Seen humor...

[alexpgp]

I thought I would note here some humor that appears to be making the rounds in Russia (from a post in avva's journal, and comments to it):

It is the year 2032, and a father and his son walk the streets of lower Manhattan. Approaching the site where the WTC used to be in the end of the 20th century, the father sighs and comments, "to think that right here used to be the Twin Towers..."

The son, not understanding, asks his father: "What are the Twin Towers?"

The father smiles and looks at the son, and explains, "The Twin Towers were two huge buildings that used to be here until 2001, when the Arabs destroyed them."

The son looks up to his father, and asks, "And what are the Arabs?"

* * *Saddam Hussein had a dream and called President George W. Bush to tell him about it. "I had a dream about the United States. I could see the whole country and over every building and home was a banner," said Saddam.

"What was on the banners?" asked Bush.

"LONG LIVE SADDAM HUSSEIN!!" answered the Iraqi President.

"I am so glad that you called," said President Bush, "because I, too, had a dream. In my dream, I saw Baghdad and it was more beautiful than ever, totally rebuilt, and over every building and home was a big, beautiful banner."

"What did the banners say?" asked Saddam.

"I don't know," answered Bush, "I can't read Hebrew."

* * *It's 2000, at an international conference. In the middle of a session, the representative of the nonaligned nations rises and says, "Excuse me, gentlemen, but I must leave you for a while. It is time for me to get in line to receive sausage."

The capitalist representative frowns and asks, "What's a line?"

The socialist representative frowns and asks, "What's sausage?"

With the exception of adding just a touch to the translation of the third story above (the frowns), I've set them forth as I found them.

The third story was offered as evidence that there is, after all, nothing new under the sun, and I can only agree. When I first heard it, the participants were a Russian, an American and a member of an ethnic group you wanted to characterize as being arrogant. In the setup, a passerby asks, "Excuse me, where is the line for sausage?", prompting the American to ask, "What's a line?", the Russian to ask, "What's sausage?", and the third participant to ask, "What's 'Excuse me'?"

Rim shot.

As far as the first story is concerned, I think it would sound much better if, instead of implying the disappearance of Arabs, it implied the disappearance of terrorists, but then I think the "bite" goes out of the humor (what do you think?). Perhaps it would still sound good if it implied the disappearance of the Talibs?

With regard to the second story, the ending has a nice bite, but I don't understand the setup at all. In such stories, the resolution not only tweaks the "losing" side but is also supposed to turn what seemed to have been a victory into a defeat. (But hey, I didn't write it.)

Enough of this... there's work to be done!

Cheers...

Comments

where's the humor?

[malisk.livejournal.com]

my 2 cents...

didn't find any of the stories were particularly funny just kind of sad and depressing and the first one particularly offensive. It's one thing to just make jokes about everything that's going on, it's another thing to make relevant and funny jokes which i don't think the above 3 jokes are.

as far as i can tell, what we really need to concentrate on is that fact that there is conflict, that groups of people really do have a sincere dislike of other groups of people and that the good and/or desired outcome is not one where one group *wins* over another group, but one where the hatred itself is eliminated.

maybe i just don't have a sense of humor...

Re: where's the humor?

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

I don't think these stories are among the best humor I've ever heard, either, but that was not my point in posting them in my journal. I just happened to stumble across a discussion of jokes making the rounds in Russia, and decided to note them down and comment on them.

I've found it generally unproductive to attempt to classify humor as relevant or not-relevant, as relevance implies the questions "relevant to whom?" and "for what purpose?" (Have you heard any Shtirlitz jokes? No? Me, I think they're hilarious.)

What's funny is what makes you laugh. Period. While I have no argument with folks who say, as you did, that they don't think some particular joke is funny, I must admit puzzlement when people go on to try to explain in detail (way past the level of commentary you state) why something is not funny. Then again, maybe it's not so puzzling.

Eliminate hatred? That's a tall order. Some people jealously guard their hatreds, cultivating them at any opportunity. They organize their lives around them; indeed, some build their societies around them.

If you don't believe me, read history. If you believe that all people can be "reached" with reason and good faith, then I would prefer to stand apart from you, as your interlocutors may not be good marksmen. :^)

The good and desired outcome in conflict is where all sides win, despite their differences, both real and perceived. Often, that's not possible, but among people of good faith, that particular goal is not impossible.

In any event, thank you for your comment.

Cheers..

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

I thought they were funny enough to tell to a couple of friends today. At least the first two, before a phone call interrupted things. They thought they were pretty funny, if a bit silly.

[nichevo.livejournal.com]

Personally, I thought they were hilarious.

I don't suppose you could e-mail the original Russian - or at least a link?

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

It's a recent post (and comments) from avva's journal. Only the third joke was posted in Russian, the other two were posted in his journal in English.