January 31, 2003
EXHIBIT A:
DENNIS MILLER: Conservative (or at least libertarian) hero. (Edward Driscoll, January 31, 2003)Years ago a friend sent us a few of Mr. Miller's jokes accompanied by a note that said: You probably don't like him because he's a Hollywood liberal, but these are funny.
I responded: Of course I like him. He is funny and all humor is conservative.
Thus began a years long argument, though we've yet to have anyone refute the point.
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 31, 2003 3:00 PMWhat about humorous insults based on someone's personal failings like cracks about Bush's supposed lack of intelligence?
How do you characterise that as conservative humour?
Maybe it just isn't particularly funny. Neither "Dumbya" nor "Klintoon" garner a laugh; they're more like angry outbursts rather than bon mots.
There've been several blog entries on this, I recall, though I don't know their dates...
Ali:
That's quitessentially conservative. You're making fun of someone--scoring laughs at their expense--and you're pointing out that they are unequal. Liberals don't believe in the Bell Curve so how can George W. Bush be at the left end of it?
Well, GWB _is_ said to do a pretty mean Dr. Evil impersonation...
Posted by: Joe at January 31, 2003 8:14 PMAny humor that makes fun of people for not living up to cultural standards or not meeting cultural norms is conservative in that sense. (Making fun of someone for being supposedly stupid certainly is.)
Now, I believe that there is humor which pokes fun at society's standards and norms themselves, rather than people who fail to meet them. Would that not be liberal humor?
Mr. Thacker:
If you believe Man is fallen then our hubris about any of our creations is richly deserving of satire. The relative strength of some of those creations is demonstrated by how unfunny most of the humor poking fun at traditional conventions is, or the way in which the joke is on the teller. For instance, humor about homophobia runs up against the tragedy of AIDs.