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The Pen Is Mightier than the Sword: Humor as a Social Justice Tool

The Pen Is Mightier than the Sword: Humor as a Social Justice Tool Some humor, while making us laugh, contains shadows of hostility toward those who cause strife – the racists, the bigots, the unaware and uneducated. Believe it or not, humor does have the ability to educate, to counter stereotypes and, if all else fails, to get even. Although humor can perpetuate and preserve stereotypes, it can also redress a wide variety of prejudices and preconceptions. Humor may not have been a powerful enough weapon to overthrow despotic regimes such as, for example, the US during slavery, Nazi Germany, or the former Soviet Union, but it did provide hope to the oppressed. This paper examines humor used by all kinds of oppressed people including African-Americans, Asians, women, Moslems, the disabled, and Jews. The authors conclude that society is better off if people get even with bullies and persecutors using humor rather than violence. Humor can educate the educable. Humor provides victims with psychological strength, and enables them to rise above despair and hopelessness. Keywords: social justice; charged humor; subversive humor; getting even; stress; African-American slave; bigot; racist; anti-Semites; sexist http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Review of Contemporary Philosophy Addleton Academic Publishers

The Pen Is Mightier than the Sword: Humor as a Social Justice Tool

Hershey H. Friedman
Review of Contemporary Philosophy , Volume 19 (1): 17 – Jun 12, 2020
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Publisher
Addleton Academic Publishers
Copyright
© 2009 Addleton Academic Publishers
ISSN
1841-5261
eISSN
2471-089X
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Abstract

Some humor, while making us laugh, contains shadows of hostility toward those who cause strife – the racists, the bigots, the unaware and uneducated. Believe it or not, humor does have the ability to educate, to counter stereotypes and, if all else fails, to get even. Although humor can perpetuate and preserve stereotypes, it can also redress a wide variety of prejudices and preconceptions. Humor may not have been a powerful enough weapon to overthrow despotic regimes such as, for example, the US during slavery, Nazi Germany, or the former Soviet Union, but it did provide hope to the oppressed. This paper examines humor used by all kinds of oppressed people including African-Americans, Asians, women, Moslems, the disabled, and Jews. The authors conclude that society is better off if people get even with bullies and persecutors using humor rather than violence. Humor can educate the educable. Humor provides victims with psychological strength, and enables them to rise above despair and hopelessness. Keywords: social justice; charged humor; subversive humor; getting even; stress; African-American slave; bigot; racist; anti-Semites; sexist

Journal

Review of Contemporary Philosophy – Addleton Academic Publishers

Published: Jun 12, 2020

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