Recap:
In 2015 the Swedish stand-up comedians and rappers Anton Magnusson (under the pseudonym "Mr Cool") and Simon Gärdenfors made the album "Disco feber" (Disco fever) with comedy rap-songs with over-the-top sexistic content. One of the songs was called "Knulla barn" (Fuck children) and was filled with pedophile-themed comedy. Later, in 2018, the song (published on Spotify) was "rediscovered" and spread on social media, which lead to a moral-panic from some feminists (Elaine Eksvärd, Mia Skäringer Lazar), one evangeligal christian (Jonatan Alfvén) and some people from law-enforcement (see part 2). The song was soon removed from Spotify and a lot of hate and threats was directed at the two comedians.
In July 2018 a policeman, a criminologist and a psychiatrist wrote an article critisizing Mr Cool's song. Here is a english translation of the full article:
English translation of the article:
https://www.svt.se/opinion/ifragasatter-mr-cools-omtalade-lat
Authors:
Åsa Kastbom
Physician in psychiatry, expert in child abuse and sexual abuse
Per-Åke Wecksell
Police, Kommissarie NOA (Nationella operativa avdelningen)
Maria Dufva
Criminologist and author
"No, it is not humor to encourage the rape of children"
Published 11 July 2018
Sure one can try to make oneself funny or get attention
by encouraging the rape of infants, but should you?
There is in our society some sort of holy rule that says
that it should be ok to joke about anything. But does
that rule have to be used to an extreme?
Humor that touches the forbidden is often very fun
and the most skilled comendians are increadibly skilled
in balancing that line. Those who succeed do it with
precision and brilliance.
To encourage the rape of infants, killing prostitutes
or use a chainsaw on someones genitals reeks more
of a desperate attempt to get attention than a
genuine and honest attempt at humor.
We are many today who have seen films and images of
children of all ages that are raped; it is a part of the
work of many.
We are many professionals who meet both the
children and the perpetrators after the crimes
are out in the open.
To joke about what they have been through has never
felt appropriate. More severity or gravity is
hard to imagine.
Many have heard about the life-sentenced Peter Scully,
an Australian perpetrator that on-demand from
like-minded live-streamed when he tortured and
abused children.
He hung little children upside-down from the ceiling
in order to torture them with burning candles and to
rape them. Those he killed he buried or made them
bury each other.
Most of the material he shared on the dark web/darknet.
This category of sex-crime on the net is hugely
demanded in certain circles and is according to
Ecpat's latest report the type of material that
increases the most in incoming tips to Ecpat's hotline.
To actually see this happening, that which some
in some kind of desperate late-conceived
after-construction claims is humor, is in the real
world as far from humor as one can come.
To claim that these musical works were created
in order to put focus on the question feels odd
since it never previously have been made clear.
It is nothing but disgusting bullying to blame
those that question and protest of moral-panic.
Do we want to have a society where it is okay
to claim humor when adults encourageingly
sings about raping infants?
Do we protect our constitutional laws to such
an extent that the often misunderstood and
perfunctory used concept of freedom of speech
stands over all?
We individuals in society are free to say what
we want to eachother as long as it is not illegal.
But what then is illegal, and when does humor
become criminal?
Particularly when noone gets the point and
there is no adult around that can explain for all
the children that consume this in silence.
Do we really don't want society to get better?
That children that grow up today should not have
to see and hear that which we and and many others
have seen and heard and never can forget? That
which haunt many of us into nightmares and sickness?
Adults with a heavy desire for attention and
money must not set the bar for what is and is not humor.
What we see here is the typical relativization and misunderstanding of the concept of freedom of speech that is so common and breeds statements similar to "it should be legal so say whatever you want as long as it is not illegal". When is it not legal? When it's not funny? Also, I have yet to see firemen wanting to ban jokes about pyromaniacs or doctors wanting to ban jokes about sickness and disease.