"Gargantua" by Honore' Daumier
Article by Tim Mostert in The American Thinker
The power of ridicule
There
are entire segments of the population that don’t have a sense of humor.
It’s often people in power and politicians who are particularly prone
to not having a sense of humor, to the point where they feel that anyone
who has one should be prosecuted. They don’t mind people having a
laugh now and again, but they certainly don’t want anyone laughing at
them or their policies. This is a problem, because politicians tend to
be blustering blowhards with very little competence or real-world
experience. This makes their actions funny, and open to ridicule.
Ridicule
is a politician’s worst nightmare, because it exposes them with a
weapon that’s nearly impossible to counter. Politicians defend
themselves with words, generally written by someone else, carefully
parsed and thought through. Very few can think clearly or articulate
ideas on their feet, so ridicule puts them on the back foot. They like
to explain their positions and policies with rambling speeches that are
delivered from on high. The masses are expected to listen with rapt
attention, and be grateful for the privilege.
Instead,
we the people find their pontificating hypocritical and comical, and we
usually switch off. Some in the media have the ability to write or
draw funny things about office-bearers, and this is a valuable gift when
skillfully wielded. For example, picture an image of a huge, fat,
sitting leader, ten stories high. A wooden ramp goes from the ground,
along the leader’s belly, and up into his open mouth. A continuous
stream of tiny flunkies haul baskets filled with money up the ramp, and
dump the contents into his gaping mouth. In return for all this cash
and gold, the leader hands out favors in the form of titles, positions
and lucrative government contracts. If you were the target of an image
like this, you would be offended, but you’d probably just laugh it off.
If you didn’t have a sense of humour, and you had the power to enforce
your views, you might demand that the person who thought this up needed
to be punished. Harshly. Six months in prison would sound about right.
This actually happened in Paris in 1831 to a brilliant 24-year old artist, Honoré Daumier. Daumier,
who drew so beautifully that it was said that ‘he had Michelangelo in
his blood,’ was at the start of his career, and was drawing for a French
satirical newspaper called La Caricature. The person he drew
was King Louis-Philippe, a largely forgotten monarch in an
undistinguished period in French history. But at the time
Louis-Philippe was the most powerful person in France, and did not like
being made fun of.
It was said of Daumier’s editor at La Caricature
that he spent more time in prison than in his office. Eventually the
monarchy managed to shut the newspaper down, along with other papers
that engaged in ridicule. The closures came about in the usual ways,
through strangling cash flow through government fines and red tape, to
the point where operations became financially impossible. Thin-skinned
politicians who are arrogant and self-important can be vicious, wanting
to make examples of pesky cartoonists and others who have the audacity
to deride them.
In 2021, politicians don’t have
the power to throw cartoonists or satirists in jail, but some might wish
they did. In America we have the First Amendment that protects speech,
but its erosion is happening apace. There’s technically freedom of the
press here as well, but only if you’re on the correct (left) team.
But
ridicule is important. It’s essential for the people to make fun of
silly, vapid politicians. It’s a weapon that can swing elections. We
need more ridicule, not less. We’re at a crossroads as a nation. We
need comprehensive change in the next two elections to preserve America
for the next generation.
Most of our current
politicians deserve to be shamed, expelled, and consigned to the garbage
dump of history. Especially the ones that are protected by the media,
who cover up their glaring stupidity.
Ridicule, properly wielded, can save America.
