‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ reminds to laugh at political correctness

In this first episode of its ninth season, series creator and star Larry David used two controversial plot lines to prove that political correctness is the ideology of the idiots.

The first offering came when David decides not to hold open a door for a lesbian-appearing woman, assuming she would dislike the gesture. The lesbian then confronts David as a rude individual of anachronistic perception.

This plot thread had two thought-provoking components. First, while the lady in question appears self-evidently lesbian in her dress sense and appearance, political correctness would suggest that any assumption of lesbian-ness is immoral. Later in the episode, however, David opens a door for the woman’s partner and is orally attacked for his patriarchal viewpoint.

By tying these themes together, David makes the case that political correctness is an inherently idiotic precept, requiring us to assume that our better instincts of polite respectfulness are inherently rude. Political correctness forces us to enter a catch-22 safe space that is devoid of individual thinking and defined by contradiction.

The episode’s next major thread comes when David pitches a musical production, “Fatwa,” in which he teases the ayatollah of Iran. Based on Salman Rushdie’s real-life experience in receiving a death sentence fatwa for his novel, The Satanic Verses, the production seems worthy of artistic curiosity. Except that David then quickly receives his own fatwa from the Ayatollah! All those who have expressed interest in his production then dissapear and David is abandoned to his misfortune.

Here, I think David and his co-writers are lamenting the fact that Islamic extremists have already achieved a great victory in hampering artistic creativity in the west. After all, while Rushdie’s experience would seem to offer a great template for artistic interpretations, it still remains to be used for comedy purposes. David is also drawing contrast between absent western comedic approaches towards Islam, and say the Mormon faith; which was satirized in the 2011 musical The Book of Mormon.

If nothing else, David’s fatwa begs us ask why we haven’t seen a comedy production titled The Koran?

We know why, and that victory for political correctness is a very sad one.

Two further subplots involve David appropriating the black-American term, “lampin,” from his housemate, Leon Black, and confronting his assistant for her constipation-rooted absence from work. Again, these themes are important in challenging the evolving liberal consensus that some issues now require absolute deference. In this case, that racial minorities deserve sole ownership over certain words and that society must show absolute deference to health-related concerns, however inconsequential they might be.

At its heart, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” has always used humor to remind us that political correctness is a laughable concept. Larry David’s message isn’t that we should be disrespectful, but simply that we do no wrong by trusting in our reflexive understandings of good and bad. Now more than ever, this show is crucial.