… the only strong evidence we have that Oklahoma Senator James M. Inhofe isn’t a clown is that his car isn’t small enough.
On nonscience smear campaigns
Filed under Politics, Pop culture
Historian and philosopher of science, especially biology. Apple tragic. Pratchett fan. Curmudgeon. Punster. Fatso.
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…on the theme of civility (or the edges of it) – I think there’s a strong relationship between civility and (good) humour… hard to be spittle-flecked when you’re smiling
That reminded me of something I had forgotten.
Thanks.
You can find that relationship between hospitality and satire in the work of early med. Irish poets.
Satire was used as a means of ensuring the host met his obligations with regard to food and gifts, which were legal obligations.
But satire resulted in ill- humour for the victim
as it had magicall associations.
i.e youre face would turn red and blemished as a result (a king could not hold office if he sufferd from any physical blemishes)
The satire of the poet and the recorded curses of the Irish preist are more or less identical to each other.
Irish satirists legal status was downgraded by the church you find them ranked alongside prostitutes, farters (a type of proffesional entertainer) and druids as the attenders of parties thrown for the undead in early legal texts.
In contrast to the parties thrown by the sons of life attended by the pious.
Humour has a relationship with the legal world at this period and of course later the encyclopedia.
But boy do I go on at times. Its my subject of the moment and I find it rather entertaining.
Wow. I can move from humour, satire, cursing and arrive at prophecy. As 3 of the 4 all have a similar narrative pattern in texts and a linking theme as they are predictive of future events.
That random association with youre words may just have saved me months of walking up dead ends C.L.K. and gives me a number of interesting thematic links to play with.
I am a somewhat happy and over excited off topic bunny.
Sad thing is, I once lived in Oklahoma, and Inhofe is actually representative of opinion there, by and large.
Sadly, you are right. I lived there until recently, and too many people there view ignorant clownishness as a sign of folksy authenticity. The local politicians are even worse.
So Will Rogers has a lot to answer for, I suppose…
Will Rogers was a rare exception, as are my brothers.
But he did set up the expectation that all you need to have Deep Thoughts is to be folksy. What people fail to realise is that Rogers was a genius.
OK has produced some people who are folksy in a good way. Will Rogers and Woodie Guthrie come to mind. And the Flaming Lips are clownish in a good way. So that’s something.
But, alas, Toby Keith is probably a better representative of the current cultural atmosphere in the state right now.