November: The one bright spot in an otherwise awful 2020!

Satire, classically defined as "the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues" , is a subject that's close to my heart. Satire however in 21st century India and America, seem to be akin to sedition. Sedition which of course is defined as, "conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch." Satire and sedition are as poles apart, as well the two magnetic poles of the earth. Where on the one hand, satire is deeply rooted in the democratic right of freely expressing ones opinions, without fear of retribution of any kind. Sedition is highly subjective and anyone's opinions and rights can be trampled upon, using the libel of sedition, which is of course arbitrary.

I woke up this morning to a beautifully written piece about an Indian stand-up comic Kunal Kamra, fearlessly calling into question the arbitrary standards of 'justice' of the Indian Supreme court. In a series of tweets, Kamra has lampooned, criticized and satirized the highest court of the land, that has over the past few years given out some bizarre judgements, favouring those in power, over the defenseless. And while I shall not recollect any of the tweets cited in the article. Let me say that some of the 90s most cheesy Hindi films, surrounding the subject of India's judicial system (read 'Damini', 'Ghayal', pretty much any Sunny Deol film, where he's inexplicably either the wronged party or their lawyer, who takes the law into his own hands) seem to mirror, what seems to be happening on the floors of the Supreme Court these days.

What's really sad however is the way in which people in power seem to be getting away scot-free for offences that range from inciting communal sentiments, to rape, and from literal embezzlement to even worse financial fraud. Isn't the fourth estate supposed to uphold the laws of the land and be a bulwark against those with too much power? Aren't they supposed to be the kryptonite of all those seeking to exploit the masses and hurt the innocent? Well it all sounds great in theory, but as always the truth is much murkier than idealism. Day in, day out, our judicial system is under glaring scrutiny. It's scales of justice ever tipping towards those with power. And with social media now being the broadcast vehicle of the masses, it was only a matter of time that the hallowed halls of the courts too were open to the ire of satire.

This brings me to my next observation. Why should satire ever be interpreted as contempt of court? If a court, passes a judgement that in itself is a matter of public record, and a comedian, in this case Kamra, expresses his viewpoint on the same judgement (in some cases, in harsher terms than another), what right does the court have to impugn on his freedom of expression? If any person he's named in his tweets takes offence to what he said, they are well within their rights to take him to task. Such a suit will be cast as defamation. But it cannot be contempt of court in any way. That's simply my take on it. I am no Kunal Kamra fan, I have seen him perform several times and I love the way he rights his material and frames his punchlines. He's easily in the Top 10 of India's emerging comedy scene and I don't think he deserves the political backlash he's attracting these days. But in a country that is getting ever more sensitive by the day, I don't think we can expect any better. Kunal Kamra isn't going to change, he's going to call a spade, a spade. I respect that and so, do I suspect a lot of you do. So in our own little way, let's contribute to this discourse, in any way we can...

Meanwhile in America... In the aftermath of the release of the brilliant (my personal opinion), "Borat: Subsequent Movie Film", the American election, the contentious counting and subsequent unveiling of Joe Biden, as the 46th American President, and the ever sulking Donald Trump's insistence on not conceding; the outpouring of satire is a thing of beauty. From Jimmy Kimmel's "how to get him out of the White House", to Stephen Colbert's in-your-face, "this is disgraceful", rhetoric, to Trevor Noah's hilarious takes on the various lawsuits and the graft that the outgoing President is attempting to engineer... all of it has been amazing to watch. The internet being what it is, is forever going to remind us of the good, the evil and the downright ridiculous. And this month of November 2020, can easily go down as the one bright spark in an otherwise terrible 2020.

So in the word's of John Oliver, "Fuck you, 2020! Get Fucked!"

For anyone interested in reading the article about Kunal Kamra I've quoted in this write up you may do so here: https://www.newsclick.in/kunal-kamra-portrait-laughing-gandhian-through-tweets