I don’t think I am responsible for others coming on here and being offended by the rubbish I spout. I am not forcing them to read it and it’s not directed at them. I would be if I started saying the same thing to their faces or by messaging them.
Have I Got News For You can be quite scathing about politicians, like Michael Gove for example. Some of it is not positive, but it’s not harassment, since he doesn’t have to watch the show. It would be if Ian Hislop went up to Gove in public and started taking the mick out of him. It gives him no chance to have his own personal freedom. I don’t think it would be Hislop having his cake and eating it if he satirises Gove on HIGNFY, but refrains from directing any of it at him if he spots Gove leaving parliament.
I worry that if jibes are out of bounds, we are liable to losing any kind of critique in a socially acceptable manner, where any control freak can say that criticism in any form is harassing them and we can’t air our minds without being seen as bullies. There does have to be some limits, which is why I don’t think airing abuse to faces, tagging players into critical tweets or mocking comments is great.
