fees which are estimated to be around 100,000 dollars at this time. I won't bother converting that to USD, but he is going to be out of pocket 142k as a ballpark figure.

This is the joke:

“Everyone said he sucked, but I defended him,” Ward says. “They said he was terrible, but I was like, ‘He’s dying but he’s living a dream, leave him alone.’ ” The niceties end when Ward figures out Gabriel isn’t actually dying. “He’s unkillable! I saw him at the water park, and I tried to drown him, but I couldn’t. Then I went on the Internet to figure out what was wrong with him, and you know what it was? He’s ugly, goddammit!”

That is all. He was making a joke that he thought the kid was being given a 'make a wish' type thing because he was dying, but that he was just ugly.

I listened to it and it wasn't really funny. However, it wasn't 142k worth of court costs and damages either. The kid, disability or not, is now a public figure and should not be protected from jokes at his expense. The fact that a comedian called him ugly does not mean he should get 42k in recompense because it made him feel bad. Fuck, if I got 42k every time someone called me ugly in jest, I wouldn't be posting here. I'd be on a damn Yacht in the Mediterranean.

People say hurtful things. How many people looked at this kid and made fun of him when he was trying to sing the Canadian anthem at a Hockey game? Does he deserve 42k from each of them?

One of the talks I listened to as part of this research brought up a salient point. The commission that was created to address hurtful speech has clearly ran out of 'real' hate speech to go after. To save their jobs, they need to start going after the next level of 'hate speech'. Where better to look than blue comedians?

This brings me back to my original point. If you create an organization and give it power to control what people say through punitive measures, it may work great when your group is in power. You will probably have no issue with it, as long as it goes after speech you dislike. But, no group is in power forever and organizations don't just disappear when a new group of leaders come into power. Suddenly you might really come to regret your choice to create that organization, especially when they decide it is 'YOUR' words that need to be penalized.

That said, my only dog in this fight is that I think it is idiotic to limit what people can say. They don't stop saying it, they just stop saying it around people they don't trust. This sows the seeds of dissension and the harvest is never a good one.

Offensive jokes are hilarious. I mean, if it offends bitches, niggers or fags, who gives a fuck?

I mean, people joke about white dudes all the time and you don't hear them complaining, unless they're Jews or some shit.

It almost like the most powerful demographic in history is less easily offended because they haven't endured centuries of oppression! Nah, that's ridiculous...

Here's the thing, you want to make a joke about rape or slavery or whatever, provided you are not explicitly advocating violence, I will defend your right to make that joke.

And I will defend my right to say you're a fucking asshole for making it.

Spot on.

If niggers lived for hundreds of years then they'd be the master race instead of us.

and what angle would that be?
YOU said mike ward was "rightly sued" for basically calling a kid ugly,and i asked for you to explain how this is a legal matter.

or is it your contention that because mike ward "punched down" instead of "punching up" IS the legal precedent?

what if he spoke on how ugly patton oswald is?
or ridiculed michael j fox's parkinsons?

would THAT be acceptable?
or would that be acceptable,but just in poor taste?

and you still haven't addressed how this young boys reputation has been ruined.from what i have been reading it was not his reputation,but how mike wards joke had become semi-popular and the kids in his school started busting this young boys balls to a degree where school was becoming an anxiety riddled event for the young man.

why aren't his school mates also being fined?
i mean,if we are going to bring in the state to handle every and all social issues..let us at least be fair.

and what about the people in the audiences that found the joke funny?
aren't they contributing to the continuation of this young mans suffering in school?

see,i think you are viewing this as a bullying situation (my assumption),and you are viewing this young man as a victim.a victim to bad jokes done in poor taste,and maybe you are correct,but jokes are subjective..NOT objective..and there is no tangible evidence that this young mans reputation has been affected.

it is the INTENT of the joke that should be scrutinized,and that is something that is also subjective and an issue we all deal with on an individual basis.the legal system should NEVER be used to decide such arbitrary and subjective material,because now you setting precedent and punishment based on "feelings",and this tactic can be easily abused.

so you may "feel" mike wards jokes are offensive and damaging,and that in your country mike ward should be executed for his crimes (fascist much?).

but remember...that pandoras box door swings BOTH ways,and the abuse can come from a direction that you,and i for that matter,would be appalled in its application.

and to even suggest that this is not a free speech issue is incredibly naive'.
if you think being charged in a civil case,and having to show in court multiple times to defend "joke" with the possibility of even MORE financial hardship,will not affect how a comedian approaches his routine and the jokes he writes,you are simply NOT thinking this whole situation through and the unintended consequences of situations such as these.

this is most certainly a free speech issue.

let me give you a hypothetical,but using the same parameters.

the wesboro baptist church goes to protest an abortion clinic,and are met with counter protesters.

the counter protesters begin to chastise and berate the westboro people.ridicule their stance on abortion and their religion.so much so that one of the younger westboro children becomes distraught,and anxious and begins to cry.someone films the exchange and posts to youtube,and it goes viral.

now the young westboro kid is being harassed in school,being picked on and being called names.the young kid is so vexed and humiliated that he avoids school at every step and is having self esteem issues.

so much so that the westboro church decides to sue the counter protesters in court.

what do you think the outcome should be?
should they even be allowed to sue?
and if so,should the young westboro kid receive damages?
or should those counter protesters receive the death penalty in your country?

do you see what i am saying?
you getting what i am laying down?

because free speech means that you are free to express yourself,but you are NOT free from offense,and offense is subjective.what offends YOU might not offend ME,and vice versa.

free speech means you are free to express every little thought that pops into your pretty little head and share with the world,and i am free to ridicule you relentlessly if i so choose.

and i will.
with gusto.

A bit off topic, but what I don't get is how so many assholes think free speech is limited to their speech. Listen to the idiot at 8:25.
"I don't think people are entitled to complain..." then he launches into a holier-than-thou speech about "free speech." What the fuck? Does complaining somehow NOT qualify as free speech?
Like half* the clips are this shit. "People don't laugh," "They don't like my offensive joke." Free speech is that you get to say your stupid joke. Free speech is also that I get to say you're a simple-minded unfunny asshole and your mother is ashamed of you. Anything else isn't "free speech" dumbass. By definition you don't get to pick which speech is free and which isn't.

Nothing to do with the Mike Ward stuff, where the government steps in. That's a whole other kettle of fish.

*half. at least. Fuck you.

No way that's the most offensive jokes. It's missing Frankie Boyle from that line-up. [url redacted]