An article that is well worth your time to read:
A few great quotes (of many more):
Today, we’re faced with social and political pressures that are tearing our country and our families apart. Not that I couldn’t do without some family members anyway, but the point is, we live in the most outrageous period in our recent history, when the need for humor is greatest, and yet we seem to be losing our ability to laugh at ourselves and our world.
I agree the need for humor is great. Funny enough (but not in a lol way), I think that in trying to make sure that humor is not at the expense of others, the “comedy” that remains is often truly attacking it subjects.
I’m a perpetually frustrated person who’s annoyed and bored by the dullness that everyone else seems to tolerate so easily. I have a rage against mildness, against playing it safe, against political correctness. Jokes are my defense against normalcy, and as a comedy writer, if I’m not teetering on the edge of offending someone, then I’m not doing my job. Because I know that people get themselves stuck in a rut when they take things too seriously.
I cannot remember who said it, but basically was, “Good humor causes half the audience to laugh, and the other half to be aghast.” My guess is that, done well, who is in each 50% continually changes as the performance continues.
Okay, this last one is kind of long:
Is there a way to determine what exact number of America’s population is killing joy for everyone? Since I can’t seem to find one, let’s go with Phillips’ estimation of “30 million people on Twitter,” which computes to roughly 9 percent of America’s population.
In all fairness, 9-Percenters are not a new segment of society; they’ve always lived among us. The difference now is that social media amplifies the voices of even the smallest subgroups while the anonymity of the Internet removes all consequences.
This means that today’s 9-Percenters can hide behind screens and social-media handles as they attack any person on the Internet whose jokes offend them. The 9-Percenters of 40 years ago had to think twice about what they were sharing publicly, because at the end of the day, they had to sign their names to their reactions. Without this accountability, it’s all too easy for today’s 9-Percenters to attack and shame comedy writers into giving up on the genre.
Recently, I wrote:
I can see good reasons why some people need to be anonymous. My take? If you want to be a jerk online, then don’t be a wimp and reveal who you are. Otherwise, anonymous-away!
One might need to be anonymous, but nobody needs to be a jerk.
Even some of the non-anonymous ones are also humorlous jerks, but they succeed, in great measure, because of the mob of anonymous jerks behind them.
When we need humor most, they bring misery and division.