Comedy And Catharsis

Now that the hangover from two weeks of political orgy in the States is starting to wear off, it seems a good time to ruminate on the topic of comedy.  Certainly, there was comedy aplenty at the conventions and the two candidates emerging from them provide endless grist for the mill.

Our purpose here, though, having said all we want to say about politics for now, is to explore comedy itself.  What is comedy and why is something so profoundly human such a mystery?

The word "comedy" comes from ancient Greek (komos) and originally referred to a festival in which young naked men went hog wild, dancing and leaping around a giant phallus.  I don't know about you, but if most of us saw something like this today, we'd call the local insane asylum to offer remedial treatment.  Nevertheless, we'd most likely be laughing our fool heads off as we made the call.  Thus, the origin of comedy.

Aristotle spent a large part of his book Poetics pondering the nature of comedy.  According to him, comedy - and tragedy - were a means to achieve κάθαρση, or emotional release.  Releasing the emotions balanced the humors, such as blood, yellow and black bile, and phlegm.  Not enough of something?  You need tragedy.  Too much of another?  You need comedy.  An overabundance of all?  You need satyr (satire was not a form of comedy back then).  The physician Hippocrates even prescribed the theater for certain ailments.

Aristotle's Second Book of Poetics is lost to history, at least for now, but there are quotes that suggest he recommended laughing at people with deformities.  This was echoed by Francis Bacon, though we don't know if the reasoning is the same:

"Deformed persons’ take revenge on Nature for their impairments, by being void of ‘Natural Affection."

This view was known as physiognomy, the assertion that one's physical appearance is an expression of one's inner character.  Thus, by laughing at deformed people (who were obviously at war with Nature), we could ridicule and defame them, and thus take away their power.  In fact, ridicule and laughter have always been seen as a means to ward off evil spirits, though not everyone agrees.

In the film The Name of the Rose, there is a curious exchange between William, the protagonist, and Jorge, the antagonist:

Jorge Burgos: Laughter is a devilish wind which deforms, uh, the lineaments of the face and makes men look like monkeys.

William of Baskerville: Monkeys do not laugh. Laughter is particular to men.

Jorge de Burgos: As is sin. Christ never laughed.

William of Baskerville: Can we be so sure?

Jorge de Burgos: There is nothing in the Scriptures to say that he did.

William of Baskerville: And there's nothing in the Scriptures to say that he did not. Why, even the saints have been known to employ comedy, to ridicule the enemies of the Faith. For example, when the pagans plunged St. Maurice into the boiling water, he complained that his bath was too cold. The Sultan put his hand in... scalded himself.

William is clearly a believer in physiognomy, while Jorge is a Stoic, and they represent probably the most fundamental forces at war in Western culture.

In modern times, Robert Heinlein, in his book Stranger in a Strange Land, speculated that comedy is pain + distance, while in his movie Crimes and Misdemeanors, Woody Allen figures it as pain + time.  In both cases, they represent the modern proclivity of reducing everything to a mathematical formula, but the point is taken: comedy is pain.

At some level, everything that makes us laugh involves someone else suffering.  Ultimately, everything you and I have laughed at involves a buffoon (mental), a cripple (physical), or a humiliation (emotional).  You can name anything you choose as an example, and at the root of it is one of these three pains.

The only difference between comedy and tragedy is distance, physical, temporal or emotional.  We are in some way separated from the object of comedy by space, time or empathy.  If someone falls down and we are next to them, we tend to share the pain, but if we see it from a distance, it can be quite funny.  By the same token, we may be in sympathetic pain at the moment, but years later we laugh as we reminisce on the event. Finally, we may laugh at the event because we don't like that person and seeing them humiliated gives us a sense of pleasure.  Space, time or empathy.

We all speak of the healing power of laughter.  We know that the rush of endorphins leaves us feeling exhausted, but satisfied.  We love to laugh, which is why comedies and comedians are so popular. We rarely, though, step back enough to think about why we laugh and what we are laughing at.  And when we do, it is as puzzling as anything in the human psyche.

In a way, Political Correctness is the triumph of the Jorges/Stoics of the world.  Any object of comedy has become off-limits to the PC crowd. There is no denying that idiocy or retardation or deformities are very ancient objects of comedy, but like Jorge, we are forbidden to screw the lineaments of our faces in order to receive catharsis from them - to balance our humors, as Hippocrates might say.

