Not-Funny Jokes

For some odd reason I thought today of my older sister and me talking as grade-school-age children, with her telling me how disgusted she was at one of her classmates.  The classmate had very seriously told another classmate that World War III had started.  The listener was shocked and alarmed.  At that point the false alarmist laughed heartily at the gullibility of the listener for taking the false alarm at face value.  My sister asserted with some vehemence that she really disliked hearing people tell lies and then making fun of others for believing them.  I think my sister was wiser than either of her classmates. 

We could talk, of course, about irony, satire, and sarcasm, which are often lost on young children, and are almost always lost on some people with certain atypical cognitive characteristics.  I am less comfortable with this kind of expression than many people are, although when I know someone well enough to catch on when the meaning is not congruous with the spoken words, I can really enjoy the verbal gymnastics in play.  Mostly I like for people to "just tell it to me straight" rather than to keep me guessing about what they're trying to convey.  

Just this week I heard a high school student express regret about the habit she has fallen into--of lobbing put-downs toward others, under the guise of being facetious.  She sees it as a vice to be overcome.  I think this gets at the crux of what is often wrong when people speak in joking ways about things that are not funny. Cynicism is often the underlying attitude, and being cynical is not a nice, funny, or clever way to be, as I see it.

Today on Facebook, someone linked to this article and made some comments in the OP that expressed support for the ideas in it.  The first comment said this:  

"After reading the article that book is certainly banned in my house."

Along with a few other interspersed comments, the following conversation then ensued between me and the commenter.  Where my name appears, the writer is addressing me.  Where no name appears, I am writing.

It looks like cancel culture at its finest (or its darkest) when people who simply tell their own family's story are banned--especially in spaces where people who occupy a privileged societal position have no limits on their right to do the same. Thanks for posting.

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• Miriam Iwashige the author would love to tell you her book was banned somewhere, to create some sort of outrage publicity. It hasn’t been.

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  So it's outrage publicity that you object to? If so, how does telling "the world" about banning it in your home factor in--except as a way of publicizing your outrage?

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• Miriam Iwashige as I explained already, I was partly joking, but mostly I have no desire to read any author who infers “white conservative Christians” are trying to ban my book (even though they aren’t) and don’t subscribe to woke ideology so they’re obviously racist.

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  I think making much of the "woke" term or the "CRT" term or the concepts involved is a misplacement of energy. For some reason (perhaps a contrarian one), a phrase from Scripture comes to mind, "Awake thou that sleepest, rise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." (KJV) When I went looking for an interpretation of this passage, I found the idea that exposing sin to the light is a necessary step in bringing about positive change. I see both of the previously-cited terms as falling into the "exposing sin" category--in some sense at least. Here's a link to comments on Ephesians 5:14: https://www.bibleref.com/Ephesians/5/Ephesians-5-14.html

  

  BIBLEREF.COM

  What does Ephesians 5:14 mean? | BibleRef.com

  What does Ephesians 5:14 mean? | BibleRef.com

  

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• Miriam Iwashige I believe it’s a sin to treat anyone or group of people differently based solely on their skin color.

  Also, “woke” is a term created and self labeled by those promoting the myth of “social justice righteousness”. It’s become a term some are now avoiding because it is obviously “woke racism”.

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On our walk late this afternoon, Hiromi and I saw flock after flock of waterfowl overhead, flying north.  I am often unreasonably pleased to see the precise V-shape of many of these flocks.