People are making jokes about the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump – and those who otherwise defend freedom of speech as their main job are demanding consequences. Thoughts on the popular question: What is satire allowed to do?
There are moments when your own moral compass suddenly points in the opposite direction. April 2013, for example. At the beginning of the month, Margaret Thatcher, once the most influential conservative prime minister of our time and most recently a bedridden 87-year-old, died in her hotel room in London. A few days later, the song “Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead!” stormed the UK singles charts. The BBC briefly discussed whether to play the song on the chart show, as is usual for number one hits, or to blacklist it out of respect. Then they decided (God bless the British public broadcasters) on a compromise: they played the song, but only for five seconds. My English friends and fellow students, people whose judgment I otherwise considered impeccable, blared the then 74-year-old hit through the corridors of our college. Half of Great Britain staggered with joy. The witch was finally dead.