For many years, I had a cat that loved to sleep on top of the VCR on the bookshelf.  One day, while I sat on the couch reading, she rolled over and fell to the floor flat on her back.  I started laughing uncontrollably, and that cat ran across the room and leaped at my chest with claws bared, then ran off into the other room to sulk.

No one likes to be laughed at, that is a given, unless you are getting paid for it.  And many of the PC crowd think they are doing the idiots, cripples and clowns of the world a favor by forbidding the rest of us from laughing at them.  But laughter is a defense mechanism.  It is our minds reacting to the saying, "There but for the grace of God go I."  It is as automatic as raising your hand to block someone throwing a punch at your face.  It is as uncontrollable as blinking or breathing.  Laughter is a release of tension.  Without it, we would all be far worse off.

Imagine a world without laughter.  It seems rather dull and unlivable to me.  Yes, the objects of laughter feel hurt, but the fact of the matter is that everyone laughs at some point, and the object of laughter now will be laughing later, and the cause will be one of the three we all laugh at.

Comedians are people who professionally hurt themselves for our laughter.  The best comedians turn the pain on themselves so we can achieve catharsis through laughter.  It is a uniquely human occupation, and a strange one.  But it is absolutely necessary.  Without balancing our humors, we will sooner or later have quite real pain ourselves.  We need that release and without it we die.

As the great British Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean famously said on his deathbed, "Dying is easy.  Comedy is hard."

The Root Of All Evil

Aristotle gave us the Golden Mean:

"All things in moderation."

The Wizard of Id gave us the Golden Rule:

"He who has the gold makes the rules."

There is a cancer that is eating the soul out of Humanity. The time of its inception can be traced to the Knights Templar in the Middle Ages of Europe. The very date of its metastasis can be pin-pointed on December 24, 1913, with the late-night passage of the Federal Reserve Act and the subsequent creation of the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Income Tax. At the moment, the disease became fatal.

Way back in the time of the Crusades, the Knights Templar reportedly discovered 'something' beneath the ruins of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem that gave them remarkable power. Because of 'it,' they created a tight network, based in the Netherlands, that was the seedling of our modern banking system, whereby they issued certificates that allowed someone to travel safely to other countries and later trade in the certificates for the denominated amount of gold at the destination. Thus, they single-handedly created paper money in the West (China is credited with creating the concept of "flying money"). This allowed merchants to travel great distances without fear of being robbed of all their earnings. It also gave the Knights vast wealth and power, as they now had access to large amounts of gold and the fees they charged for the service.

Because of this network, they discovered that at any given time, only a portion of the gold was demanded for withdrawl. Therefore, they could lend portions of their reserve with interest and make even more money. They also had a secure and well-connected network that gave them the most precious commodity of all...information.

A rather infamous example of that network in action was the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. The Baron von Rothschild, titular head of the modern Templars, received word of Wellington's victory hours before the general public. He spread the rumor that Napoleon had won and the markets in London crashed. He was able to buy up vast sums of securities at deep discounts, and when news of the victory hit the general population, he was able to sell at astronomical profits.

In fact, the telescope, which Galileo later turned to the Heavens, was invented by Dutch bankers in order to see returning merchant ships before anyone else, and thus use the information to their profitable advantage.

The Templars, and their modern equivalents, also lent money to monarchs across Europe. In times of war, they would fund both sides, so that no matter who won, the Knights would profit. Later, as the network grew in power and wealth, they were able to manipulate outcomes and entire countries by having the monarchs indebted to them. Their power became so fiercsome that the Cathoic Chruch and the French royals routed the Templars and hunted them mercilessly for years, a period of history that gave us the Inquisition and Friday the 13th.

The spirtual heirs to the Templars are the current central banks, and indeed, the entire global banking cabal. For the past 200 years, the bankers (now commonly known as the banksters) have used the wealth of nations against the people, using their network for insider trading and manipulating information, wars and economies to their advantage. They have created laws which treat soulless corporations as 'legal persons,' thus giving things the same status and rights as living beings. They then use the collective wealth of these 'persons' to manipulate media and information, election outcomes and virtually every aspect of modern life.

Like a festering rot, this cancer has grown and spread throughout the world, slowly but surely confiscating the wealth of nations and installing minute control over real, flesh-and-blood human beings.

This cabal has successfully misdirected people, first by sacrificing Jews, then Communists, then Freemasons, and dozen of other groups. They have kept aware people so befuddled and crasing their own tails that they are ineffectual at routing out the true evil. They further foster racial tensions and xenophobia to keep us fighting among ourselves and distrustful of each other. Thus we are distracted from the real culprit and waste our energies on useless, and ultimately profitable (for them) conflicts and wars.

