How to get through a political season that’s likely to be mean and nasty? Smile. Even a writer as serious as Borges knows this.
Borges’ peculiar sense of humor led him to make remarks that, intended in jest, today would be considered politically incorrect. On his trip to Patagonia which resulted in his book “The Old Patagonian Express,” Paul Theroux stopped in Buenos Aires see Borges. Talking about the U.S. civil war he told Theroux, “But people respect soldiers. That’s why no one really thinks much of the Americans. If America were a military power instead of a commercial empire, people would look up to it. Who respects businessmen? No one. People look at America and all they see are traveling salesmen. So they laugh.” Borges’ Singular Sense of Humor
Research shows that comedy changes your thought process. Laughter influences both physical and emotional health in a positive way according to neuroscientist Ori Amir
- When we laugh, our brain releases a cocktail of neurochemicals, including endorphins and dopamine, which are commonly known as “feel-good” chemicals. These chemicals create a sense of happiness and pleasure, reducing stress and anxiety levels.
- The group that watched the comedy show experienced a significant decrease in cortisol levels, the hormone responsible for stress.
- It has been observed that people in a positive mood, induced by humor, tend to display increased creativity and innovative thinking.
- The group exposed to humor consistently performed better in creativity tests than the control group.
- Shared laughter creates a sense of camaraderie and trust, fostering better interpersonal relationships.
- The results revealed that groups with higher levels of shared laughter demonstrated increased cooperation and cohesion. Laughter played a vital role in building rapport and establishing a sense of belonging among group members.
- Humor and laughter have been found to have positive effects on the immune system.
I must admit I’m not a rabid comedy fan. I do have some favorite comedians (Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Ernie Kovacs, Lenny Bruce, Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, Carol Burnett, Tina Fey, Dave Chappelle, among others). I was a great fan of the Johnny Carson show but haven’t watched much late night comedy for years. I’m an early to bed early to rise kind of guy. Sitcoms never appealed to me. I’m probably the only person in America who hasn’t watched Seinfeld. I did watch Laugh In regularly. I do watch Saturday Night Live when I have insomnia.
When a superior man hears of the Tao, he immediately begins to embody it. When an average man hears of the Tao, he half believes it, half doubts it. When a foolish man hears of the Tao, he laughs out loud. If he didn’t laugh, it wouldn’t be the Tao. Lao Tzu, Chaper 41, Stephen Mitchell translation. Even Lao Tzu understood that laughing is the best medicine.
Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,—
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
Sophmoric humor is commonly used in a negative way particularly by politicians who appeal to our basest instincts. Donald Trump likes to create nicknames to denigrate, mock and ridicule his opponents. It can be an effective tool but in today’s political world this approach can backfire. Unlike the doublespeak in Orwell’s dystopian Animal Farm which makes the bad seem good and the negative appear positive today’s new lingo changes negative into positive. To be “dope” is to be cool, awesome, great. To be “brat” is to be honest, unique and fun. When Donald Trump called Vice President Harris Laffin’ Kamala Harris, TikTok turned it into a great compliment. Thousands of TikTok users picked up on it and deemed Harris “brat”. Make America Laugh Again has become a slogan for Kamala Harris supporters.
The brat summer trend is inspired by British singer Charli XCX’s hit album “brat” which was released on June 7 and debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts. Fans were particularly taken by the album’s distinctive yet minimalistic cover art: “brat” written in low-res Arial front on a lime green background. Soon after the album’s release, Gen Z christened it the season of the brat, an aesthetic trend defined by party animal antics, cool-girl style, and lime green everything. TODAY
Donald Trump’s inability to laugh openly and loudly may indicate a defect in his personality.
“Anybody heard Donald Trump laugh? Laughter in life is — this is an odd political point — but laughter is infectious,” said political analyst John Heileman. “When you see someone laugh, if they break character on SNL, you catch the bug. You start to laugh along with them. It’s one of the important signs of humanity. And I think anybody who you’ve never seen laugh is probably a sociopath.”
Smiles and frowns can be deceptive. Or posed for effect, a specialty of conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson.
The Smile by William Blake
There is a Smile of Love
And there is a Smile of Deceit
And there is a Smile of Smiles
In which these two Smiles meet
And there is a Frown of Hate
And there is a Frown of disdain
And there is a Frown of Frowns
Which you strive to forget in vain
For it sticks in the Hearts deep Core
And it sticks in the deep Back bone
And no Smile that ever was smild
But only one Smile alone
That betwixt the Cradle & Grave
It only once Smild can be
But when it once is Smild
Theres an end to all Misery
The former president seems stuck in a past where comedy consists of “locker room talk” and “campaign rhetoric.” Vice President Harris uses humor in a more subtle, nuanced even self-deprecating way: “I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”
George Carlin said, “No one is ever more herself or himself than when they really laugh. Their defenses are down…They are completely open, completely themselves when that message hits the brain and the laugh begins. That’s when new ideas can be implanted. If a new idea slips in at that moment, it has a chance to grow.”
Political comedy goes at least as far back as ancient Greece where in the fifth century BC Aristophanes’ The Frogs was a popular political satire. Sometimes political humor appears out of nowhere as with Trump’s mysterious middle-of-the-night “covfefe” tweet in 2017.
Politics, laws, and governance are serious matters but the comedians can be more persuasive to the general public. You don’t convince people with reason. You convince them with emotion. The poets have always known this.
Laughing Song by William Blake
When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;
when the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing “Ha, ha he!”
When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread:
Come live, and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of “Ha, ha, he!
So, to get through this political season and all the stress and angst that goes with it–smile, laugh and lighten up–or light up, whatever floats your boat.
