The Joke Police are looking to strip Dave Chappelle of his speech rights, which once again proves we are coming to a decision point in this country. That’s what this whole godforsaken Woke Crusade boils down to — a choice, and the choice is this: Are we going to allow ourselves to become second class citizens in our own country? Are we going to allow far-left activists and their allies in the media, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood to bully us into creating a two-tiered class system?

And this is a decision we are all going to have to make. It ‘s not enough for comedian Dave Chappelle to say I’m not going to sit in the back of the satire bus, and it’s not enough for me to say it. As a country we have to decide if we’re going to cave to the Woke Gestapo, allow them to restrict our speech, and to create an America where some people can be criticized and satirized, and others cannot.

Free speech, at least to me, is a very simple concept… In a great country, in a country that is truly free, you and I and everyone else gets a say. Most importantly, we get a say without fear of social sanctions. No one tries to boycott, blacklist, cancel, de-platform, or Scarlet Letter us; no one tries to force us from our homes, schools, or jobs.

You have a God-given right to be a hateful asshole in this country. Better still, you get to be a hateful asshole who owns a gun!

In my 53 years-old, I’ve worked with bigots of every color. I know what it’s like to work with a black woman who despises white people. I know what it’s like to work with a white man who sees me as a race traitor because of my interracial marriage. And I’ll tell you what it’s like — I didn’t care. Hate’s a poison you take yourself. Your feelings and your beliefs are no skin off my nose. We’re only going to have a problem if you start interfering with my rights, if you interfere with my ability to do my job or start something in the parking lot. But your hate, your beliefs, your stupid words… My response to all of that is sticks and stones.

If you want to raise happy, grounded children — kids who will have a chance in a breathtakingly unfair world, you need only teach them three things: 1) a work ethic, 2) how compound interest works, and 3) sticks and stones.

Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.

Remember that?

Let’s try it again…

Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.

Do you have any idea how liberating that expression is?

I cannot imagine what it’s to live a life where you allow other people’s words to control your feelings,.

What a sad and pathetic life that must be, a life where other people’s ideas and beliefs get to control how you feel.

And the worst thing about these pathetic people is that too many of them grow into unforgiving, sanctimonious, fascist bullies.

Yep, just because they’re so thin-skinned and filled with self-regard, just because they had lousy parents who didn’t teach them sticks and stones, they want to interfere with our rights — our speech, our right to hold and express ideas and opinions, our God-given right to be an asshole.

They want to shut us up.

They want to control our thoughts by controlling our words.

Yes, they want us to be second class citizens in our own country.

And how do they go about this…? Lies on top of emotional blackmail on top of lies on top of threats on top of lies…

There’s a reason why Dave Chappelle’s brilliant new Netflix special is titled Sticks & Stones, and even though it has only been out a few days, the Woke Fascists are about one hot take away from declaring Chappelle a black white-supremacist.

Oh, yeah, they’re gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it’s gonna scare ’em. — Easy Rider (1969)

Yep.

I reviewed Sticks & Stones here, so I won’t go over that ground again and I’m not here to “debunk” those critical of Chappelle’s performance for reasons of taste. My issue is with those in the Woke Stasi telling Chappelle to shut up and doing so with lies on top of emotional blackmail on top of lies on top of threats on top of lies…

This nonsense needs to be hit head on, and let’s start with the biggest and most shameless lie of them all…

Punching Down at the Poor, Pitiful, Powerless LGBT Crowd

This from a far-left BuzzFeed “reporter” is just one example of many:

What is especially frustrating about Chappelle’s trans jokes is how he essentially acts as if black trans people don’t exist, and as if black trans women in particular aren’t more likely to be victims of violence. His truth-to-power comedy only works if he acts as though trans people and black people are wholly separate entities. … So what’s really to be gained from punching down on the most vulnerable?

“The most vulnerable?”

What a pile of shit.

There is no group with more power right now than the LGBT crowd, those Chappelle refers to as “the alphabet people.”

Look around… They hold all the levers of power in the media, Silicon Valley, Democrat party, and Hollywood. They have so much power we’re being blacklisted and de-platformed for pointing out that Bruce Jenner is a man.