Their one true weakness is that in order to make the final move, they must drop their disguise and reveal themselves as our supposed masters as part of the endgame. Their hope is that we, the people, will be so befuddled by flouride and anti-depressants that we won't recognize that moment.

Even now, one can perceive the cloak is slipping and revelations are piling up. The question is, how aware and mentally capable are we to recognize this fact?

They are making their final play now. The TSA gropings, the wats in the Middle East, the Chinese rivalry, the economic collapse of America and Europe are all playing cards in their deck. The problem is that we, the people, haven't figured out that there is a very simple and elegant solution: stop playing their game.

Of course, there will be consequences. There will be consequences if we continue. By slowly weaning ourselves from the banking system and moving to barter and gold/silver based trade, we can utter crush this evil within a year. However, you must conquer your fear of doing something new, and everyone must stand in fearless solidarity against whatever they will throw at us.

It will not be pretty. The banksters will throw up a huge fuss. They will conjure ghosts and phoantoms to scare us into submission. They will pull out all the stops to frighten us back into the corral. They will bomb and kill and maim without mercy, and we must prepare for it by keeping a clear image of our goal: freedom from oppression. Imagine a 3-year-old child who is spoiled and over-coddled when it is told to take a nap. Now imagine that child with bombs and diseases and armies ready to do its every bidding. As any parent knows, the only way to break an unruly child's tantrums is to ignore them, and that is what we must do now to the banksters.

The only reason they have power is because WE GIVE IT TO THEM.

So, here's our choice: we continue using banks and supplying the lifeblood that is killing all of humankind, or we simply walk away and start trading amongst ourselves again. It must be a mass movement and it must be done with resolve, no matter what boogey men they throw up at us. They will try to conscript our organic networks with their artificial beings (corporations). They will put up Judas goats to lead us back to the fold (Sarah Palin). They will present us with all sorts of false choices (Republican/Democrat). They will tease us with toys and gee-gaws and sparklie things. We must walk away forever. There is no choice. To give them an inch is to give them our lives. They are spoiled children hooked on our money and labor, and we must starve the Beast of both until it is thoroughly and completely dead, no matter what the pain or sacrifice.

It's the only way.

As Jesus famously said, "If your left eye offends you, pluck it out." Well, that's what we must do now. People can only be lead if they choose to be lead. In order to be corralled, you must freely walk into it.

Put down the remore, unplug the TV and turn off the video games. Those are the tools of submission. Instead, form a neighborhood co-op, plant a garden, sew clothes, creat something! Then, trade it for other goods and services, or accept gold and silver coins instead of the cancerous paper notes that have enslaved us. Form networks of real human beings. Pay off your house and car notes and get out of debt. It's not too late...yet.

But, stell yourself. People will die. Terror strikes will increase. Ghosts will pop up everywhere. Remember, it's not real. It is manufactured to herd you. Oh, sure, the bodies are real, but we must be prepared to die in order to save our children from this curse. It is the only way.

They can ticket some girls for selling illegal cupcakes, but they can't put 100,000 people in jail. Sure, they will try. They will do anything and stop at nothing to protect their empire of lies. All you have to do is ignore it, no matter what the pain is. It will end at some point, you just have to prepare yourself to go through with it. Remember, when you set a broken bone, you must yank the limb and reset the bone in place. It hurts like hell, both for the victim and for the person doing it, but it is the only way.

It's our choice now. We allowed this evil cancer to grow by conforming to their rules, but we can kill it just as easily. We gave them the power and we can take it back. Stop following and leaders perish.

IT WILL HURT, BUT IT MUST BE DONE!

Imagine how good life feels when it's free and liberty is the norm. We haven't been slaves forever, and we can be emancipated soon.

It's up to you.

Readin', Ritin' n Cypherin'

You've been with the professors
And they've all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have
Discussed lepers and crooks
You've been through all of
F. Scott Fitzgerald's books
You're very well read
It's well known.

But something is happening here
And you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones ?
-Bob Dylan, Ballad of a Thin Man

What is education?

Looks like the current, near-global paradigm is stuffing kids into a room and filling full of the exact same information, sprinkled liberally with propaganda. At some point, they are encouraged to 'specialize' into so field or another and then spend the remained of their matriculation focusing on one thing.

Seems to me this is completely bass-ackwards.

