Saturday, January 13, 2007

"Humour Intelligence" Required

You've probably heard about the importance of "Emotional Intelligence".... well, today I'm presuming to add the significance of something I'm calling "Humour Intelligence". (A quick "googling" didn't bring up that phrase.)

From the article in Wikipedia on Humour... "It has been postulated that the laughter/feel-good element of humour is a biological function that helps one deal with the new, expanded point of view."

....and then an insightful quote found at the website of George Monbiot, the author for whom right-wing fomenters apparently revived the "Librul Moonbat" epithet...

"Tell people something they know already and
they will thank you for it...
Tell them something new and they will hate you for it."


My theory is that those who follow "conservative", authoritarian, mean, war-mongering types have low "humour intelligences", and so when told of something new, they hate you for it. This makes them blind to the appeal of "new" ideas like progressive humanism for instance, instead behaving nastily in reaction.

So I propose rather than sending the kiddies to Sunday-school, that they attend classes in Humour-Intelligence. Among many aspects of this program one could imagine, it must of course be reinforced with strict performance requirements and frequent testing.

We could call it "Left's Kid Pushed Ahead".
(Just don't ask me to support funding for it...)

Nod to Marc Maron (of Air America Radio) (870 AM locally) for inspiration, like his "Guerilla Standup Videos" although these don't reveal his political brilliance so much. (scroll down to video clips.)

Gerald Bracey on "No Child Left Behind" via the Huffington Post.

(Christmas/Winter Solstice/Yule humor card artwork by Yours Truly)