Question Can you laugh at stupidity/ignorance ?

[Jovialis]

I think comedy is usually about things going wrong, or pointing out things that go wrong in a humorous way. The delivery of the joke is also key to being funny. I think Eddie Murphy is my all time favorite, his comedy specials were the best.

 

[Ygorcs]

I agree with Jovialis. Comedy, according to some experts on the subject, is exactly an indirect way to re-affirm the right path or to highlight things that are going against the usual customs, patterns of behavior or even the expected actions and reactions or, in the extreme, natural laws. That is why we often laugh even at unintentional comedy when, for example, a special effect in a movie looks absurdly unlikely. Our laugh is an unconscious way to re-establish the order of the universe and affirm that we know how to distinguish the "normal" from the uncanny.

Thus, in a comedy you may well be depicting awful instances of racism or xenophobia and STILL be in fact progressive and anti-racist, because you're making people laugh about the absurdity and ignorance of racism/xenophobia, and the laugh is often a potent device of criticism and destruction of the credibility of an idea. The way you elaborate your joke is what will determine the true content behind the humor.

 

[Angela]

It depends. I agree with Maciamo. If a real person says or does something "stupid" or "ignorant", so long as that ignorance isn't cruel or hurtful in itself, and people laugh at him or her, I don't like it at all and usually intervene. I even get uncomfortable when real people on tv shows do something dumb, even if they don't know it's dumb, if you know what I mean.

On the other hand, when it's fictional characters I can find it very funny. I don't know why, but physical, slapstick comedy usually makes me laugh, and great examples of it can reduce me to hysteria. My father was the same, whereas my mother couldn't figure out what was supposed to be funny about it. I have to say, though, that a lack of a sense of humor was one of her few flaws.

Now, in real life situations there indeed is nothing funny about this stuff.

 

[Salento]

Old Latin Proverb: “Risus abundat in ore stultorum”.
In Italian: “Il riso abbonda sulla bocca degli stolti”
In English: “Laughter is abundant in the mouth of fools”.
[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji2]

 

[davef]

Old Latin Proverb: “Risus abundat in ore stultorum”.
In Italian: “Il riso abbonda sulla bocca degli stolti”
In English: “Laughter is abundant in the mouth of fools”.
[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji2]

Consider me one of them fools:grin:

 

[Salento]

Consider me one of them fools:grin:

I don’t believe in that proverb much. Teachers use it on Students. ( when we were laughing and making fun of them, and the Teachers knew it, but couldn’t prove it)
lol lol lol lol [emoji23]

 

[Angela]

Most philosophers, especially Plato, and certainly all Christian leaders until very recently would agree with Salento's proverb. A dour lot in my opinion. Trust me, you wouldn't want to live in Plato's Republic.

I'm with Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Aristotle held that: "Life includes rest as well as activity, and in this is included leisure and amusement.” Some people carry amusement to excess, but just as bad are “those who can neither make a joke themselves nor put up with those who do". He calls those people the "boorish and unpolished".

Thomas Aquinas followed his lead, believing that "As bodily tiredness is eased by resting the body, so psychological tiredness is eased by resting the soul. As we have explained in discussing the feelings, pleasure is rest for the soul. And therefore the remedy for weariness of soul lies in slackening the tension of mental study and taking some pleasure… . Those words and deeds in which nothing is sought beyond the soul’s pleasure are called playful or humorous, and it is necessary to make use of them at times for solace of soul."

I completely agree with that. It's a psychological release at times, at others a way of distancing oneself from painful emotions, which is why I often think that some highly sensitive people use it. Comics are stereotypically believed to be sad people underneath it all. At others it's an ability to let the mind play, as with puns. In all cases I think it rests on the ability to think other than linearly, which is why people on the autism scale have no humor, and I think it relies on enjoying contradiction or incongruity in situations where there is no fear or pain or pity involved.

The only kind of humor of which I disapprove is the kind which arises from a sense of superiority and is used to exclude or hurt other people. However, I do like good put downs, especially when it's a response to an insult:

Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if I were married to you, I'd put poison in your cup.

Winston Churchill: Madam, If I were married to you, I'd drink it.

Psychiatrists and psychologists have also chimed in:

" Engaging in humor can foster a tolerance for ambiguity and diversity, and promote creative problem-solving. It can serve as a social lubricant, engendering trust and reducing conflict. In communications that tend to evoke negative emotions--announcing bad news, apologizing, complaining, warning, criticizing, commanding, evaluating--humor can provide delight that reduces or even blocks negative emotions."

The kind of humor I most admire is the type in which one makes fun of oneself or one's own situation. Two of my favorites, of which I was reminded:

On walking up the stairs to the gallows, Thomas More is reported to have said: I'll need you to help me up. I shall be able to get down by myself.

On his death bed Oscar Wilde said: That wallpaper is atrocious. One of us has to go.

That kind of wit and grace under pressure, and while undoubtedly very afraid is the essence of courage, imo.

Anyone who hasn't read Oscar Wilde's epigrams really should...talk about incongruity and word play! Groucho Marx is another good one: "Next time I see you, remind me not to speak to you."

 

[davef]

I swear i would get a lifetime of infractions if I post a shred of the sick deranged comedic material taken from movies, YouTube vids, video games and other media that gets me into histerics :grin:

No offense Angela, but a lot of what you hate is what i really truly love !! :grin:

ps I heavily dislike material poking fun at real tragedies such as 9/11 or people suffering in general

 

[halfalp]

I never really liked arguments from authority, because words that are freeze in space and time like ancient greek philosophers or even religious book, are easily idealized. I wonder how acte for exemple Aristotle day by day, he was maybe very excentric, maybe even like a, for exemple, Donald Trump. There is what we wright and what we are. But instead of that, i can personnally laugh at everything that is made to be funny, i love autoderision, i love when people laugh at their own culture or race, for the title subject, i can definitely laugh at ignorance and " stupidity ", we are all uncultivated somehow because their is no such thing as cultivated humans but only humans that like to cultivate themselves.

 

[davef]

I never really liked arguments from authority, because words that are freeze in space and time like ancient greek philosophers or even religious book, are easily idealized. I wonder how acte for exemple Aristotle day by day, he was maybe very excentric, maybe even like a, for exemple, Donald Trump. There is what we wright and what we are. But instead of that, i can personnally laugh at everything that is made to be funny, i love autoderision, i love when people laugh at their own culture or race, for the title subject, i can definitely laugh at ignorance and " stupidity ", we are all uncultivated somehow because their is no such thing as cultivated humans but only humans that like to cultivate themselves.

You raise a lot of valid points. I don't see how this deserves a negative vote