Posted on 07/17/2022 8:36:25 AM PDT by Rummyfan
On one occasion, comedian and film director Mel Brooks said, “The only weapon I’ve got is comedy…if I can make this guy [Adolf Hitler] ludicrous, if I can make you laugh at him, then it’s a victory of sorts. You can’t get on the soapbox with these orators…but if you can make them look ridiculous, you can win over the people.” As Thomas More observed of Satan, “the proud spirit cannot endure to be mocked.”
If we consult the dark history of totalitarianism, we will see that any ideological and authoritarian system abhors humor. State-appointed writers, tasked with the grave responsibility of disseminating state propaganda, are almost by definition humorless except as the butt of jokes themselves—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s withering assessment of Maxim Gorky, Stalin’s defender of the Gulags, comes readily to mind. These so-called artistic creations were praised by either Nazi or Communist bureaucrats as great works of art. In reality, such films and books were nothing more than poorly executed pieces of propaganda that served and promoted destructive ideology.
Finding a state-appointed comedian throughout the history of totalitarianism, however, is much more difficult. Humor operates on an entirely different level than visual art, literature, and music. It gives us a glimpse into human nature, and often uncovers truths about our lives that we’d rather avoid.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanmind.org ...
Thank you sir. She was a great mind.
I don’t care what they say at Daily KOS.
I’ve never seen a single hint of approval for Totalitarianism from anything she wrote.. Her being was set against it, because of what she experienced.
No one ever said the left was intelligent, they are evil.
And as I posted, Totalitarianism in all forms is EVIL. No matter what they call themselves. And they ALL LIE. They MUST LIE, if they did tell the truth, no one would ever elect them.
...is just a Communist plot.
“And as I posted, Totalitarianism in all forms is EVIL.”
I agree with you.
Totalitarianism isn’t an ideology or governmental system I care for.
It doesn’t fit my “free to choose” mentality.
Totally agree.
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