A movie review in Saturday's Omaha World-Herald included a truly astute observation. In the context of reviewing two satires, An American Carol (pro-right-wing) and Religulous (pro-far-left-wing), the reviewer suggested that our worst enemy comprises those people who have no sense of humor.
I think he's right.
I recently forwarded an email I'd received to several friends, of all political stripes. The email asked for clarification about things such as why someone born in Hawaii is "exotic and strange" while someone from Alaska is just a "normal American," and why someone named "Barack" is weird but someone who named one of her children "Twig" is just folksy. And on and on in that vein.
Everybody to whom I sent it thought it was both hilarious and thought-provoking . . . whether they fancy themselves to be left- OR right-wing . . . with one sad, lonely exception. One person asked me to remove her from my mailing list. Which I did, immediately. I don't want to waste my time and energy on someone who has no sense of humor. People like that can suck the life right out of a body. Lord knows, I have enough trouble staying alive without being subjected to that.
Some of my more creative right-wing friends even tried (a bit tongue-in-cheek) to clarify my confusion for me, which I greatly appreciated. I don't agree with them, but I appreciate their efforts. They knew I meant no offense, and took it in the spirit it was offered. And we all got some laughs out of it.
And that's what is great about Americans. We can agree to disagree and still have some fun with each other's political beliefs. But people who are willfully humorless and who take offense at facts expressed in a humorous way (even if it is done to make a point they don't want to hear) need professional help.
Please note two things: (1) my sense of humor is as broad as anyone's (and broader than most); (2) things that pander to racial stereotypes are NOT funny. The "Aunt Obama" pancake mix some GOP idiots were selling at a GOP-related event in August, for example, was NOT funny. It WAS appalling and shameful.
I was certainly ashamed of the perpetrators' claims to be good Americans and to be clueless as to why what they did was offensive. How could they not know? When the subject came up on The View, the entire audience gasped in shock and revulsion upon seeing the box with Obama in a Mammy-style bandanna on the front and in an Arabic headdress on the back. The idiots who created the thing knew exactly what they were doing, and thought they could hide behind pretend "ignorance" to deflect criticism. That was likely their fallback position. They most probably never expected anyone to betray them by revealing their racist crap to that part of the world (i.e., the vast majority of the rest of us) that would shame them for expressing it.
And yes, distinctions can be drawn. If you, for example, wonder why I'm not complaining about Keith Olbermann's "Auntie Sarah's Moose Stew," here's why I'm not: Sarah Palin herself says she cooks and eats moose stew; the picture of Palin on the wrapper is an accurate, even flattering picture, showing her megawatt smile. [I've been on record for years of loving megawatt smiles.--Ed.] I would have been offended and would be complaining about it if she'd been shown with filthy, tangled hair, broken glasses, and blacked out/missing teeth. Demeaning stereotypes of every and any kind are not funny. Period.
Humorless people have another strike against them: they're the ones who foisted "political correctness" onto the rest of us. So you see, humorless people exist on the left as well as the right. Respecting people's preferences (as much as possible) is not wrong--but lecturing others on what is and is not acceptable, when the ones doing the lecturing are NOT in the group being referred to, is arrogant.
Thus humorless people of all stripes are the ones who pose the real threat to America. Their ultimate goal is to make the rest of us conform to their notions of propriety. They suck all the oxygen out of the air. That's anti-American. What is American is to show a little tolerance, to take a live-and-let-live approach to the world, and to give everyone a little breathing--and laughing--room.
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