I occasionally come across stuff on the internet that makes me laugh.
Not often. Or should I say, not often enough?
Some people seem to take life too seriously. Like maybe the writers at Politico. Rachel Kleinfeld, for example, writing about ‘sharp-edged humor’…
Jokes are actually far more likely to normalize prejudice than an overtly prejudiced argument, because sharp-edged humor circumvents our brain’s usual pathways for rational thinking.
Writers like Ms. Kleinfeld, who hate jokes, are making the argument that the brain actually has “usual pathways for rational thinking”… an argument which could itself easily be taken as a joke, if we were so inclined.
Once upon a time, you could make jokes about anyone. Blacks, whites, Christians, Jews, Democrats, Republicans, gays, straights, children, old people, men, women. The possibilities were pretty much endless.
That’s because no one was too concerned about pathways for rational thinking, back then. We just wanted a good laugh.
But now you have to be really careful when writing a humor column. Yesterday, for example, I found myself writing about chickens, and the Easter Bunny. No doubt they will also be off limits, at some point in the near future.
Thank heavens we can still make jokes about Republicans. But generally speaking, they’ve been asking for it.
I think it’s still permissible to make jokes about cats. You can also post photos of cats who have gotten themselves into embarrassing situations. This is allowed, mainly because cats know they are innately superior to humans, and they don’t really care what we do, so long as we make ourselves available to open the door when they want to go out.
These same criteria generally apply to Republicans, particularly the permission to post photos of embarrassing situations. And that goes for Democrats as well.
I don’t think Politico writers would post pictures of cats. But they have often posted embarrassing pictures of politicians.
Of course, the rest of us have also posted embarrassing pictures of politicians. Including me. You can hardly help it.
There used to be an assumption that it was perfectly safe to make jokes about ‘your own people”. People who belong to your same “tribe”.
Take me, for example. White male, straight, semi-Christian, former Republican, middle aged. It used to be okay for me to make jokes about white, straight, semi-Christian, former Republican, middle-aged males. I wouldn’t, in that case, make fun of Colorado Governor Jared Polis, because he’s gay. And a Democrat. Not necessarily in that order.
One little problem. White, straight, semi-Christian, former Republican, middle-aged males are just not very funny. Even if we’re trying to be.
I would still feel comfortable, however, making fun of Rep. Lauren Boebert, even though she’s a woman… because she carries a gun. It’s allowed, to make jokes about women who carry guns.
It’s not smart to make jokes about women who carry guns. But it’s allowed.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.