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Topic: Are leftists funny...
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Rufus Polson
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3308
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posted 01 April 2004 02:33 AM
Well, I guess we don't need to be offended; it makes quite clear that it's only accusing *American* leftists of being dour and humourless, while pointing out that leftists everywhere else are quite funny and irreverent. As a Canadian and card-carrying anti-American chauvinist, I'm cool with that. (OK, so I don't actually have a card. But nobody asks to see those things anyway; if they do I'll just say it's in the mail)And I can see why it might be so--the left in the US is particularly ground down and marginalized, for one thing. And they're also "in the belly of the beast" as they say. But certainly it's a generalization, and "No generalization is true--not even this one!" There are some funny American leftists now (Bowling for Columbine makes me suspect Alice Cooper is one), but Al Franken doesn't make my list. Not because he's not funny, but because he's not a leftist. He's a centrist, which means that in the US he looks like a leftist. Actually, in my opinion the United States has one major leftist whose subversive humour has infiltrated their country on a top-rated show for years and years now without anyone seeming to notice, by and large, that he is one. That would be Matt Groening of The Simpsons, which always strikes me as a savage leftist satire of America. If the Americans ever noticed what he's saying or took it seriously, he'd have been lynched ages ago.
From: Caithnard College | Registered: Nov 2002
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Hinterland
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4014
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posted 01 April 2004 03:58 PM
The best humour comes out of conflict. Whether American lefties or righties are humourous is moot, as middle-America (where the vast majority of Americans are found) doesn't have a whole lot of conflict (...or hasn't traditionally) and consequently, middle-Americans are hardly ever funny. (...generalisation, yes, I know...but I've got my Canadian chauvinism card and what's more, it's LAMINATED). The funniest Americans are from the minorities (ethnic, regional, etc.). Interestingly, I've noticed an increase in humour among your average white-bread middle-American liberal the last few years since they've been under siege by the Naz..er, the Conservatives. The proverbial silver lining, as it were....Utopia will be grand, but no one will be coughing up a lung laughing, that's for sure.
From: Québec/Ontario | Registered: Apr 2003
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