Prince of Eckmühl
Posts: 2459
Joined: 6/25/2006 From: Texas Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Anthropoid My wife raises an intereting question though: If life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think, then what is it for people who do both? I'm thinking satire? I'm thinking conflicted. As Irving suggested in his book, mores regarding what's deserving of a chuckle, or an outright guffaw, have never been more difficult to discern. In a world where no one is supposed to judge anyone else, isn't the ultimate cruelty to laugh at the misfortune of another? Why, how dare anyone do so? But, I have to caution our readers, here, that the standards used by the little nazees of the world to establish what qualifies as civil discourse appear to be 100% situational and no less self-serving. There's a class of people in the world that have come to look upon humor as an intellectual chainsaw, a tool for eviscerating people with whom they may disagree. If they heap scorn and ridicule on some other class, its because they perceive others as bigoted in some manner, and therefore worthy of scorn. But, hey, we're not supposed to judge others, right? Again, in the words of the character Garp: "I am ashamed, however, that you think I am laughing at people, or making fun of them. I take people very seriously. People are all I take seriously, in fact. Therefore, I have nothing but sympathy for how people behave - and nothing but laughter to console them." In the context of the novel, the comment is made in response to a scathing rebuke that Garp, a fictitious author, receives from an amateur critic who questions the writers sense of humor: http://www.flickr.com/photos/romasita/247553751/ His rejoinder includes a nice animal story which everyone should enjoy.
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Government is the opiate of the masses.
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