(This post is on the subject of religion. However, my intention is not to write it as being pro- or anti- anything. Im writing this out of genuine curiosity.) This whole thing about the guy who wants to wear a colander in his Drivers License picture has me thinking about the role of humour in religion. There are a lot of cases in history where a religious minority was persecuted, and they responded by mocking their oppressors. The first example that comes to mind is St. Lawrence, who (according to legend) while being burned to death, said as his last words This sides done, turn me over or something like that. Whether or not its true, it clearly resonated with people, especially since St. Lawrence was later named the patron saint of cooks. I think a lot of people have this idea in the back of their minds that dark and offensive jokes are a new and radical thing, as though transgressive humour was invented by Seth MacFarlane. But the part of our brains that responds to iconoclastic humour didnt just suddenly show up in 1999. Its been a part of us as long as our species has existed. (I feel like I should point this out to people when they attack legal rights to freedom of speech on this basis, e.g. When they put freedom of speech in the constitution, they had no idea people would be saying things as offensive as THIS! -- uh, yeah, they did, they werent stupid.) Christianity is such a mainstream thing, and its mainstream form is so synonymous with the word religion in North America, that a lot of people arent aware of the history of emerging religious movements saying Yeah, screw you, authority! Not that its always a good thing when they do -- I suspect that, when Fred Phelps was alive and intentionally stirring up controversy, while everybody else saw himself as a monster, he probably saw himself as a loveable scoundrel, along the lines of St. Lawrence in his last moments. So, back on topic: St. Lawrence (according to legend) made a joke about being cooked to death, so he was made the patron saint of cooks. That got me thinking about Jesus, who (spoiler alert) was killed on a cross, and nowadays the cross is a symbol of Christianity. As I said, my goal is not to be pro- or anti- anybody with this post. However, I think its fair to point out that that intuitively seems a little bit strange. If it had happened fifty years ago, would people be hanging electric chairs on the walls of churches and wearing them around their necks? (
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 03:54:45 +0000
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