Why So Serious?

For a society such as ours that reveres the freedom of speech, we are ironically restricted to what we can and cannot say (look to the recent censorship of South Park). Though many of the things we say in bad taste are given legal impunity, the backlash an individual may face for what they said from their community may make up for prison time. When we speak honestly about our beliefs and convictions that may go contrary to what is considered acceptable by one majority, we are mandated to hold ourselves accountable for our words. For many, humor is the way around this obstacle. Through the guise of entertainment, humor is capable of holding subtle messages that may be more effective through a standup routine than through a medium of serious civil discourse.

Stating desire to eat human babies, or any metaphorical implication of such a statement, wouldn't prima facie seem to be the best context for relaying an important message. For 17^th century satirist Jonathan Swift, it was. In one of Swift's most widely read satires, he proposes the consumption of human babies as a solution to the starvation and economic hard times his nation had fallen upon. Was Swift's proposition a serious one? Not as far as we can tell. But it was a work of humor that, while giving the reader a laugh over the absurdity of it, in the end exposed a massive problem in Swift's society. Instead of directly blaring his political convictions, he used humor to subtly point out the corruption and lackadaisical nature with which the government was running the country.

The Haiti earthquakes that recently transpired were one of the most tragic natural disasters of the last century. Thousands upon thousands of lives were either lost or in pain from injury or starvation. To most if not nearly all, the earthquakes were not anything close to a laughing matter. The writers at the satirical news publication The Onion felt differently. In an article titled "Massive Earthquake Reveals Entire Island Civilization Called "Haiti,"the author facetiously states that the events that transpired on Haiti enabled us to discover that there were actually people there. The article had a humorous tone. It was able to effectively convey the fact that there has always been suffering, starving and poverty among the people in Haiti - it just took a nation shattering earthquake for us to pay attention to them. Through humor, the author gave an important message that otherwise may not have been heard.

"Contrary to what liberals are saying, the Bush administration is not sinking like the Titanic. This administration is soaring, kind of like the Hindenburg." These were the words of humorist Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner. Though he was only an arm's length away from the president he was mocking, Colbert was able to speak his mind about the condition of our nation at that time using two tragedies of the past, the Titanic and the Hindenburg disaster in which a giant blimp full of people exploded. Colbert's humor was the only way he could have used those two tragedies and give a scalding criticism of the Bush administration. Humor gave him, as it does many, the ability to make important messages through would seem to be something completely irrelevant. It is this power of humor and satire that gives it a vital role in the transition and flow of ideas and ideals in our nation.