What’s Funny About That?

In these times that ‘try men’s souls,’ we are barraged by bad news.  Daily reports of murder and mayhem assail us from every direction.  When I was a boy in the hinterlands of Arkansas, we had three TV channels; ABC, NBC and CBS.    It was much the same in those days; bad news always dominated the evening news.  Just as it is now, so it was then.  The Middle East, Asia and Africa seem to be an everlasting fountain of bad news.  However, with only three channels to spew heartbreak and sorrow, one had at least a fighting chance to cope.

But, today, we have a mind-numbing plethora of news sources.  Add in the internet and Al Jazeera and you can have news 24/7/365.  Bill Mahr describes this non-stop bad news coverage as “Disaster Porn.”  An apt description if there ever was one.  We hear of earthquakes, tsunamis and nuclear meltdown in Japan; bloody uprisings in Africa and the Middle East.  We hear of elected officials in ‘the home of the brave’ legislating the deprivation of the rights of working people.  It just goes on and on and on. 

What’s a person to do?  We could just turn off the TV, read a book, play with our kids and grandkids; talk with our spouse about the mundane things of our lives.  Unfortunately, that isn’t in our nature.  Just as a wreck on the highway will cause traffic to back up for miles because of motorists slowing down to get a good look just in case there might be blood on the asphalt; we are drawn to the bad news raining down on us like cluster bombs.

Surveys attest to the fact that depression is at an all time high.  Millions unemployed, bankruptcies skyrocketing, deficits and the national debt are seemingly out of control.  Is there any wonder why the nation is depressed? 

How does one cope?  How does one attempt to make any sense of our world today?  The only way I have found to blunt some of the pain and suffering is through humor.  Down through the history of our country, humorists have analyzed the events of the day.  The ‘Bumpkin Philosopher’ put it this way:

“One has to view these things through the prism of humor – lest we hang ourselves in the closet of our frustration.”

The Bumpkin Philosopher:

“In my neighborhood, if the election was between a Democrat who could heal the sick and a one-eyed mule; the mule would win every time.”

“It is entirely appropriate that the symbol of the Democratic Party is a donkey; since every time we put them in office, they make jackasses of themselves.”

“The Republican Party symbol, however, is a bit ironic.  The memory of an elephant is legendary; but the memory of the Republican Party only goes back to the last election.”

“Since I’m now retired, I’ve been contemplating a second career.  My first choice is politics; especially since Minority Leader Cantor has demonstrated that a passing grade in Junior High American Government is no longer a requirement.”

“The Republican agenda of cutting spending to stimulate the economy is akin to the man who cut off his leg because he had a blister on his heel.”

Mark Twain:

“It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.”
- Following the Equator, Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar

“...the liberty of the Press is called the Palladium of Freedom, which means, in these days, the liberty of being deceived, swindled, and humbugged by the Press and paying hugely for the deception.”
- "From Author's Sketch Book, Nov. 1870," reprinted in The Twainian, May 1940

“It is a free press...There are laws to protect the freedom of the press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press.”
- License of the Press speech

“The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet.”
- Mark Twain in Eruption

“In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.”
- Autobiography of Mark Twain

[In the Galaxy Magazine]: “I shall not often meddle with politics, because we have a political Editor who is already excellent and only needs to serve a term or two in the penitentiary to be perfect.”
- Mark Twain, a Biography

“All large political doctrines are rich in difficult problems -- problems that are quite above the average citizen's reach. And that is not strange, since they are also above the reach of the ablest minds in the country; after all the fuss and all the talk, not one of those doctrines has been conclusively proven to be the right one and the best.”
- "The Privilege of the Grave," Who Is Mark Twain?

Will Rogers:

“Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate; now what's going to happen to us with both a Senate and a House?”

“Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.”

“Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there”.

“There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.”

“The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that's out always looks the best.”

Lewis Black:

Bill Mahr: