TOTW: Humor

Humor, as a phenomenon, crosses all known cultural lines, predates written history, and leaves even the most serious researchers with little more than competing theories as to how it came to be. All the more appealing for anarchists, there’s no sole authority on what is funny or when something “becomes” so. The impulse to joke can stem from motivations as varied as the human experience and the consequences can be equally healing or destructive, depending on how it’s done.

Through humor, individuals are invited to transgress standards of acceptability and convention with a technique that emphasizes amusement and play. In this way, I’m reminded of the anarchist’s friend—the trickster figure—“who cares to balance the world between terminal creeds and humor with unusual manners and ecstatic strategies” to create new possibilities through more light-hearted strategy. This is particularly relevant as ideas of popular resistance and social revolution are fleeting.

Of course, keeping things light is a challenge (and not always the best response). With the heaviness of “staying informed” and our tendency to doom-scroll social media feeds, it can feel like the only likely outcomes are to transform into an anarcho-superhero to defeat Evil or be paralyzed into inaction. Neither of these outcomes is a laughing matter. Yet, when visiting online anarchist spaces (for example) a hodgepodge of absurd memes can be found alongside soul-crushing headlines, an odd juxtaposition to the unfamiliar eye.

How does humor inform your perspective as an anarchist? Is it simply a coping mechanism, or can it offer something more? How do you mix seriousness and levity?

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games can be fun to play. some of these games are wordplay, a type of wordplay can be creating jokes, taking phrases as prompts, contexts as setups for punchlines. can games, jokes, and humor offer something more than fun and enjoyment? yes, definitely, but fun and enjoyment is what i want them for. it’s no small thing, and not easy getting that effect either. lot’s of trial and error, you can’t have bangers without duds.

what do comedians and anarchists have in common? both bomb crowds! muahahahahaha!

growing up in a mexican-american immigrant house, i learned that humor can be powerful. even in mexican popular political culture, humor is often used to punch up at power (though Mexico's racism / sexism also has them punching down). i find humor central to much of my own radical activity. though often times there are cultural misunderstandings that arise from the kind of ribbing Mexicans typically do with their close friends. and even as times grow dark, the humor persists in keeping us up and moving along.

humor allows one to be “cheeky”, to challenge and disrespect authority while (often, but not always) avoiding grave consequences. you can tease your boss, your parents, and even cops and get away with it far more easily than if you tried punching them, or spitting militant discourse at them.

Passive aggressiveness is exactly what anarchists need more of.

passive aggressiveness was not at all what i was referring to. the passive aggressive bites his tongue, butthurt, mumbling to himself, doing things begrudgingly. the chad humorist makes explicit the absurd and ridiculous aspects of things and people in a way that makes even the target of mockery have to laugh along. the passive aggressive is submissive and has a victim mentality. the chad humorist dominates with charisma and social acuity. getting laughs is the ultimate power move, proof of coolness.

my first thought lol https://anarchy.tube/w/2CCw88aXoNBeb28PBPQkNA

this vid does something different than a TV ad guilt tripping you into recycling or whatever. it's shocking tho (which is the point) and can make you be like "why would someone do that?" (cRiTiCaL tHiNkInG woooo!) and now we've moved from telling peopel what to do (recycle or you're killing the planet!) toward letting them think about how we just move our waste to less desirable places which is an uncomfortable thought (not we're getting somewhere!).

not all jokes land but i'm not out to save the world ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*now we're getting somewhere

so the point of the littering is to show how when people recycle it's really just moving the trash to a different location?

> How do you mix seriousness and levity?

You don't. I'm pretty sure no comedian ever has used the word levity. Seriously is this the best anarchists can do for funny stuff. You can't think your way into funny.

If you have to be this serious to be an anarchist, I'm all wrong about anarchy. Comedians by their very nature are anarchists. Hierarchy is full of so many pompous idiots that making jokes about them is easy. One does not then talk about levity.

You can be serious and have a laugh. Check Desmond Tutu or Dalai Lama. Check Ricky Gervais talking about animal abuse.

Please don't be boring about being funny.

LOL wut?

It's called satire dude, mixing seriousness with humour, read more books and don't be a philistine mmkay!?

"Oh, Dudley, I never know when you are joking or seroius."

"I'm at my most serious when I'm joking."

this is from "the bishop's wife" a movie i remember nothing else about, but this line is one of my favorites.

Humor can serve several important functions, including:

1. Relieving stress and improving mood

2. Bringing people together and building community

3. Challenging authority and norms

4. Providing a fresh perspective and encouraging critical thinking

5. Encouraging empathy and understanding

6. Communicating complex ideas in a memorable and accessible way

7. Dealing with difficult or tense situations.

Humor can inform an anarchist perspective by highlighting the absurdities and inequalities of societal and political structures. It can also provide a lens to challenge authority and norms, and offer alternative ways of thinking and organizing. By using humor, anarchists can communicate their ideas in a relatable and engaging way, and inspire critical thinking and action.

Anarchists can use humor as a form of satire to critique social and political systems, diffuse tense situations, and build community. Humor can also be used to spread anarchist ideas in a more accessible and memorable way.

To mix seriousness and levity, you can use humor to lighten tense situations, balance heavier topics with lighter ones, and keep the tone conversational. Be mindful of your audience and the situation, and use humor in moderation.

It is important to note that humor can also reinforce oppressive attitudes and marginalize certain groups, so it should be used with consideration and awareness of its potential impact.

