[was: Re: [PEN-L:9723] RE: Re: RE: Re: A Fair Deal?]
David S. wrote:
>Michael --
>
>I am not surprised at all that you don't find P.J. O'Rourke funny. You
>don't strike me as a Republican Party Reptile. What about Dave Barry --
>another semi-libertarian?
Dave Barry is very funny (at least to me), as is Scott "Dilbert" Adams. But
I notice that these guys have been shifting to the left.
---------------
Today's (3/29/01) Dilbert --
frame# 1. TV says to Dilbert: "Buy your electricity from the Dogbert Power
Company."
frame# 2. Dogbert saying to the TV camera: "We generate all of our power
with the help of California environmentalists."
frame# 3. Workers at power plant: "These are getting harder to find
lately." (carrying an environmentalist, bound & gagged, to be stuffed in
the furnace.)
-----------------
I can't cite evidence about Dave Barry.
>In fact, do Lefties have a sense of humor? Or do you have to wait until
>the revolution comes before you are permitted to smile?
(BTW, not all leftists are revolutionaries, as should be obvious from pen-l.)
My experience is that people who lack a sense of humor are distributed
randomly across the political spectra. The sort who are typically humorless
are called "politically correct," a group that is also randomly distributed
in this way. Listen to some of the anti-abortion folks some time.
Bureaucrats of all types fit this category.
Leftists strive to keep their jokes from being at the expense of those who
have been getting the short end of the societal stick for generations,
which sometimes cramps their style. (However, it does encourage the
practice of the highest form of humor, i.e., plays on words.) This is
sometimes encouraged by the defensive posture encouraged by being a small
minority of the population. But if you can find a copy, look at THE BIG RED
JOKE BOOK (Pluto Press, 1980s?) some time. It's got a lot of great jokes,
often at the expense of bureaucrats.
Some of the best jokes come from anarchists (on the left) and libertarians
(on the right). This is probably because these folks believe in breaking
down societal barriers (like Lenny Bruce). But sometimes they end up
dwelling on being obnoxious, like P.J. O'Rourke, who ends up being funny
only to those who enjoy hate and right-wing resentment. Bill Maher has
tendencies of this sort.
Q: How many post-modernists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: none -- that would end up replicating the totalizing modernist vision
perpetrated by the Enlightenment.
Q: How many romantic conservatives does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: none -- that would lead to the Enlightenment-inspired destruction of the
traditions that hold society together.
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
