Some hypersmart Australian journalist asked the Taliban about Australia's
threat to their security yesterday, producing mirth all around - so they do
have senses of humour. I don't think they even know where it is, though
you wouldn't know from our PM's grandstanding (photo ops with Bush because
he couldn't get a Meeting with him at APEC, etc, brilliant for the election
campaign but embarrassing from every other point of view).
And then I read the newspaper which has an article seriously saying that
Howard is a Great Statesman. It's a bit like saying the Mayor of
Wangaratta is a Great Statesman.
Such stuff is beyond parody - maybe it's just that we've entered the world
of meta-parody, like the Decline of the Roman Empire.
A
>WHAT ABOUT LAUGHTER?
>
> We look for clues for what
> was done to us and
> nothing is trivial -- certainly
> not the comedy above all,
> after all the jesters hold court
> with funny jokes and crazy humor.
> It's a place to start. It's something.
> It isn't much. But what do we know?
> It tells us something to say.
>
>--Gerald Schwartz
Alison Croggon
Home page
http://users.bigpond.com/acroggon/
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