NationStates

TITLE:
No Laughing Matters

VALIDITY:
free speech very restricted but not completely

DESCRIPTION:
A stand-up comedian known for her strong anti-authority streak has made a routine about your brother, using a series of bad puns to mock his authoritarian politics.

OPTION 1
"If you let comedians get away with disrespect, then next thing they'll be mocking you as well," complains Stan Dupp-Strait, your Minister of Propriety. "Public performances that encourage dissent and questioning of state authority should be illegal, and the ones who misspoke must be made to offer formal retractions, on pain of death."
OUTCOME:
stand-up comics use their most sarcastic voices when they declare that @@LEADER@@ definitely ISN'T an autocratic windbag who will be first against the wall when the revolution comes

OPTION 2
"The problem is that these subversives will use snide jokes and clever wordplay to insult us without us knowing it," adds your brother, who the comedian had described as the 'wind beneath your wings' while pinching her nose and pulling a face. "If people want to say rude things, they ought to be saying it to our face, so we can arrest them there and then instead of ten hours later when we work out the joke. Ban puns and wordplay. That's what they do in Daguo, you know."
OUTCOME:
it obviously takes one politician to screw in a lightbulb

OPTION 3
"There's more than one way to skin a cat," says your literal-minded Minister of Solutions, cleaning a potato peeler in your sink. "But that aside, I also think there's a different solution to this comedian problem. Let her say what she wants, but maybe subsidise pro-government performers with generous stipends and state-sponsored performances. Those who use their comedy nationalistically and aim their mockery outwards should be seen as national treasures, and rewarded commensurately. Hmm. Do you have any lemon juice and baking soda? This stain is hard to shift."
OUTCOME:
the chicken crossed the road because the government told him to

OPTION 4
"I think you're strong, @@LEADER@@, a pillar of resilience," wheedles Chris Plys, your Minister of Limited Reform, flatteringly. "An upright erect column, a pillock.. ahem... a pillar of the community. You and your family can take a joke, because you're so secure in your power and authority. You know that those who mock do so because they respect you. Like if I were to jokingly say that your'e a useless waste of skin, that'd be a way of saying I respect your unmovable and unflappable quality of being able to laugh such a comment off. You should continue to show that great quality. Everyone will respect you more for it."
OUTCOME:
phonetically-speaking jeering is almost the same as cheering

Candlewhisper Archive wrote:using series of bad puns to mock his authoritarian politics.

Candlewhisper Archive wrote:definitely ISN'T an autocratic windbag who will be first against the wall the revolution comes

Candlewhisper Archive wrote:phonetically-speaking jeering is almost the same cheering

Australian rePublic wrote:This is gonna be a nitpick, but the effect for option 3 should read "the chicken crossed the road because the government told her to". Chickens are girls. The boys are called "roosters"

Trotterdam wrote:

Australian rePublic wrote:This is gonna be a nitpick, but the effect for option 3 should read "the chicken crossed the road because the government told her to". Chickens are girls. The boys are called "roosters"

No, hens are female. "Chicken" is a gender-neutral term that includes both roosters and hens.