SNL creator Lorne Michaels has said that the show lambastes Republicans more often because "Democrats tend to take it personally; Republicans think it's funny." In other words, leftists can be offended if their ideas are challenged and ridiculed, but conservatives can’t.
Jokes about President Trump have become the airplane food comedy of our time. As in, “Can you believe how bad the food on airplanes is, am I right?” It’s the work of a hack comedian, and, at this point, it’s tacky and, sometimes, downright embarrassing. Rob Schneider, former cast-member of SNL, spoke for much of America when he told the New York Daily News that the Trump schtick has gotten tired and pathetic. Worse, it is making Americans bitter.
"Comedy needs surprise,” Schneider said. “It must keep the audience guessing. It should not be afraid to shock or offend. It should attack the powerful and arrogant. But it must come from a place of inspiration where it made the writer laugh. If there are ideas of justice, morality and righteousness even better but they must always take a backseat to actually being funny. The loyalty should reside in the joke, not in some political identity."
I’m not joking when I say that Schneider’s assessment contains the depth and force of writings by philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who revolutionized the field of aesthetics within comedy. Because, yes, parody by nature is divisive. Satire is the weaponization of humor, a tactical fusing of comedy and politics. It’s the tactical use of humor to voice political insurgency. Satire involves adding judgement and attack to humor, inherently negative. Its basis is anger. But, in order to be effective, it has to, above all, be funny. Add the media to this mix, and you’ve got the potential for joke-driven warfare.
[pullqutoe]The best thing you can do is avoid the rage that’s expected.[/pullquote]
Not only are Left-leaning audiences unable to laugh at themselves, they’re unable to laugh at a growing list of topics that they’ve deemed offensive. Of course, there’s a difference between offensive and unfunny. It’s one thing for a person to dislike a joke because they find it unfunny, but the progressive argument against humor is instead that they consider it offensive. As Jordan Peterson said during his Channel 4 interview, “It’s not okay for someone to tell me that I don’t have the right to offend them.” Especially amid a culture which has determined that “micro-aggressions” are an actual thing, that a person’s intentions can be offensive, and that language is a form of violence.
A person’s ability to laugh often reveals a lot about them. And maybe conservatives are sick of the school-yard bully schtick from leftists. Because the jokes aren’t even funny anymore. And no one is really laughing. It’s more of a sick cackle. A sick noise that indicates loneliness and creepy rage.
The best thing you can do is avoid the rage that’s expected.
Smile. Laugh. As Mark Twain wrote, “Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.” Show the clowns that you’re blessed. Blessed in many ways, but especially with a sense of humor.