We can all plague and punish one another. Tease him--laugh at him.
Now, maybe you've read Pride & Prejudice twelve times, like me, or maybe you're a fool. If you are the latter I'll give you some context. Elizabeth offers up this advice as a way to punish Mr. Darcy after a particularly scandalous comment he makes about her "figure". Elizabeth taps into some deep insight here. Laughter hurts. If you're anything like me your most painful memories come with a laugh track. Laughter does something more than pain. To be called a name or judged or pushed around hurts. But to be ridiculed, to be embarrassed, and ashamed is something more. Bullies know this. But so do comedians. Bullies use humor to demean the weak, comedians to sabotage the strong. Comedians know that the real dagger to the heart is laughter. This is why I'm not upset with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler for making a Bill Cosby joke. This is why I'm not upset with them for making countless jokes at North Korea's expense. Laughter, when used against someone, can be a cruel weapon indeed. Like Elizabeth, I am convinced that laughter is the only real counterattack to pride.
Were the jokes shocking? Yes. Were the warranted? I think so. In case you missed the Golden Globes they featured a North Korean "journalist" who popped up now and again to make sure we were adhering to their standards. This character was played by Margaret Cho, who had this to say about it. The only weapon I have is comedy [...] You imprison, starve and brainwash my people you get made fun of by me [...] I'm the only person in the world, probably, that can make these jokes and not be placed in a labor camp. Clearly, Cho sees this as her way of fighting back. Her protest. Her activism. Her brave defiance. In a way, her responsibility. On one article about Cho's appearance at the show a commenter writes. Please tell me they called them Gooks. That would be so funny. No, LesErbsCharlie, that would not be funny. That would be racist. The difference here is that Cho is satirizing a conceivable possibility. She is not stereotyping a race. She is not making fun of the victims. She is not attacking the weak. She is chipping away at the power structure. There is a difference between racism and satire. Cho did not cross it.
As for the Bill Cosby joke...I could not be more pleased. Cinderella ran away from her prince, Rapunzel was thrown from a tower ... and Sleeping Beauty just thought she was getting coffee with Bill Cosby. Yes, Amy, yes. You brave feminist icon. Thank you for reminding Bill Cosby that he is not untouchable. Academic articles and investigative journalism can take us only so far. Ridicule is a whole new level. To hear women make this joke is huge. It is payback on behalf of all the women who have come forward. And, perhaps most importantly, it's funny. The brilliant thing about comedy is that it is a weapon for the weak. And so, I find it oddly poetic that comedy, like rape, is about power.
If you doubt the effectiveness of humor as weapon then you must only look to Paris to see the strength of the weapons used against it. Perhaps it is time to stop saying it's just a joke. Perhaps it is time to reckon with comedy, with art as the ferocious tool that it is. Jane Austen understood it as the weapon of the people. She used it to mock and subvert her patriarchal society. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey used it to similar effect; to remind us that no rapist is safe. Margaret Cho used it to shine light on an oppressive regime that denies basic dignities to its subjects.
Now, maybe you've read Pride & Prejudice twelve times, like me, or maybe you're a fool. If you are the latter I'll give you some context. Elizabeth offers up this advice as a way to punish Mr. Darcy after a particularly scandalous comment he makes about her "figure". Elizabeth taps into some deep insight here. Laughter hurts. If you're anything like me your most painful memories come with a laugh track. Laughter does something more than pain. To be called a name or judged or pushed around hurts. But to be ridiculed, to be embarrassed, and ashamed is something more. Bullies know this. But so do comedians. Bullies use humor to demean the weak, comedians to sabotage the strong. Comedians know that the real dagger to the heart is laughter. This is why I'm not upset with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler for making a Bill Cosby joke. This is why I'm not upset with them for making countless jokes at North Korea's expense. Laughter, when used against someone, can be a cruel weapon indeed. Like Elizabeth, I am convinced that laughter is the only real counterattack to pride.
Were the jokes shocking? Yes. Were the warranted? I think so. In case you missed the Golden Globes they featured a North Korean "journalist" who popped up now and again to make sure we were adhering to their standards. This character was played by Margaret Cho, who had this to say about it. The only weapon I have is comedy [...] You imprison, starve and brainwash my people you get made fun of by me [...] I'm the only person in the world, probably, that can make these jokes and not be placed in a labor camp. Clearly, Cho sees this as her way of fighting back. Her protest. Her activism. Her brave defiance. In a way, her responsibility. On one article about Cho's appearance at the show a commenter writes. Please tell me they called them Gooks. That would be so funny. No, LesErbsCharlie, that would not be funny. That would be racist. The difference here is that Cho is satirizing a conceivable possibility. She is not stereotyping a race. She is not making fun of the victims. She is not attacking the weak. She is chipping away at the power structure. There is a difference between racism and satire. Cho did not cross it.
As for the Bill Cosby joke...I could not be more pleased. Cinderella ran away from her prince, Rapunzel was thrown from a tower ... and Sleeping Beauty just thought she was getting coffee with Bill Cosby. Yes, Amy, yes. You brave feminist icon. Thank you for reminding Bill Cosby that he is not untouchable. Academic articles and investigative journalism can take us only so far. Ridicule is a whole new level. To hear women make this joke is huge. It is payback on behalf of all the women who have come forward. And, perhaps most importantly, it's funny. The brilliant thing about comedy is that it is a weapon for the weak. And so, I find it oddly poetic that comedy, like rape, is about power.
If you doubt the effectiveness of humor as weapon then you must only look to Paris to see the strength of the weapons used against it. Perhaps it is time to stop saying it's just a joke. Perhaps it is time to reckon with comedy, with art as the ferocious tool that it is. Jane Austen understood it as the weapon of the people. She used it to mock and subvert her patriarchal society. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey used it to similar effect; to remind us that no rapist is safe. Margaret Cho used it to shine light on an oppressive regime that denies basic dignities to its subjects.