The misanalysis of humor

In a discussion of a Louisiana judge's refusal to give a marriage license to an interracial couple, Patrik Jonsson offers this novel analysis:

Ever wonder why jokes about the South and "rednecks" persist?

...[T]he underlying tenets of humor about the South has a bit to do with the insecurity of the North facing a virile Sunbelt economy that, up until recently, had a major influence on national and presidential politics. 

But the political defeat of the Southern-based Republican party has given a little more leeway to poke fun at the South.

Now, there are no doubt many reasons why jokes about the South and rednecks persist, but somehow I don't think many people are weighing regional economic factors and consulting the current political fortunes of the Republican party before they trot out their favorite possum joke.

Comments

[John]

You know you're a redneck when: You are the butt of a joke due to the insecurity of the North facing a virile Sunbelt economy that, up until recently, had a major influence on national and presidential politics.

Now that's Foxworthy!

[SteveB]

But the political defeat of the Southern-based Republican party has given a little more leeway to poke fun at the South.

Guy's never heard of Lil' Abner? Ma and Pa Kettle? Ernest T. Bass?

[John Caruso]

The Beverly Hillbillies?

[mistah charley, ph.d.]

Although Northerners tell jokes about the South, the favor is returned.

Here's a Southern joke about yankees I heard twenty years ago (and twarn't new then, neither). What's the difference between a yankee and a damn yankee? A yankee comes down, looks around, and goes home; a damn yankee don't go home soon enough.

[I did go home, four years later - not soon enough, obviously.]

[John Caruso]

Although Northerners tell jokes about the South, the favor is returned.

Yes, and there was a sharp uptick during the Northern industrial boom. A lot of insecurity there. And of course it also tends to track the migration of the yellow-throated warbler.

[SteveB]

OT, but a nice report from Germany on the "idea of Obama" and its limitations:

However, America's newfound popularity doesn't translate to greater European support for the military mission in Afghanistan, where the US recently stocked up its presence with an additional 22,000 troops. Most Germans (63 percent) still do not approve of the deployment of the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, as part of the ISAF security force in Afghanistan.

...

But while Europe's ardor for Obama appears fervent, he has actually made little progress in the regions where the US faces its biggest foreign policy problems. In the Muslim world, American popularity has only increased slightly since Obama took office, and that was mostly in Egypt and Indonesia where the President spent some of his childhood. In Turkey or Pakistan, nothing really changed: Under 20 percent of those surveyed had a positive attitude towards the US. Figures were the same before Obama's election.

According to the Pew survey even Obama's much watched address to the Muslim world in Cairo in June didn't really have any lasting, positive affect. Afterwards Palestinian attitudes toward the US rose only a statistically insignificant five percent (from 14 percent to 19). Just as they were before, a broad majority of Palestinians are not convinced that the US president has their best interests at heart. Neither has support among Muslim respondents for suicide bombers and for Osama Bin Laden fallen in any meaningful way.

Nothing like being bombed by the US (or being asked to provide live bodies for its wars) to snap people out of the illusion.

[john]

Well, at least Europe's "ardor" is appearing "fervent." Ewww...

But I think I like this sentence best: "Neither has support among Muslim respondents for suicide bombers and for Osama Bin Laden fallen in any meaningful way."

As Carl Spackler said after gaining the Dalai Lama's blessing: "Well I got that going for me. Which is nice."

[KDelphi]

Because the ones about rednecks are true??

[Duncan]

"Although Northerners tell jokes about the South, the favor is returned."

Right, the damage is mutual.

"Just as they were before, a broad majority of Palestinians are not convinced that the US president has their best interests at heart."

What ingrates!

"Most Germans (63 percent) still do not approve of the deployment of the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, as part of the ISAF security force in Afghanistan."

Thus showing how manipulable the proles are. Just elect a black American president who can pronounce "nuclear", and they'll do his bidding in every detail.

[SteveB]

"Not convinced that the US president has their best interests at heart" is a wonderful phrase, and deserves to be used often:

"As she was pulled from the rubble of a school in Gaza, the Palestinian child admitted that she was not convinced that the US president has her best interests at heart."

"Survivors of the accidental bombing of an Afghan wedding party loudly proclaimed that they we not convinced that the US president has their best interests at heart."

"As their country disappeared beneath the waves, the residents of the Maldives placed a small scrap of paper into a bottle, in the hopes that their last words might wash up on some distant shore, as a warning to others. The message simply said, 'We are not convinced that the US president has our best interests at heart.'"

Of course, it's not a thought that should be confined to foreigners. I have reason to suspect that our host, for example, is not convinced that the US president has his best interests at heart.

[Duncan]

And not only our host, SteveB; I, for one, harbor similar misgivings. But I'm just a hate-filled fringe-left denizen of Mount Disdain, and so what I think is not importance. But I love your suggestions for use of the phrase; let's do our best to spread it around.

[NomadUK]

Thus showing how manipulable the proles are. Just elect a black American president who can pronounce "nuclear", and they'll do his bidding in every detail.

And immediately return to office the same right-of-centre chancellor who supports the Bundeswehr's participation in the ISAF. Funny, that.

Good thing those proles are so independent-minded. Hate to see what would happen if they were actually dupes.

[SteveB]

Yes, electoral systems are simple input-output devices: Public opinion goes in one end; elected officials come out the other. Nothing much of interest is happening inside.

[NomadUK]

I'd suggest that it's not just the electoral systems that are suspect (and they certainly are), but the 'public opinion' as well.