Can Humour Ever Be Serious

Canhumoureverbeserious(intro Canhumoureverbeserious(introand1paragraph and1paragraph) )

Itw Itwou ould ldb be efa fair irt to osa say yth that ate eve very rybo body dyh has asa ap pre redi dile lect ctio ion nfo for rth thin ings gsa all llf fun un andhumorous.Humourcanmak andhumorous.Humourcanmakeasimpleconversationint easimpleconversationinteresting,a eresting,a presidentialinaugurationspeechdeligh presidentialinaugurationspeechdelightfulandmayeven tfulandmayeventurna2-hourph turna2-hourphysics ysics lectureintosomethingenjoyable.Itma lectureintosomethingenjoyable.Itmayseemindisputableth yseemindisputablethatalittlehumou atalittlehumour r addsjoytolife,yetdie-hardpessimistsargue addsjoytolife,yetdie-hardpessimistsarguethathumouriso thathumourisonlyrestrictedto nlyrestrictedto situationsdevoidofseriousness,practicedbyf situationsdevoidofseriousness,practicedbyfrivolousindividualsasa rivolousindividualsasamerely merely meantoattractattention.Thisveryobser meantoattractattention.Thisveryobservationisapatentembo vationisapatentembodimentofthe dimentofthe controversybehindthistopic,inthatevenifh controversybehindthistopic,inthatevenifhumourisusedjud umourisusedjudiciouslyand iciouslyand intelligently,caniteverbeserious?Itismyfirmbe intelligently,canitever beserious?Itismyfirmbeliefthathumou liefthathumourcanbe rcanbe serious.Itcanfillourheartswithmirth serious.Itcanfillourheartswithmirthandmerriment,wh andmerriment,whileatthesametime, ileatthesametime, alleyfearsandboostspiritsinthegrimmestsituation.

Many Manys sol olem emn nan and dso somb mber erin indi divi vidu dual als sar argu gue eth that ath hum umou our rca can nco comp mpro romi mise se thegravityofasituation,oftenresult thegravityofasituation,oftenresultinginthedigressionfroma inginthedigressionfromaserious serious discussiontopic.Humour,asthesepessimistsbeliev discussiontopic.Humou r,asthesepessimistsbelieve,isflippantandimpru e,isflippantandimprudent dent wheninappropriatelyinterjecteddu wheninappropriatelyinterjectedduringaseriousconversa ringaseriousconversation.Theyfurthe tion.Theyfurther r contendthatthisinterjectionofhumou contendthatthisinterjectionofhumourunderminessignificanceth runderminessignificancethetopicof etopicof discussion,renderingitlessimportantthanitactua discussion,renderingitle ssimportantthanitactuallyis.Indeed,whe llyis.Indeed,when n inappropriatelyused,humourcan inappropriatelyused,humourcanbeflippant.Yet,toco beflippant.Yet,toconcludethathu ncludethathumour mour equatesimprudencebasedsolelyon equatesimprudencebasedsolelyonthispremisewouldbe thispremisewouldbetocommitafallacyof tocommitafallacyof hastygeneralisation.Infact,humou hastygeneralisation.Infact,humour,whenappositel r,whenappositelyused,canbeofuse yused,canbeofuseevento evento aseriouscause.Throughoutthe aseriouscause.Throughoutthehistoryofpaperb historyofpaperbackliterature,and ackliterature,andmore more recently,otherformsofmedia,we recently,otherformsofmedia,weseehumouru seehumourusedintheformofsa sedintheformofsatireand tireand

parodytodrawinterestandattentiontoacontroversialsocialtopicforthe purposeofsocio-politicalcritique.Thisparticularuseofhumourisnotjustapt butalsoeffectiveinhighlightingacontroversialissuetothepublicbecauseit exploitseveryhuman’sinnatefondnessforlaughter.Forexample,Jonathan Swift’s“aModestProposal”isasatiricalessaymockingheartlessattitudesand governmentpoliciestowardsthelessprivileged.Whilethecommunicationofthe messagemaybehilarious,themessageitselfisasomberone.“TheStickerLady” inSingaporealsomadeuseofhumourtochallengetheobsessivecompulsionof Singaporeanstoabidestrictlytolaws,pushingforamoreculturallyvibrantand creativecity.Ultimately,itcanbeseenthathumour,intheformofsatiresand parodies,candrawpublicattentiontocontroversialissueswithout compromisingontheirsignificance.