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SOCIOPOLITOMETAPHISIQUE-O
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The Role of Comedy in (Slowly) Attaining A Non-Dual SocietyWhile researching in connection with my milk fetish, I came across this article originating in New Zealand about the purchase and insertion of human genetic code into non-human animals, specifically the cow, to create designer milk. This may, says one contributer, over time, lead to the genetic construction of "human animals" (redundant, much?) which are human in appearance or in organ structure, yet have underdeveloped minds, to be used for study or organ transplant. The possibilities, of course, are endless and only limited by what popular outrage prohibits. I do not see creating 'human animals' or any other such hybrid as necessarily wrong, and I believe that the revulsion and indignation most people feel upon hearing of the possibility of creating such beings is, if not based in religion alone, a kind of panic induced by the perception that boundaries designating our mode of relationship with various facets of the world have been violated. That is, the set of rules which designate how we relate to different beings, which are mainly simple dominance hierarchies, have been driven into a state of paradox. That is not to say that using any sentient being for organ harvest is appropriate or will yield positive results. What I have chosen to focus on is that sensation of revulsion generated by ideas such as these. The violation of these codified sets of thoughts and behavior that constitute our relationship to a type of existent induces in many human beings a variety of emotional reactions, including shock, fear, confusion, anger, violence or homicidality and revulsion. Some humans, who are consciously orientated toward personal growth, may also experience positive feelings of interest and appreciation. When the experience is contextualized as performance, comedy is the usual result. An example of negative, fear-based behavior that arises in response to hierarchy violation is the violence that underlies 'genteel' forms of racism, in which relations between races are peaceable as long as each 'stays in their place.' When individuals violate their station, they disrupt others' experience of reality and thus invoke the violence and hate that underlies duality. Duality could here be defined as a situation in which all perceptions are deeply contextualized within a framework that is human-created and maintained. Children and adults, animals and humans, first and third world nationalities, males and females, etcetera, are all subject to deep contextualization which undermines their essential uniqueness. In many cases, revulsion is experienced in a more pronounced manner when the boundaries violated are those of the lower-status group; that is, an individual from a dominant group has taken on traits or association with a group contextualized as lesser or submissive. -In Western society, it is culturally taboo for adults to exhibit childlike traits, whereas children are encouraged and rewarded for displaying adultlike traits. -Humans acting like animals is deeply forbidden on many levels. The blocking of natural desires, including but not limited to sexual expression, is a fundamental tenant of civilization and is based in fear. -Whereas females were once forbidden to take on traits reserved for males and visa versa, females are now permitted to express more 'male' traits (ei., upward mobility) whereas males are not permitted to access female traits and female impersonation remains at best a highly comedic concept. -Black professionals may often be respected in a generalized, mainstream sense, but white people perceived to be 'acting black' are employed as a comedic schtick or referred to as "wiggers" [white niggers]. This, for me, is probably the most complex example of hierarchy or context violation and one which I am not qualified to comment upon. Nonetheless I am very interested in what causes us to look at a certain combination of juxtaposed traits as "ridiculous." In addition, how does this phenomenon change when the concepts and comedy describing the context violation are coming from the less privileged group, rather than the more privileged one? From both groups? Are there situations in which both groups partake in the comedic effect equally? Comedy plays an interesting role here. I have come to believe that many times, laughter is an expression of relief. Jest, impersonation, and the mimicking of behaviors designated as socially unacceptable all play an integral role in relieving anxiety. Recently, someone told me that males flirt with each other in front of females to establish alpha status and hierarchy. While I think there is truth to this concept, I think also that the flirtation is used to relieve anxiety about homosexuality in general. I don't think this is really a response to fears regarding one's own sexuality, but rather to society's focus and fascination with homosexuality in general and to the amorphous pressure that the extent of this media-driven societal focus exerts. It is a way of establishing, not heterosexuality, but common ground. It establishes a comfort level. Comedy, as any good comedian knows, is used to relieve our discomfort about our differences. Purely mean, ego-driven comedy relieves this discomfort by establishing those differences more fully (in-group camaraderie); more complex comedy relieves discomfort by integrating the differences in a way that generates relief from over-intense dualism and hyperfocus on difference. Both are ways that human beings maintain peaceable social relations without disturbing social structure. The second type of comedy works in a few overlapping ways: to function as a pressure valve, and to help groups integrate changing social norms. These changing norms oftentimes are changes in the societal hierarchy. As groups move within the structure [for example, the changes in status experienced by minority and oppressed classes of people within a developing nation], context violations occur which oftentimes inspire outright violence. In both post-industrial and developing nations, feelings of discomfort are generated by changes in the apprehension of reality as social norms change and boundaries break down or shift. The process by which people deal with these changes often involves comedy. Comedy, in this use, is a means through which groups work through the process of accepting and integrating boundary violations which are frightening to them. Comedy, thus, stands out from all the other methods of coping with violations of dualism, context, and "otherness." It relieves discomfort by allowing the group to move further into the new, more ambiguous space in a safe, tentative, and playful manner.
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