The alphabet people are so powerful you cannot even express a biological truth without taking your own livelihood in your hands.

The alphabet people are so horribly powerful they are literally succeeding at the most Orwellian scheme of my lifetime: to force a society to call men women and women men, to force us to say 2+2=5, to allow men to dominate women’s sports, to allow men into our daughter’s bathrooms and locker rooms.

The alphabet people have so much power they can make that happen and still have some idiot at BuzzFeed argue that it’s wrong to criticize them.

More lies on top of emotional blackmail on top of lies on top of threats on top of lies…

Not Believing Michael Jackson’s Accusers

The fact that Chappelle does not believe Michael Jackson’s latest accusers, two men who came forward ten years after Jackson’s death in the four-hour HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, actually made headlines. A ton of headlines. In America. Yes, it is now “victim-blaming” and controversial to be skeptical of two guys who cannot keep their stories straight and have sought money from the estate.

Put that aside, though…

Do you have any idea just how un-American it is to “believe the victim?”

Yes, we should listen to and respect and investigate allegations, but does no one read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school anymore? What about The Crucible?

Guess what, I’m also skeptical of Jackson’s latest accusers — very skeptical.

In fact, anyone with an open mind who takes the time to study the previous accusations against Jackson, including one he settled for millions of dollars and one he was tried and acquitted for, will also walk away skeptical.

“Believe the victim” is just a touchy-feely, feel-good phrase that puts us on the road to mob justice and witch hunts.

And am I the only who’s more than a little uncomfortable with this dangerous new American fad where we convict people through entertainment television? Through selectively-edited HBO documentaries and reality shows? Where we kangaroos gather in the warm glow of the electric courtroom…?

I’m all for documentaries that seek to clear the wrongly accused. Challenging the State is God’s work. But even some of those, like Netflix’s Making a Murderer and HBO’s Paradise Lost, end up becoming what they hate, end up pointing a finger at a scapegoat.

I find it all dystopian and grotesque.

We Should Not Joke About Child Molestation

“You Can Definitely Skip Dave Chappelle’s New Netflix Special ‘Sticks & Stones,” the humorless scolds at Vice tell us, because … that’s not funny: “At one point in his routine, he says he doesn’t believe Michael Jackson molested young children. He continues by saying that if Jackson did, the children should’ve felt lucky their first time was with the King of Pop, adding, ‘Do you know how good it must’ve felt to go to school the next day after that shit?'”

Here’s another:

Chappelle then describes himself as an avowed victim-blamer, which he conveys through a Chris Brown/Rihanna joke (of course). “I don’t think he did it,” he adds about Jackson. “But you know what… even if he did do it… You know what I mean? I mean, it’s Michael Jackson! I know more than half the people in this room have been molested in their lives. But it wasn’t no goddamn Michael Jackson, was it?” The bit escalates as Chappelle goes on: “This kid got his d*** sucked by the King of Pop! All we get is awkward Thanksgivings for the rest of our lives. You know how good it must have felt to go to school the next day after that s***?” I’m so tired. I’m so tired of Chappelle’s jokes. I’m so tired of the cycle of outrage and counter-outrage that inevitably follows them. I’m so tired of having to explain why some people might think it’s wrong to joke about child rape accusations, even in a comedy show.

There’s only one way to respond to this, and that’s to urge you watch every second of this NSFW genius:

Let me just add this… What I saw in Chappelle’s bit about being molested by Michael Jackson was a comedian being absurd to expose the absurdity of celebrity, of fame, and who respected his audience enough not to stop to explain that.

I also saw a comedian joking about the most taboo subject of all in furtherance of the just cause of artistic freedom.

Regardless, I refuse to draw any kind of line around satire, comedy , or any kind of speech.

There’s a very good reason to “allow” comedians to joke about rape and child molestation: to keep that demonic free speech line as far away as possible from the things you and I want to talk about.

Comedy is like religion.

Americans defend free speech.

Great Americans defend speech they disagree with.

If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.

If you disagree with it, make your case with words, not lies on top of emotional blackmail on top of lies on top of threats on top of lies.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.