Wasting half an hour watching QI yesterday ended up giving me an insight that was probably unintended.
For reasons that I don’t remember the topic of management consultants came up and Stephen Fry made the comment that more of them should be killed.
I don’t want to come across as lacking humour, but this did strike me as particularly unfunny. Maybe because I am a mamagement consultant?
Comedy of course has the right to pitch itself however it wants and Stephen Fry has become something of a British institution over the years so I’m not about to get out of my pram over what seems to me personally an offensive comment.
I am a fan of comedy but generally not of the hate kind, and it’s not a category I used to put Stephen Fry in to. I’ll be a bit more discriminating in future.
What I actually want to say thanks for is that I got a tiny insight into what it is like to be in a group that unfairly discriminated against.
I can’t think that Mr Fry genuinely wants management consultants killed any more that other people who voice discriminatory remarks about gays or travellers really want them dead.
Is there a point when comedy simply isn’t funny or is inappropriate? I’m sure there is. I guess we all have the right to choose where we want the line to be drawn and have the choice of what to watch.
These comments have certainly made me think about the actual cost of cheap laughs and also the value of people and the contribution they make.
Thanks again Stephen Fry and the BBC, your prejudice has opened my eyes a bit wider today.
