Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/06/15/john-cleeses-30-year-old-ran.html
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John Cleese is a great example of folks being complicated, and having thoughtful opinions one can agree with on the one hand, and silly nonsense opinions on some things that are worth discarding.
(one can make one’s own decision on where this particular brand of Enlightened Centrism falls, of course)
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I really like the short vid of Cleese explaining how stupid people are too stupid to realize how stupid they are.
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I’ve seen Fawlty Towers but i don’t recall an episode where the N-word was used, but then again it’s been a real long time since i’ve seen it.
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It’s in the episode “The Germans”.
The whole point of the joke that it is used in is the same as the whole point of the episode. Poking fun at the depths of bigotry in British society of the 70s.
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Makes sense to me and knowing Cleese i would take him at his word that it is not being used for the sake of it.
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Did Cleese record this after reading the comment section here?
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It’s used for good purpose: to avoid mentioning the war.
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You get this with a lot of comedians and others who were edgy in the sixties and seventies. Like, back in the day they took ten controversial positions, and maybe seven are now mainstream, and one or two are dodgy. But the point is that when they said those things, they were sticking their head over the parapet on all of them.
At least three of those Monty Python people have said stuff in recent years that has felt a bit gross, and probably should be viewed with caution moving forward. But in the final account, they deserve credit for moving the conversation forward more than back. And anyway, we shouldn’t be idolising anyone – past or present – without considering each thing they say on its merits.
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The footage is from an old Fawlty Towers episode that riffs on extremists, “Extremism makes you feel good, because it provides you with enemies…”
Umm, which episode of Fawlty Towers is that then, eh?
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Yes, that’s a mistake. I think the original was from a promotional video for the UK’s (very centrist) Liberal party, which Cleese was a high-profile supporter of back in the 80s.
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We had a German exchange student for a semester a few years back. I made my family watch that episode a couple weeks before she arrived. Bad idea because it was basically a countdown to see who would mention it first.
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No sweat. Just accept our apologies.
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David Brin has been pushing much the same idea, from the neurochemistry angle. Being Correct when your opponents are incorrect generates a significant neurochemical reward in the brain, to the point of addiction in some cases.
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I read this and thought about Cleese’s comments on London ‘not really being an English city any more’ (https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/john-cleese-brexit-comments-england-xenophobia-twitter-a8935391.html)
Unfortunately, I think John and JK Rowling are probably in the group of people who’s work I’ve really enjoyed over the years that I would now probably not want to meet in real life.
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London is certainly a very different city today than it was 40 years ago. I think that this is on balance a very good thing indeed.
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labeling people as extremists makes us feel good because it provides us with enemies
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“Silly” is not the attribute I would have thought of.
To be fair, though… Moderates are not looking really good either these days, when you consider the status quo they seem to want to keep…
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Which three pythons are you thinking of? I’m hoping one of them isn’t Eric Idle, because I was listening to him on the infinite monkey cage podcast (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w) last week and thinking about how he still seemed cool. I’d be disappointed to find out I was wrong.
