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Last updated on August 9th, 2017 at 08:05 am
University of Queensland law professor James Allan:
Left-wing political parties need to rediscover humour (which at present seems to me to be almost exclusively the preserve of the Right). They need to jettison the reflexive fear of offending sacred cows (could they even say that?) and impinging upon shibboleths. They need to demand thicker skins of their supporters.
They do seem a thin-skinned bunch. Not exactly reliable when it comes to following up their legal threats, either.
- And by the way, you can’t mock sacred cows beacause that would be offensive to Hindus and we all have to be sensitive to the cultural practices of other, don’t we comrades…?
But mocking shibboleths is OK because, while I’m not sure what they are exactly, they sounds like something those evil, butcher, fascist Israelis would have.
/sarcasm off
Posted by Apparatchik on 2006 09 26 at 02:26 AM • permalink
They need to demand thicker skins of their supporters
And less thick heads.
Posted by Apparatchik on 2006 09 26 at 02:27 AM • permalink
- Humour and political correctness are mutually exclusive, and I can’t see the left giving up political correctness. Humour is all about breaking taboos (at least in speech), political correctness is about enforcing them. If there is only one correct way of behaving and thinking you need a solemn priesthood to enforce it.Posted by David McBryde on 2006 09 26 at 02:41 AM • permalink
- I had long forgotten the word Shibboleth and had to look it up.
I had no idea it was developed by crafty Jews.
- I am appalled by the reference to ‘sacred cows’. Totally insulting and demeaning to Hindus.
The professor has to apologise.
Posted by Stop Continental Drift! on 2006 09 26 at 04:22 AM • permalink
Left-wing political parties need to rediscover humour …
This was an issue I brought up several times at Tim Dunlop’s blog. I noted the tone of the comments was similar to that of a morgue after a Hezbollah celebration. They responded by making gruesome jokes about bombing villages with children. I’m convinced the people who frequent that site have no sense of humor.
Posted by wronwright on 2006 09 26 at 05:33 AM • permalink
- This wasn’t a smart post to put up. Now a bunch of lefties are going to insist on squeezing out some allegedly witty prose, like they do every other time someone accuses them of lacking a sense of humour.Posted by James Waterton on 2006 09 26 at 05:43 AM • permalink
- James Allan was one of my lecturers at UQ law school. One of the few law schools not polluted by lefty crap. I’ve posted about this at Catallaxy.Posted by skepticlawyer on 2006 09 26 at 06:47 AM • permalink
- I agree. To help, here’s two jokes that he can use (gratis, free, for nothing)
Q: How many disco dancers does it take to change a lightbulb ?
A: Two. One to boogie up the ladder and one to say “Get daaowwwwn !”Q: How many Chinamen does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Thousands, because Confucious he say “many hands make light work.”Posted by rampisadmukerjee on 2006 09 26 at 06:50 AM • permalink
- The problem is not just that the left’s polemicists are dull and unfunny. It’s that they have virtually sucked the life force out of every institution. Hands up who thinks the corporate world is a barrel of laughs these days?
OK so we have Mark Steyn and they have Tracee Hutchinson, we who is winning?
- Interesting that the word shibboleth now has a completely new context – used by computer security gurus as a means of validating the identity of a user when logging-on to a network. Who says computer nerds are nerds?
BTW – in Hebrew, the word is pronounced “shi-bo-let” – you could use it as a shibboleth to test whether an Israeli is home-grown or an immigrant, because Israelis can’t say “th”
Posted by rampisadmukerjee on 2006 09 26 at 07:42 AM • permalink
- Humour also requires logic, sometimes perverse, sometimes obtuse. Most of the left feel that their assertions are true because of the status of the asserter rather than the intrinsic logic of the assertion.
The left, other than the demigods, assume rudeness equates to humour and rudeness towards their opponents equates to hysterical humour.
The most recent example of this phenomena is Latham. Mean, abusive on his way up, almost acceptable during the short weeks on the pedestal and vile on his way down.
