Okay, so it's hot. I get it. No air conditioning, and no windows that open on the Northwest side of my house, so the sun just beats down and heats up my little place.
Right now, it's 84 degrees inside my house.
Update: It's now 4:19 pm and 90.5 degrees in the house.
The high today is supposedly going to be 86 degrees.
Bull.
It's 90 in the shade outside and it's not even the hottest part of the day yet.
More update: now it's 111 degrees. I'm going to melt.
Do you think it's the media's attempt to placate the sweaty citizens? I don't know.
Spent another $250 on the Wonder Dog Friday; his allergies have got him itching and scratching and yet again, another infection. Gah. At least this time we aren't giving him oral anti-biotics. Nope, now it's a cream.
The neck spasms? Getting better, and with the drugs, just great. Still, I'm only taking them at night, wouldn't want to get all goofy at school. At least not during the second week of school.
The fused vertebrae thing? It really doesn't mean anything. The only reason they figured it out was that it showed up on my x-ray. It's a pretty rare thing, and a good number of folks are like me, with no symptoms or problems. Just a little anomaly that adds to my charm. And, I get to have a syndrome.
I've not written about anything of import lately, but I have been thinking about humor. What makes one thing funny and another not? Why is some humor offensive to some and hilarious to others?
I've posed this to my students already; every day I put a cartoon (usually the Far Side, or one from the New Yorker) on the overhead and we talk about it. I can teach them about prior knowledge, or incongruity or intertextuality in a fun way. I always ask, "What do you need to know to understand this cartoon?" and then the conversation begins. They learn that even if they personally don't find it funny, there is a reason it's supposed to be funny.
Anyway. The question I have posed to them, and now to you is this: Why are shows like America's Funniest Home Videos considered humorous? Why do we laugh if some one trips, or his three-year-old hits him in the family jewels with a plastic baseball bat? Why do we laugh when we make another person look stupid? We don't laugh when someone is punched in the face, so why is it funny when that same person falls on it? We feel awful when we've been made fun of, so why is it humorous when it's done to others?
I'm not on a ethical high horse about this either; I laugh at the same things as everyone else. I tend to be sarcastic far too often. No, I'm truly wondering what it is that makes us laugh at other's misfortunes.
Ideas?
5 comments:
Because it's relatable. Everyone with balls can relate to being hit in the balls. Everyone who has ever tripped worries about looking dumb and when they see it happen to someone else, well, it's funny.
Me, I enjoy a good fart/poop story for a laugh. Now if someone slipped on a pile of poo and farted while they were flying through the air and then landed on their ass? Well, that would kill me because I would die laughing.
I'm sorry to hear about your recent medical issues. Glad you have some good drugs though. Sometimes that little thing is the silver lining.
I'll send some cool air if you send me some hot air!!
I don't know. Chunks has a point. The germans have a word for it - schadenfraude. We've all done stupid things and maybe laughed at it later. When I see the skateboarder eat it, I laugh and cringe, feel a little guilty for laughing, but then remember that this is a story of his own stupidity that he'll be telling all his life. Then I don't feel so guilty anymore.
I love the fact you show a cartoon every day. What a great way to get students discussing issues.
As for my view on laughing at the misfortune of others, I agree with Chunks, but also sometimes I think we're a really sick society - not that it's shown as humour, but there are also the endless replays of sports accidents, etc.
It probably is the same reason that American Idol focuses so heavily on the "bad" auditions. That is also why I never really liked that show. It seemed too mean spirited to me.
Not that other's misery brings us joy, but to see what we've been spared, can be sweet.
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