For anyone to write and publish a book is a remarkable achievement. Swedish comedian, writer and political satirist Aron Flam not only wrote a bestseller, but with his book he helped change Swedish law.
Before the release of “Det här är en svensk tiger” (“This is a Swedish Tiger”), Sweden had one of the weakest protections of parody, satire and comedy in the Western world. As a result of Aron’s more than two years of prosecution at the hands of the Swedish government for supposed copyright infringement, those protections are now some of the strongest, behind only the U.S. and the U.K.
An outspoken proponent of free speech and critic of woke-ism, or what’s known in Sweden as “consensus culture,” Aron explains the meaning of the book’s cover art, its dual commentary on Sweden’s collusion with the Nazis in World War II and its culture of silence and conformity, and the ironic manner in which the state reacted to his book.
Join this fascinating conversation as Aron and host Bart Baggett talk about the importance of ego, being the most intelligent person in the room and whether Swedes actually have a sense of humor.
Quotes
- “So, we had one of the weakest protections of parody, satire and comedy in the world, in the Western world, at least. In America, it's been tried. And it's been through the courts, and now SNL can do whatever they want. Not so much. Well, you have the strongest protection, right? You have fair use and all that, because we've already had the lawsuits and everyone's already tried and failed. And now we know we can do this. Okay, so basically a trailblazer in comedy satire now. Yes, I've set a new precedent of, ‘Hey, it's okay to mock the government.” (10:06 | Aron Flam and Bart Baggett)
- “That was called “the so-called parody exception.” It was called not “the parody exception,” but the “so-called parody” exception, which means that anytime it went up and against real laws, like copyright, for instance, then you would lose, right? So, that promotes self censorship, right? Because you don't know exactly what you can do and what you can't do, until you've actually done it. So after I won the court case, now we have the iOS parody protection, together with the so-called parody exception, which gives us one of the strongest protections for comedy parody and satire in the western world apart except for you guys. And the Brits.” (10:42 | Aron Flam)
- “Judicially, I’m vindicated, but, culturally, I don’t think so.” (11:28 | Aron Flam)
- “I think everyone has something and it doesn't have to be intelligence. I mean, you can be a nice person, even though you're, maybe you're not the smartest person in the room, you still might be a good human being. And that's enough for me, basically. And you still might be interesting, even though you're maybe you know, have a lower IQs.” (17:06 | Aron Flam)
Links
Learn more and subscribe to the Bart Show Fan Weekly Newsletter at https://thebartshow.com
Connect with Aron Flam:
https://www.aronflam.com
https://www.instagram.com/aronflam
https://www.tiktok.com/aronflam
https://www.youtube.com/aronflam
Connect with Bart Baggett
https://instagram.com/bartbaggett
https://www.instagram.com/bartshowpodcast/
https://www.youtube.com/@bartshowpodcast
https://bartbaggett.com
https://www.tiktok.com/@bartbaggett
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
