Leave it to Jimmy Kimmel to have a guest on to praise the leadership of California leaders the night before evidence surfaced those leaders ignored wind warnings and gave firefighters the second shift off ahead of the catastrophic wildfires that devastated Los Angeles.
As a general rule, it's not a wise course of action to take things that stand-up comedians say too seriously when it comes to politics and culture. Their remarks are almost always calculated to provoke reaction and get attention. But sometimes, when amplified and promoted as serious commentary on current events, or when their take unfairly besmirches the innocent while exonerating the guilty, it's worth addressing.
On Wednesday night, comedian Bill Burr's comments about the L.A. fires crossed both those lines.
Kimmel: I heard you had to evacuate your home?
Burr: Yes, yes, like most people I had to. I got lucky. You know, the winds moved. But, you know, the fire was coming and all that stuff. So I got lucky.
Kimmel: Are you guys back?
Burr: And I think everyone did a great job. Unlike the internet. All of these fire experts. "Why didn't you just fly a helicopter into the ocean and then…?" I don't know, because it was 100 knot winds. You want to do that? You want to do that? At night? You lunatic. How are you, "This was definitely mismanaged?" That's the big word we're hearing now - mismanaged. Like some idiot on the internet knows how to manage the worst fire in LA, sitting there in his underwear. "You know what, looking at the footage on the internet, I have determined that this here was mismanaged."
But the truth is that it wasn't just half naked slobs sitting on the internet claiming this was a manageable fire had the response not been totally botched by local and state leaders. Here's the chief of the L.A. Fire Department, Kristin Crowley, telling CNN that government mismanagement failed the brave firefighters she leads.
It would have been nice if Jimmy Kimmel had asked Burr, who after evacuating himself, likely watched the footage on the internet, if the fire chief is an, "f****** lunatic"?
I can't be sure if in between his hectic schedule of writing jokes Burr was able to note that the criticism of state and local government's response has been thoroughly bipartisan and completely reasonable.
This isn't a matter of slobs in their mom's basement commenting on complex downdrafts, backburns, or flanking.
It's rational, logical people, appalled at the scope of the catastrophe, wondering how with all our modern knowledge and technical abilities something like this is even possible, and asking obvious questions like:
Is it true that the reservoirs were drained, and if so, why?
Is it true that the fire hydrants were not working, and if so, how is that possible?
Is it true that there were no firebreaks purposefully cut into the natural hillsides, and if so, why would something so important be overlooked, particularly with all the public warnings about the risk of wildfire?
Is it true that the extremely flammable underbrush, thickets, and geographic debris were not properly cleared for years, and if so, how could such an oversight occur?
Is it true that billionaire businessman Rick Caruso managed to spare the entire Palisades mall by use of private tankers and firefighters, and if so what does that success say about the failure of leadership in the public sector?
If Burr really feels the need to make bold, brash statements in the wake of the tragedy, he could use them in a productive fashion by obliterating the left's sacred scapegoat of "climate change." Prominent leftists from Governor Newsom to strategist David Axelrod have blamed these catastrophic fires on the perils of the ever-nebulous "global warming."
Even if that were true, wouldn't good leadership dedicate public energies in the direction of reducing the impacts and effects of climate change? Why do so-called solutions to climate change (carbon-zero initiatives, renewable energy, no meat diet, cow-belching limitations) always seem so theoretical and impractical? Why no concerted effort to harness drone power to fight fires? Why no use of innovative gels to prevent the ignition and spread of wildfires?
Bill Burr is a talented comedian.
