That, I think, is how humor should operate under the conditions in which we find ourselves, when more headlines than not seem to have come from the Onion or the eerily ingenious ClickHole: not as the default mode, a smug substitute for sincerity, but as its accent note, a way of speaking the kind of truth you can’t with a straight face.Īs Emily Nussbaum wrote in the magazine last week, Trump, along with a sizable contingent of his supporters, has made use of a certain nihilistic humor as a cover for his lies. For every funny sign, there were five sincere ones. The Women’s March humor worked, too, because of the variance of tone on display. In his Sunday newsletter, the journalist Mike Allen asked if anyone had noticed “the crude, discriminating language and signs used by some to lambaste a president they condemn as crude and discriminating.” He seemed to have just discovered the concept of parody. The humor of the Women’s March was different in tone-sometimes goofy, sometimes pointed, rooted in satire rather than snark. That humor was fierce, bitter, biting, but desperate, a coping mechanism. I kept my eyes on Twitter, where the jokes were flying fast and free. At the second debate, days after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape heard ’round the world, he had loomed behind Hillary Clinton on the stage like a garden-variety subway predator. ![]() That pathetic line, from the third debate, served as a reminder of just how thin Trump’s skin is, just how bad he is at coming up with a comeback. The sign below him read “Not a puppet / You’re a puppet,” in English and Russian. Every pussy hat was a punch line.Ī Donald Trump puppet came into view, bobbing above the crowd: orange face yellow hair gaping, blabbing mouth and that extra-long red tie, a penis joke in its own right. “Girls Just Wanna Have FUN-damental Rights” was a popular one, as was “Grab Him by the First Amendment.” There were many entries in the tiny-hands category, as in “Keep Your Tiny Hands Off Our First Amendment.” Some people were justifiably dark: “Sex Offenders Cannot Live in Government Housing.” There were enough uterus-themed signs to make up their own genre. Walking down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., members of my little squadron kept gleefully pointing out signs and costumes to one another. ![]() Actually, it was hilarious, a vindication of the humor of women performed on a stage that stretched the whole world wide. What would I say now to the man who crouched over me as I lay dozing in a park, and told me, when I asked him to remove himself, that with my bad attitude I’d never have babies? (I locked eyes with him and spit on the ground: forceful, but not very witty.) What about the dude who shouted some lewdness at me as I waited for the bus on Fifth Avenue, nineteen years old, head in the clouds? A decade later, I no longer remember his provocation, but I do remember the response I decided on, five minutes after the fact: “That’s not what your mother said last night.” Not original, sure, but sometimes funny-ha-ha works just fine.Īs many people have noted, the Women’s March this weekend, in addition to being forceful, moving, and, yes, huge, was funny. Instead, I’m caught in speechless surprise, stuck re-litigating the encounter in my head. ![]() “I’ve heard that one before-gotta keep working on your material if you want to compete in this town.” Why not arm yourself with a simple one-liner before leaving the house, a little spritz of pepper spray stowed in the mental purse? “That all you got?” I’d like to say to the creep, with a bemused, pitying smile. So much harassment is predicated on the assumption of no response, getting off the shot before the target can fire back. ![]() Not a funny-ha-ha joke a cutting joke, the kind that immediately flips the power dynamic so that the guy is left speechless and fuming as you sail down the sidewalk to get on with your day. I’ve often wondered whether the best way to respond to casual sexual harassment of the verbal variety-the vulgar catcall in the street, the comment hissed in your ear by the guy passing you on the subway stairs-is with a joke.
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