Posted by Russell Street on 2006 09 26 at 08:10 AM • permalink
- They responded by making gruesome jokes about bombing villages with children…..and a pointless exercise as well, the little bastards don’t have anywhere near the impact or blast radius of conventional HE, let alone cluster anti-personnel ordnance.
Mind you, anyone who’s ever attended a kindergarten recital, or a shopping mall during school holidays for that matter would be loading the little tykes into the bay of a B2 licketty split.
Alexei Sayle was a funny lefty, a self-admitted commie in fact, but he used to mostly take the piss out of the waxen, earnest, humourless middle-class defenders of the proletariat/rainforst/diversity etc who are still the driving (or more accurately bicycling, walking, carpooling or bus riding) force behind modern leftist activism- a pack of purse-lipped, hatchet-faced, imagination free failures who make chartered accountants seem like combination NASCAR jockey/ratpack members.
- This wasn’t a smart post to put up. Now a bunch of lefties are going to insist on squeezing out some allegedly witty prose, like they do every other time someone accuses them of lacking a sense of humour.
Yup, if Tim doesn’t watch it, the comedy collective at Larvatus Prodeo will try that “Talk like an RWDB” thing again…
- I hope that Professor Allan hasn’t appalled Nigel S. with his comments.Posted by andycanuck on 2006 09 26 at 10:04 AM • permalink
- #21 – I reckon that Nigey S is really a barrel of laughs when he gets a few in. He was just having an off day yesterday.Posted by Whale Spinor on 2006 09 26 at 10:23 AM • permalink
- Even if a leftie wanted to be humorous, he might be deterred by the following admonition from the spiritual leader of his Islamist soulmates; per Ayatollah Khomeini, “Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious.”
Courtesy of Bill Whittle, “Silent America”, page 200.
Posted by Bruce Lagasse on 2006 09 26 at 02:13 PM • permalink
- “Left-wing political parties need to rediscover humour…”
Every time I hear a socialist hold forth, it sure cracks me up.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2006 09 26 at 03:09 PM • permalink
- Thanks, Habib. New keyboard time.Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2006 09 26 at 05:59 PM • permalink
- It’s always pleasant when you read something you agree with completely.
Personally, I’m an ardent capitalist with political views that’re roughly along the lines of libertarian/anarcho-capitalist attitudes. This typically makes me equally offensive to both the left and right.
Lefties typically hate ardent capitalists and righties typically have major issues with people advocating things like the complete legalisation of illegal drugs (Please, won’t anyone think of the taxes?!?.. plus all the standard anti-Prohibition style stuff).
So what’re the typical reactions to these sorts of ideals?
From the Left: I’m Evil – and there is no room for politeness and humour when dealing with Evil. The fact I agree with them in some regards just makes me worse and advocating fiscal responsibility manages to put me up on par with Satan. The more they hear of my opinions, the more their responses invariably become ‘Fight or Flight’.
From the Right: They disagree and debate me. If they hear the left-esque side of my opinions first they’re likely to go on the attack, but the more they hear the more likely they are to simply ardently debate with me. Righties also tend to have a better grasp of reality, so I don’t have to deal with arguments that logically equate to “You’re wrong because you’re wrong”.
Naturally there are exceptions to both, but they’re rare.
- If you were a lefty and every one of your your ideas since about 1917 ended up in piles of dead bodies, you’d be short on
humo(u)r too! I mean that is one long losing streak, hardly something to be overcome with a few yuks.Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2006 09 26 at 11:49 PM • permalink
- It’s a problem of punctuation.
Try this ….
Allah did not create man. To have fun, ……
fill in whatever you do to have fun. We know what the mad mullahs do. They kill people.
Posted by rampisadmukerjee on 2006 09 27 at 01:25 AM • permalink
- I think Nigel should read this thread.Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2006 09 27 at 04:40 AM • permalink
- Q: How many Democrats does it take to change a light bulb?
A: How dare you question our patriotism!
Posted by Steve Skubinna on 2006 09 27 at 06:57 PM • permalink
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That would imply that the Left once had humour and lost it.
In between all their wailing and gnashing of teeth at the fate of the environment, the plight of the proletariet, the oppression of women, the travails of domesticated animals, has the Left EVER displayed even the slightest sense of humour?