Being funny is subjective and depends on personal style and audience, but here are some tips that can help you be funnier:

1. Observe and understand humor in your own life and in the world around you.

2. Know your audience and what types of humor they enjoy.

3. Use self-deprecating humor, but avoid humor that targets others or reinforces harmful attitudes.

4. Timing is important; timing is a key aspect of humor, whether in delivery or context.

5. Use puns, irony, and sarcasm, but be mindful of overusing these forms of humor.

6. Be spontaneous and willing to take risks, but also be aware of the consequences of your humor.

7. Encourage laughter and positivity, and avoid humor that brings others down.

Remember, humor is personal and subjective, so it may take time and experimentation to develop your own sense of humor and comedic style.

you expect A.I. to do any better when it comes to humor?

But the Leftists can at leave have a slight notion of what is funny even if their humor is always D.O.A., or requires demeaning other people as cheap device for laughter, something A.I.s are also unlikely to ever accomplish.

having a few laughs helped Stirner pick apart his enemies (from Wolfi's intro)

"When I first read The Ego and Its Own, I recognized that there was a great deal of humor, sarcasm, and satire throughout the book. I never understood how anyone could call Stirner “humorless”—yet certain critics (particularly those who wanted to present him as a precursor of the political right or some other sort of “supreme evil” in their eyes) accused him of precisely this. After translating Stirner’s Critics and “The Philosophical Reactionaries,” I realized the extent of his mocking, sarcastic, and, at times, bawdy humor and the breadth of his wordplay. My play with these translations and talks with Jason McQuinn {1} clarified some of the flaws I had recognized in the existing English translation of Der Einzige und sein Eigentum, and the pleasure I find in the activity of translating moved me to take up the project...
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you could do what Stirner did and see the humor in the ultimate absurdity, recognizing that this lack of universal meaning and purpose is what gives you and I the capacity to willfully create our lives for ourselves. Stirner willfully grasped his own self-creative power and took aim at all that was considered sacred with the intention of demolishing it. He knew the best weapon for demolishing the sacred is mocking laughter. Instead of being a wise man, Stirner chose to be a wise guy, and if you don’t get the joke, the jokes on you...
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Stirner’s ideas and words have quite a bit to offer, but even more, his method provides a most useful and enjoyable weapon: merciless and mirthful mockery, the sarcastic use of his opponents’ methods to twist their own ideas back against them, the cruel and joyful laughter of one who sees past the delusions that keep others in chains.

Stirner combined the small jokes of wordplay, (mostly) subtle lewdness, and sarcasm with an overarching joke that undermined the edifices of philosophy, religion, politics and all systems of overarching thought to demolish the foundations of the sacred. But this is a battle that each one of us has to fight for her or himself. Stirner found enjoyment in writing this. His grin stretches across the pages and reminds all of us who rebel and create for ourselves that this is all one great, wild, joyful joke played on every “higher value,” a book intended to pull the rug out from under everything that anyone holds sacred."

We Stirnerians are a bundle of hilarity and mirthful excesses which radiates out through our un-spooked amoral cognitive climaxes!

Great humor can't hold a candle to feeling of finishing a giant essay.

Most humorous comment of the humor TOTW. Perfect balance of subtlety and clarity, Gillis, mocking of pseudo-academia. Love it. (10/10)

Finishing a giant essay can’t hold a candle to the direct flesh on flesh experience of being in the world, with all the joys and horrors that includes.

i’ve never seen IGD try humor, that i can remember. i feel like crimethinc must have at some point, but it’s so long ago or so far between i don’t remember.

submedia does it all the time. they did it with the stim program and now with the system fail, the intro is usually some gag or joke edit. and they always find a way to include an edit footage of a cop getting hit, with that wilhem scream.

other anarchist podcast often have a small talk, soft banter type of humor, but not much beyond that.

IT’S GOING DOOOOOWN
AND YOU’Re InViTeD
FOR WHAT THEY’RE SELLINnn
We AiN’t buYinn
THERE IS NO RUNNINnn
THERE IS NO HIDINnn
THERE’S only FIGHTINnn
OR DYINNNN

ANARCHIST NEWWWZ
COMMENTS BE TROLLIN'
SMOKIN' FART BONNNNNGZ
IT'S HOW THEY ROLLIN'
THEY DRIVIN' WEDGEZZZZZ
ALL IN BETWEEN USSS
'CUZ HOMIES KNOOOOOWZ
THEY SHARE ONE ANUS!

Word to your Niger Delta Mother

put it to music or it’s not a jingle. now don’t go ripping off Sole or you’ll get a copyright strike

Those groups take themselves much too seriously in compensation for the rest of the world not taking them seriously at all...

Have you heard the one about the white heterosexual politician who,,,,,oops, sorry, wrong site.

IGTT 9.5/10

(0.5 point deduction for dad joke vibes)

well, i'll still be having pizza with my pizza cutter and my edgelord friends. what was the point of the joke again? no point to being an edgelord? the point is the edge! all edges meet at a vertex, the thinnest point will have a thickness, even when ridiculously sharp, but that is the point where the edges converge!

A pizza cutter has a 360 degree point, or, a continuous point, meaning edgelords have an holistic focus upon the totality, therefore at the pinnacle of critical analysis!

only an edgelord thinks the edge IS the point.

how well would you do in a knife fight armed with a pizza cutter?

In knife and sword fighting there are stabbing thrusts and sweeping draws of the blade. The pizza cutter is drawn across the target in a powerful sweep, or it can be thrust into the face or neck. It will kiiiiiill :)

now this is humor. 10/10

Hey Rabbit, lmk if you think Le Chucklefuck is still funny in a few weeks, k? It's for my research

hey lumpy, usually i just ignore what i don't like on here. makes for a more pleasant experience.

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