Isaiah Brown

Mr. Raczynski

3/10/17

The Importance of Humorists

In our world now, mostly anything critically said or expressed will be thoroughly criticized and
scrutinized by society. No bold political or social statement goes unpunished. But comedians and
satirical writers seem to have a way of lessening the blow, or getting out of social backlash that
most people would receive. Writer Alain de Botton argues that the primary goal of humorists
isnt to simply entertain, but to convey with impunity messages that might be dangerous or
impossible to state directly. Because society allows humorists to say things that other people
cannot or will not say Which means, humorists just want to indirectly make critical statements
that would otherwise be shot down if blatantly stated, since humorists are not as heavily judged
as everyone else is. Botton also claims that these humorists are important to society.
I have to agree with Botton on the belief that the chief goal of humorist isnt to entertain.
Most writers write to express something passionate within them; whether it be personal, or on
their political views. Humorist just have a way of disguising these beliefs so they are better
accepted by their audiences. This approach in conveying messages makes perfect sense and is a
very wise method of delivering commentary. In any way we try to communicate to each other, as
humans, theres always an art to it. Theres always, in a way, a sort of windshield or sugar
coating that accompanies serious news. Earlier this year I conducted a research on the topic of
self-deception in which I discovered that people just want to feel good. Despite reality, people
want to feel pleasure in most every they do, and humorists know this. It is true that people enjoy
being entertained. It is true that people enjoy reading funny and satirical pieces of literature.But
what people dont like, is critical political views being thrusted upon them. This is where the art
comes in. Pairing hard hitting opinions with seemingly innocuous jokes makes the opinions more
susceptible to be heard and accepted. Humorous writing isnt entertainment with a bit of politics
thrown in, but simply politics that are stylistically embellished to be entertaining .
I realize some people will argue that some humorist produce humoristic content for the
sole purpose of entertainment, and I have to refute that claim entirely. The key to understanding
why humorist do what they do lies in understanding the individual. I earlier mentioned how
writing literature or making any form of art, is self expression and must come from a place of
passion. People create because they have a compulsion to create, not for the sake of creating. Its
why music that has more soul is considered to be more authentic than music made for radio
success, because true creation comes from within. So a writer who writes a pithy piece on the
role gender plays in the household, is more than likely being galvanized by personal feelings to
write that piece. Im not saying that everyone who entertains has a political, because many
people do entertain without trying to pass subliminal messages. However, those people have a
personal gratification to fulfill when entertaining. And those people wouldnt even include
critical ideas in their work, so they shouldnt even be considered in this discussion. The point is,
no humorist makes content without without reason and agenda.
Botton is also correct in his belief that humorists are essential to society. WIthout them,
certain ideas that would need to meet the publics eye would never be brought up. As earlier
explained, the art of humorists is to make harsh ideas more appealing. Take this hypothetical
situation as example. Imagine two men who are conveying the same message on how they both
hate pizza at an open mic of some sort. The first man begins his speech and immediately and
blatantly attacks the beloved food. Most people in the audience would certainly not be open to
hearing his argument because their desire to refute outweighs their desire to listen. Now image
the second man beginning his speech in the form of a narrative. Perhaps an anecdote with a very
informal and joking tone. The story is interesting and the audience is fully attentive. And
throughout the story, he shares his feelings on pizza and why he hates it. The second man is
going to be more effective in conveying his message because he uses humoristic styles to
package his message. This is why humorists are important to society, because without them,
many ideas would never be shared and discussion on certain issues wouldnt take place.
On the matter of whether or not humorists who have purposes beyond entertaining are
important to to society, i believe they are. Humorist have a way of evoking thought that would
otherwise never be evoked, and we need that to have productive thinking in our world