“All seems infected that the infected spy,
As all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye.”
-Alexander Pope
(English poet; Father of modern satire)
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“There is much truth in jest!”
I love, love LOVE this quote and have been using it almost ad nauseum since I first heard it about 10 years ago. It basically means that although our jokes aren’t meant to be taken completely seriously, they still reveal a lot of truth about us as they show what we value and believe. For example, a person who jokes about being fat probably actually feels that way (at least somewhat) about him/herself. Likewise, people who make jokes (though perhaps lighthearted in tone) about the fiasco involving the website of the Affordable Care Act (as hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley recently just did on the CMAs), are making some kind of a statement against it.
I LOVE jokes, I LOVE humor, and I LOVE wordplay. But not everything in our world is worthy of being included in our jokes. I personally will NEVER make a joke that hints of racism, abuse, discrimination, or pornography even in the slightest (read more here!). We must be careful to not cross that line of propriety, and use humor wisely and tactfully.
Text-to-self Connection:
1. What kind of things do you like to find humor in? Why?
2. What sorts of topics are off-limits for jokes? Why?
Shakespeare said it best:
“There is much TRUTH in jest!”
🙂
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Let Ms. Wilkinson give you the low-down
on what’s goin’ on with the fool pictured above:
Recap:
1) I believe in free speech.
2) I haven’t seen a ton of Billy’s stuff, but what I have seen is almost always disrespectful, sacrilegious, discriminatory, inappropriate, racist, unkind, profane, rude, obscene, and just overall mean.
3) I don’t hate anyone except for Satan (although Maher makes me reconsider somewhat…).
4) I validate people who have concerns with organized religion (or otherwise doctrinally strict life philosophies). Read more here about this:
5) I don’t think all atheists are bad people (read more here!).
6) I VERY MUCH think that Bill Maher is a bad person (and I don’t make comments like that very often!).
7) I see connections between Bill Maher and the Book of Mormon figure Korihor.
8) There are public figures who poke fun at Mormonism (and other religious/cultural groups as well) in a way that is NOT unkind or belittling. Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are the ones that come to mind at the moment.
9) If you’re dying for a television fix of a gray-haired man, may I suggest checkin’ out Anderson Cooper? I am a fan of his stuff. And I even wrote him a lil’ poem!
10) We may find others’ (religious) beliefs (very) odd, but still we must find the humanity and decency to show some level of respect, even if we do not (fully) agree.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
I’m not worried about (permanent) damage that Mr. Bill Maher will do to the image of the LDS Church (cuz he can’t!). No way. We’re here to say. And he’ll be left to his own sad life. (Sorry if this is a lil’ mean-spirited).
None will molest them from morn until ev’n.
~Now Let Us Rejoice (LDS Hymn #3)
Still, Billy Boy bugs me so much so that I devoted
(a lot of) time and effort to writing this post.
Come on now, Maher. Change yo wayz a lil’ bit, huh?
BILL MAHER PUTS A SOUR taste in my mouth…
and if I’m gonna have those particular taste-buds activated,
I’d muuuuuch rather it be because of something like this:
🙂
PS. I understand that his last name does not naturally rhyme with the word “sour;” I twisted it for a stylistic purpose. Lots of artists do this kind of thing (slant rhyme is the exact term). John Mayer does it in his song “You’re No One ’til Someone Lets You Down.” Check it stat!
PPS. Not gonna lie, I’m quite proud of this post and its plethora of literary/journalistic/celebrity/religious/historical references. Go count ’em!
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what you get is what you got.”
‘cuz when they own the information,
they can BEND IT ALL THEY WANT!
*That first picture is a still from
Kurt Vonnegut’s short story
“Harrison Bergeron.”
More to come on these ideas.
Much more.
*PS. Although I don’t hate everything he says/does, I am not a huge fan of Piers.
PPS. Although I don’t hate everything he wrote, I am not a huge fan of Vonnegurt (but that short story I mentioned is an intellectual and literary gold mine!).
PPPS. Although I don’t agree with everything he has done in the past, I AM QUITE POSSIBLY THE HUGEST JOHN MAYER FAN EVER TO WALK THE EARTH!
🙂
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to forgive, divine.
~Alexander Pope
*I like that first video A LOT (although the title is misleading). Also, another BYU athlete was unfortunately involved with a recent infraction of the Honor Code. Similar to Mr. Davies, this athlete is making amends, both spiritually and academically. Read a smashing article about him here.
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to get off the computer for a little bit! Go for a walk, go do a load of laundry, go volunteer at a nursing home, go call your sister, go read your scriptures, go plan your week. And the list goes on, and on.
Seriously folks, we are TOO ONLINE these days! I very much appreciate that you read my blog, but the OUTERnet can be even better than the INTERnet.
I love this song of Mr. Paisley‘s.
It is a PERFECT satire of this social problem
(although there is the teensiest bit of mild lyrical innuendo)
And Elder David A Bednar of the LDS Church warns of this ubiquitous problem
of assuming fake identities on the internet.
CLICK HERE for that talk (and my sweet thoughts on it) that is insanely awesome…
But back to Ms. Wilkinson’s main point (bookending!)
I love you all (platonically and literally),
but right now I think it would be oh! so wise
to go attend to the matters of real life, know what I mean?
So now skedaddle! GO DO SOMETHING!
But I’ll see ya back here eventually, right?
🙂
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