I like political humor. I love The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I'm trying to reconcile this fact with how offended I get when my Uncle T. forwards political jokes to me. The last one that set me off was something called "How to Recognize a Good Liberal" which I deleted and can't find anymore, but basically made fun of liberal positions the way this one ridicules conservative. I've emailed him in the past about things he's forwarded that the basic purpose of is to belittle someone's belief system. When I emailed him about this last one I got this in return:
Sorry, I really don't want to offend you.
I now realize that you've become a "moderate". From now on I'll only forward those emails that I forward to my liberal friends!
I still love you!
My family doesn't talk about politics much, but we're all Lutherans, so I assume most politics are on the conservative side. Uncle T. is pretty much the only one that I would say is active on the "issues". He's a very smart man, with well-thought out positions and I respect his opinion. So the thing I'm most offended about is the implication that my political positions are a character flaw.
But to get to the point of this post, my response was this:
I'm not sure "offended" is the right word. Sure, forwards like that and [Things Republicans Believe] are good for a chuckle for the opposite side, but it's also a symptom of what's wrong with modern political discussion. This kind of "discussion" simplifies and belittles beliefs. I'm curious as how you feel when you read this "Things Republicans Believe" as opposed to "How to Recognize a Good Liberal". Is it just as funny, or do you find yourself defending each "point"? What makes one funny and not the other?
I believe every word of what I said, but I also think the world of The Daily Show. Can I justify it by saying that it is an equal-opportunity heckler? Am I really laughing at Stupid Politics or is it actually because the butt of the joke is the Other Side? I truly don't want to belittle anyone's beliefs, even if they're somewhat misguided. Am I just a hippocrite?
posted by Amanda @ 3:09 PM
3 Antiphon:
Equal oppourtunities heckler - I think that's the key. It pokes fun at everyone, so you can take the heckling of your beliefs because you know they heckle the other paries as well, and that someone is finding the heckling of your party just as funny as you find the heckling of theirs.
I'm not sure I've ever said 'heckling' so many times in one day, let alone one reply...
There's an Irish comedian who had a TV show in the UK - Graham Norton. He is a gay Irish comedian, and camper than a row of boy scout tents - but he's funny and even when he's poking fun at you, you laugh, because you know he's not being malicious. Everything is funny and upbeat with him. So you laugh, even if he was saying your hairstyle looked like a dog who'd had its head out of the window on a cross-country trip. Etc.
Maybe it's the same with The Daily Show?
I think the difference is that you are amused provately - you aren't forwarding Daily Show humor to friends and relations who don't share your political views, you're just enjoying it yourself.
Depends. If Uncle T is only sending anti-liberal jokes, then it's biased and offensive. If he's happy to poke fun at his own beliefs too, no problem. I also agree with what Annika said.
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