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Taking Refuge Behind the Jester“John Knowles wrote that ‘sarcasm is the protest of the weak,’ and the popularity of The Daily Show, Gawker, etc., over the past decade has been a kind of mass refuge-taking from the abuses of the powerful in the sanctuary of the court jester. To a point, that’s healthy; the problem becomes the poverty of ideas behind all the mockery. The court jester never usurps the throne because he doesn’t pose a serious threat to the reigning orthodoxy, and in fact is subtly dependent on it. The solution isn’t to encourage somber scolds—there’s a happy medium to be found since true wits are also great moral teachers beneath the brilliant surface—but to encourage genuine ideas.”
Editorial Comment: Well, oh yeah...?
Cultural News Note: More than 100 Barbie and other iconic dolls try out new roles and looks as part of an exhibit, “Reinventing Barbie,” in celebration of Women’s History Month and Barbie’s 50th birthday—by students and community members at Utah State University’s Merrill-Cazier Library, sponsored by the USU Women & Gender Studies Program. “These dolls shape girls’ lives,” said one student, “and not always in good ways. We’re giving Barbie—and all women and men—new perspectives.” The Reinventing Barbie Bash is Tuesday.
"I can teach you with a quip if I've a mind.
ReplyDeleteI can trick you into learning with a laugh.
Oh, winnow all my folly and you'll find
A grain or two of truth among the chaff.
...
When offered to the world in merry guise
Unpleasant truths are swallowed with a will.
Oh, he who'd make his fellow creatures wise
Should always gild the philosphic pill."
Jester's song, from "The Yeoman of the Guard"
By WIlliam S. Gilbert (Music by Arthur Sullivan)
Excellent, Marc. Could you sing it, please?
ReplyDelete