On "taking offence": It has been painted uniformly as a bad thing -- by white comedians, for the most part. They believe a racist slur offending a black person should be seen at par with a joke on white supremacy being "offensive" to white people. Which is just plain hollow.

This leads to liberal simplification like "the left and right are the same when it comes to taking offence"-- completely ignoring that the difference is between the oppressor and the oppressed taking offence.

This has been lifted wholesale by Indian writers and comedians. Which is why while creating "satire", they think holding the powerful to account is the same as caricaturing a minority facing active persecution by the State ('both sides'). But these things are not the same.

Offence, and the right to offend, like opportunity, is controlled by the powerful. When you make fun of a persecuted group already being violently oppressed by the State, you are normalising their othering. As a "political satirist", you need to be mindful of this nuance.

Honestly, "offence" is not simply a question of ideology. It is a question of power. You don't want be "politically correct" through your humour? Ok. But is your humour actively harming entire communities? This should concern you at the very least as a person if not an artist.

When you say the left & right are always equally offended, maybe take a look at who constitutes this "left" and "right" you're talking about. Look at where the power lies and how important it is to your craft to perpetuate violence & othering of a community in the name of "art".

Also, representation is important. We talk about it in other forms of art. Why should the rules for comedy be any different? You don't exist in a silo. A muslim comedian was jailed for a joke he didn't crack. Comedy is political now. Comedy is power. Deal with it.

Also, please FFS, don't use the term "absolutism" while talking about minority groups taking offence at jokes about their own community when they are literally dealing with ACTUAL absolutism. It's tone deaf and you sound like a privileged idiot.

Basic: when the majority is offended in India, they can have you jailed, while minorities criticise or "cancel" you (which btw does nothing to your FoE). Beyond that, as a person with privilege take some damn responsibility. It's free.

Finally, I love Stephen Fry, but this quote, made with whatever intention, is used to argue that (ANY) rape and racist jokes are great, because fuck victims of sexual assault. This is why a blanket "no one cares that you're offended no matter who you are" take just doesn't work.