Comedy on College Campuses
Flanagan holds that the comedy that can be performed at contemporary college campuses are the ones that entertain the crowds and make them enjoy without offending even a single student. These comedians involved are those who understand political correctness and know the sensitive areas that should not be made fun of. On the other hand, the comedies that cannot be performed are the ones that are done through free speech. Consequently, she characterizes the preferred comedians for colleges as those who know how to avoid the use of logic to their audience.
Question 2
Flanagan is skeptical of the counterarguments to her position concerning reasons why comedians are either invited or not to perform in college campuses. Firstly, she disagrees with the conservative approach to hiring comics to perform in college campuses as she believes that it denies the students the opportunity to learn the reality through free speech. For example, students are bound to learn later that their days in college were full of experiences that are in tandem with the narrowest range of censored socio-political viewpoints (Boyle 77). Secondly, she also says that such reasons are repressive, and because the American graduate is infantilized as their pseudo-intellectual, sexual, and political affectations have to be supported and championed rather than being told the truth.
Question 4
Flanagan assumes that the contemporary universities and their students have developed a Political Correctness (PC) culture because of diversity, and this is why she makes another assumption that these institutions and their students are defined by sensitivity. The PC culture and diversity are the reasons why some issues like race and rape are too serious to create fodder for stand-up comedy (Boyle 77). I agree with these assumptions because the society has been aligned to believe in being politically correct to an extent that free speech is today compromised and restricted. My experiences in college fit these descriptions because of the diverse students and the policies that have been institutionalized to dissuade free speech but focusing on sensitivities like race, ethnicity, and religion among others.
Work Cited
Boyle, Kirk. Rhetoric of Humor: A Bedford Spotlight Reader. Place of publication not identified: Bedford Books St Martin’s, 2016.
