Can’t You Take a Joke?

Featured

Jan 16

Humor and Democracy

The most dangerous people in the world are those with no sense of humor. Terrorists are not known for their laugh, nor even their smile. Humor is as indispensable for the success of a democracy as it is for the mental health of an individual; in the political arena, it often takes the form of satire. Political satire may be offensive, crude, or misleading--and it is the sign of a healthy democracy. In the United States, when people, organizations, and political parties have no self-deprecating sense of humor, it is a cause for worry. It is as essential as air and water that an individual maintain the inclination to laugh at himself.

Political satire, whatever its form might be, often exposes, or at least underscores, political ideas and errors in a more efficient manner than humorless discourse. That does not mean, however, that there are no charitable limits to parody. Satire, at times, is mean spirited, a means to attack an opponent by wrapping slander in a semblance of humor. To be sure, some “satire” is tasteless and doesn’t deserve the attention it seeks. On this site, Richard Gunderman described how deeply Gerald Ford was cut by the incessant jokes about his mental state after he stumbled descending the stairs of Air Force One. The ugly unrelenting Saturday Night Live (SNL) skits were crude and little more than self-serving mockery. Interesting, is it not? Biden’s three consecutive stumbles ascending the steps of Air Force One were ignored by the “non-partisan” comedians.

But often such material is best handled by the strongest slight possilbe: Ignore it and refuse to patronize those who support it—or complain to those who perpetrate such; in our day of digital communication such a censure is not difficult to register. This is often a First Amendment Freedom of Speech issue, of course, but there is nothing in the First Amendment that requires that I listen to someone else’s exercise of their First Amendment rights, nor that I approve of it. More generally, for me to enjoy freedom of speech means I must allow you to exercise it, but no apology is needed if am offended by offensive nonsense; but again, there are a variety of ways to counter distasteful language, tactless cartoons, and off-putting videos.

Satire At Its Source

The most influential satire seems to come from a few different sources. Though “Saturday Night Live” often broadcasts vapid and crude entertainment, as often as not, the program also hits a few home runs. Tina Fey’s portrayals of Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential race will be remembered for a long time. If you’ve not seen Nate Bargatze as George Washington, here’s a chance to catch up with the rest of us. Bargatze has built a reputation as a “clean” comedian, who relies on neither profanity nor crudity for success.

“The Babylon Bee” advertises itself as providing “Fake News You Can Trust.” The project has not started off with as deep a well of talent at other sites, but it is gaining momentum. Several dour-faced Democrats have insisted that the site be shut down because it is guilty of “disseminating misinformation,” which probably means they those individuals do not like to see themselves lampooned. Can’t they take a joke?

Those looking for clever, witty and “nothing is sacred” political satire need only visit the Onion News Network. But take care: This is not wit for those needing “safe spaces.” The ONN “coverage” of the 2024 presidential election was on point as well as the candidate update spoofs.

Sometimes the best satire may be home-grown. Trump has only himself to blame for this. And then there was the unforgettable Clinton denial, quickly available in a 4/4 time signature.

The Advantages of Satire

Why is satire so important? The several advantages of political satire might be summarized in the following way: Satire prevents people--especially famous, important people--from taking themselves too seriously. Or, if it doesn’t keep them from pretentiousness, it makes it harder. We are all part of a human comedy. One of the favorite Bible passages in the Christmas season is from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 3, versus 1-2. There is an ironic twist embedded in the passage that many do not realize:

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judæa, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituræa and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.”

In other words, the passage begins with a list of the seven principal luminaries in that time and place; but, the passage then suddenly concludes that the all-important word of God came, not to celebrities—but to a filthy man dressed in animal skin eating only insects flavored with a bit of honey.

Satire suggests that human beings are flawed and their endeavors are prone to failure and mischief. That is, satire is an antidote to utopian ideas, ideas that tend to justify a government greater than that which is justified. Thomas More’s celebrated novel Utopia, from which the word comes, is a parody. How better to dispel a presumptuous belief in a future world of perfection than to draw on the Greek language and craft a neologism that means “No Place.”

Satire also helps define something that might otherwise be hard to articulate. It can expose idiocy without calling someone an idiot; besides such name-calling is blunt and ineffective.

Satire is an efficient means to criticize those in authority who must be subject to criticism to be held them accountable. It was Thomas Jefferson who said that education should achieve at least two things for American citizens: it should instill an affection for one’s own country, and it should also equip them with the critical apparatus needed to hold their leaders accountable.

Finally, satire is fun and entertaining!

The qualities discussed here actually have a long heritage. Aristotle explains the virtue needed for good humor, although the quality is untranslatable so that we refer to it by its transliteration, “eutrapelia.” According to the ancient Greek philosopher, eutrapelia (εὐτραπελíα) is a social virtue that involves saying and listening to the right things in the right way regarding humor or amusement. In typical fashion, Aristotle defines this virtue by its extremes, with boorishness (αγροíκος) as its deficiency and buffoonery (βωμολóχος) as its excess. He describes the boorish man as a person “who would never say anything to raise a laugh, and even object when other people do it,” that is, people who have no sense of humor. Buffoons are those who “stop at nothing to raise a laugh, and care more about that than about saying what is seemly and avoiding pain to the victims of the joke;” for example, the SNL ridicule of Gerald Ford. The witty person, however, is one who is neither stiff nor vulgar but knows how to “joke well.” In his commentary on this section of the Aristotle’s Ethics, Thomas Aquinas notes that wittiness “pertains to the habitual virtue of speaking and listening “to what is becoming in jesting.”

Finally, be sure to acquaint yourself with the very talented people at the site, “We The Internet,” (WTItv) who describe themselves as “Equal Opportunity Offenders.”