Maybe we should be able to laugh at anything. But slavery? | Nels Abbey

Nothing should be taboo for comedy or satire. But a Sky TV project raises the question: who is telling the joke and writing the script?

Is a comedy about slavery" desirable, or even possible? And if not, what about satire: is that an applicable lens through which to consider one of the greatest crimes in human history? Sky, the writer Rufus Jones and the actors Hugh Bonneville and Sarah Parish - all of whom are involved in a putative series about the repercussions of an inheritance derived from slavery - are about to find out. The omens are not good: it's attracted widespread criticism before even being made.

First, let me be clear: slavery and the myth of white guilt are not too taboo for comedy and, even more so, satire. Absolutely nothing should be. Satire in particular, which differs to comedy in so far as the underlying objective is to expose folly, vice, hypocrisy and human shallowness, is an important tool for generating empathy for the downtrodden, and understanding some of humanity's more shameful and painful tendencies.

Nels Abbey is a writer, broadcaster and former banker

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