Moore, Remy, & Fortune

Dhlazare Dhlazare at aol.com
Thu May 21 16:06:05 PDT 1998


Let's not forget Washington Irving, America's first major writer and still one of the funniest of the lot. Dan Lazare

<< >Humor is central to US political discourse -- right and less right. Not so

>here, where the last preseident Sanchez de Lozada, caused QUITE a stri by

>being publicly funny and president at the same time. Notabley, his humor

>was VERY gringo -- he was raised in the US; U Chicago grad. Makes me

>wonder: was humor always central to political discourse in the US? Or is

>this a new (say, post WWII) thing?

>

>Tom

>

>Tom Kruse / Casilla 5812 / Cochabamba, Bolivia

This is a good question. I suspect that the overwhelming presence of

popular culture in the United States has a lot to do with this. As

disgusting as Reagan was, he did have his witty moments. This talent

clearly was sharpened over years and years in the entertainment industry.

One of the reasons he did so well against both Mondale and Dukakis, I

speculate, is that these opponents were so drab and humorless.

The other thing to keep in mind is that people like Mark Twain, Charlie

Chaplin and Will Rogers had absolutely immense followings. I still contend

that Moore belongs to this tradition more than any other. Speaking of mixed

messages, does anybody think that Twain wrote 100% "progressive" novels?

The jury is still out on Huckleberry Finn.

The role of humor in society is a very complex one. At some point, I plan

to get to Eleanor Leacock's collection of articles on hunting-gathering

bands. She observes that teasing is almost universal to these social

formations. What's going on there?

Louis Proyect

(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)

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Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 08:56:49 -0400

To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com

From: Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com>

Subject: Re: Moore, Remy, & Fortune

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