Once upon a time, there were different schools of thought. There were platonics, aristotelians, nihilists, religionists, and scientists. There were weltanschauungs and competing viewpoints. That model produced legendary thinkers who drew upon multiple disciplines to gain insight and inspiration.

Somewhere along the line, we got derailed into this conformist model, where everyone must learn the same mountain of 'facts' and the same interpretation of those facts, and then, to the exclusion of all other information, begin a career building walls to protect just certain 'facts,' to the exclusion of all other 'facts.'

From where I sit, this seems to have produced legendary morons.

During my college days, the most memorable moments were when I tied some historical event to a scientific break-through or social change. One really good writer to this kind of thinking is Daniel Boorstein, who could effortlessly connect the invention of sewing machines to the development of credit cards, or so it seemed.

Things like transcepts and flying buttresses led to explosions in architecture and grand works such as the Hajia Sofia and Chartres cathedral.

The concept of the photon led to pointilism and ultimately to digital photography. Photography freed paitners to explore impressionism, cubism and geometrics.

Knowing little things can be fun also, like knowing that 'terrific' comes from 'terror,' which comes from the Latin, which equals the Greek 'deimos,' which is the root of 'demon' and a moon of Mars. The moons of Mars are called Phobos and Deimos, which can be translated as 'fear' and 'loathing,' which was a popular title for Hunter S. Thompson stories. Not to mention that the names were suggested by Johnathan Swift in 'Gulliver's Travels,' 200 years before the discovery of the moons.

Swift also wrote a famous essay called "A Modest Proposal," in which he advocates eating the children of Ireland as a means of alleviating poverty and unemployment in 17th century Ireland, which oddly sounds like the EU's current proposal to fix Ireland's current economic crisis. Thus, the 'war on terror' is a 'war of the worlds,' and a war on the children of Ireland, and everyone seems to think that just terrific. Reductio ad absurdum ipso facto annuit coeptis.

See how much fun it is?

One can successfully argue that thinkers such as Einstein, who was mired in his focus on calculations, has done more damage to physics than the Newtonian/Keplerian schools ever did. But what's worse is that schools teach Einsteinian space/time as gospel, when in fact nearly every observation of the Universe dispels the theory. Yet, competing schools of thought, such as Eletric Universe are roundly dismissed because the people who conceived of it weren't physicists.

Modern banking and economics, the core and root of the global money mess, are the product of a man called Keynes, whose mental masturbations have become dogma, thus trapping economists into thought boxes from which they can not escape. The Austrian school, on the other hand, is derided and ignored, though its paradigm makes far more sense and is historically sound.

And so the Box Paradigm is perpetuated across time. Schools pound one viewpoint into a child's head, and then for life they are trapped in an artificial construct of someone else's making. If they dare think outside the box, they are failed and relegated to ditch-digging for the rest of their lives.

Finally, not only do we force children to constrain their thoughts within narrow boxes of perception, but we do so by stuffing them in boxes 8 hours a day. No wonder we can't seem to produce great thinkers any more. The most exciting thought exercises in a modern school occur when globalist change agents come and pretend to have think-tank like sessions, but where conclusions are masterfully steered towards pre-ordained 'facts.' Case in point: Al Gore.

With the judicious application of multi-media and internet, combined with platonic dialogues and true investigative thinking, we could be producing Leonardo da Vincis by the hundreds. We could realize a tremendous New Age of Wisdom by teaching children to really think, to investigate multiple lines of inquiry, to open themselves to new connections and conclusions.

Instead, we close their minds, lock them in Schroedenger's Box and throw away the key. We continue to bus them into boxes and stuff them full of 'that's the way we've always done it' and hope for a better future. No wonder we are mired in one pile of stupidity after another.

Given the modern tools available, and simple discussions that cost nothing, children could be taught to really think. They would be encouraged to make connections where none existed before. They would stretch their minds to apply a 'fact' from one discipline to solving a 'puzzle' in another. The most prized degree would become a PhD in Everything, rather than some increasingly narrow line of thinking that leads ultimately to a cul-de-sac. Children would join dots rather than separate them, thus causing an explosion in true understanding of the Universe!

But, alas, perhaps that's the point: we can't have people thinking now can we? They might devise some way to extract energy from the ether for eternal free power. They might devise modes of transportation that are cheap, private and don't require vast infrastructures to operate.

They might become free individuals, sovereign and whole, answerable to their own God and unhindered in their exploration of our vast and wonderous Universe.

We can't have that, now can we?