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Quote of the Day: Laughter
“Humanity has unquestionably one really effective weapon—laughter. Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution—these can lift at a colossal humbug—push it a little—weaken it a little, century by century, but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” — Mark Twain
Do we want to marginalize woke-scolds? Laugh at them. Make them figures of fun. Similarly for Progressives. (Indeed, Progressives realize this too. Alinsky’s fifth rule states “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”)
The good news? Woke-scolds can’t meme. Sic ’em.
I remember a few months ago, some fellow Ricochetti advised against “piling on” when it came to questioning AOCs intellect (as tiny as it is). The counter to their argument was that ridicule is an effective weapon against the left. Sometimes the only way you can show others the stupidity a leftist policy or position is to get them to laugh at it. The thinking is most people don’t want other folks to think they’re stupid.
Works on thorny diplomatic relations, too:
– Pres. Donald Trump
The Russians made an art of jokes against their government during the Soviet Era.
Rule #5 of Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals”:
The Babylon Bee is currently at the forefront of clever mockery of the Left. It’s smart, not mean, humor – which makes it all the more effective.
So true. It’s so close to reality, that you have to confirm that it isn’t real. They could also do satire of the right, like what Dana Carvey (Saturday Night Live) did with G.H.W. Bush:
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The Babylon Bee and the Onion do a pretty good job. Tom Shillue does a great Adam Schiff on the Greg Gutfeld show. Tom has clips on Youtube.There are 3 on this GG clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4ONTvw_dac
Dana Carvey was the classic with his G.H.W. Bush imitations and it was done with love. Sadly SNL has turned funny parody into unfunny skits since Dana Carvey/Bush.
Anybody remember Cowbell, the classic SNL skit?
It’s tricky though – one can be mean or contemptuous with humor, but add even a little anger and you transmutes into a lecture. Which is something else lost on the left.
The New Left is very bad at making ridicule funny. To be funny, the court jester must make fun of a Big Lie that has been so pervasive that Truth itself startles a person out of the Deep Sleep required for the Big Lie.
Sadly the Left is way too attached to its lies to want any real humor.
Chappelle proves he is worthy of being the nation’s court jester. I think Mark Twain, wherever he may be right now, is laughing his butt off at Chappelle’s recent comedy special.
Also, what other movement has been noted for its inability to laugh, especially at itself? Almost all Communist regimes, for starters.
There is a story about a Soviet era judge who had been assigned a case revolving around a former Party member who’d slandered the party. As this judge walks down the many stairs from the court building to the street, he simply cracks up.
His assistant asks him just what was so funny.
“Oh if only I could tell you the joke he told, now labeled as a National Security matter. Such a funny joke, told by such a wise person. But if I repeated it, I’d have to have both us both arrested.”
####
Part of the problem is the networks (along with news outlets) have decided that the audience has fractured so much that they can get away with selling advertisers on ‘niche’ programming that only appeals to one group of viewers or readers. And most times, it’s the angry bi-coastal progressives.
What that’s meant for a show like SNL is they can get away with abandoning a huge chunk of audience to simply pander to the people who really don’t care if a skit is funny, just as long as it targets the right people or things. And it’s even worse on many of the other network weeknight outlets.
That’s how you end up with ‘clapplause’ where the audience doesn’t really support the joke or the bit because it’s funny, but because it hates on the people they want to be hated. Once you get there, and you don’t care about attracting a wider scope of people, you don’t have to be funny, which is something most of the late night shows are succeeding at very well (people of the left would probably say the same thing about Shillue — they’d sit there stone-faced, wondering what’s so funny about a bug-eyed congressman saying weird things? You’d have to wait until Schiff left office for any of them to admit that a self-aggrandizing politician with eyes like a stalker girlfriend might be a possible source of humor).
Humor is rape.
I love that cowbell skit. Sorry, I’m on my phone until my internet comes back up; I’m not smart phone proficient enough to embed or link the video.
If you like the Chappell show, check out Bill Burr’s newest Netflix special.
”We have to believe all women? Really? Even the psychos?”
100%
I value civility, but civility doesn’t require taking crazy ideas seriously.
An old friend of mine was sent to jail for telling just such a joke in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Bulgaria.
There is an old saying that applies: Keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out.
You nailed it. Advertising dollars for political niche voters.
I hope that burro is leading them to a place with green grass, because it doesn’t look there is much that is nourishing and edible where they are now.
I mostly agree with the caution not to pile on too easy a target. The thing about criticizing AOC for her braying progressive nonsense is to mock the progressive nonsense more than the burro doing the braying.
Well stated.
Rob Long made the point when Rosanne’s show returned and drew huge ratings that it was dangerous for the networks, because they had convinced advertisers you couldn’t get huge ratings anymore with shows that tried to appeal to all sides of the political spectrum, so why bother? For the late-night shows that meant just do niche programming, target wealthy bi-coastal progressives and settle for lower ad rates. It allows them to not have to be funny, just vicious to the proper targets.
Oh man, how much the left would love to have a gulag for anyone who makes fun of them . . .