Can Natural Disasters be Funny?

© Copyright 2007 John Cole - All Rights Reserved
politicalcartoons.com
http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/e3d1d2fb-9a07-4361-8e7a-30a7e0ee50e5.html

A family is down on their luck with their home in foreclosure, but it turns out not to be so bad after all because Mother Nature had her own way of taking their home away. A disheartening thought, but since things were bad already this isn't much worse, right?

As with the Doniger piece that we read regarding September 11, I too wonder if it is to soon to joke , or whether we should joke at all, about the horrific natural disaster taking place in California. Doniger mentions a remark that Jay Leno made about Osamo bin Laden stating, "it's OK to make fun of the bad guy." Doesn't seem so awful if we put the bad guys at the butt of the joke, but in the above example the bad guy isn't a person (at least we don't know if it is or not yet), so the butt of the joke is specifically on the situation itself. To me this type of comic relief would seem permissible to a larger audience than one knocking the so called "bad guy." The finger can't be pointed at anyone specifically so why not joke about it.

Even though we don't have someone to point the finger at, people still want to joke about these types of events, I beleive mostly for some much needed relief. But, for me, being a complete outsider to the events happening in California, it was hard to look at this comic and laugh. I feel because I am not there and experiencing the terror that I don't have the right to laugh. Doniger mentions this in her article as well. Stating that, "permission to joke is only granted to the victims." I tend to agree with her, at least at first. How does anyone have the right to make jokes about something so horrible unless you are the one who experienced it. As the events grow older and become outdated more people will begin to joke about them, but until that time the humor should be reserved for those specifically involved. Allowing the victims to joke will provide them with much needed relief to a situation that seems impossible to deal with.

The key to this comic is that the joke is on the situation itself and not the people that are being affected. If this were pertaining to all the lives lost it would be seen callus and distastful, but with homes and entire cities being demolished, sometimes there is nothing more to do than make fun of the situation and laugh, and the above comic is a perfect example of how to do so.

A Passion for Drunk Driving

No Police Report Can Truly Capture My Love Of Drunk Driving
By Keith Pauls

If you were to go by the public records alone, you'd get the wrong impression of me. You'd think that I was some kind of common lawbreaker who's had multiple run-ins with the authorities for operating motor vehicles under the influence of alcohol. You'd think I'm just some guy who goes out, gets plastered, stumbles to his car, and drives home like it's no big deal. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. No matter what the police reports say, I don't drive drunk. I love to drive drunk. I live to drive drunk. It's my passion.
Fact is, mere words could never describe the sheer exuberance I experience when I climb behind the wheel of the first car I find when I'm deeply intoxicated. Take this report, dated Oct. 31, 2003. It says they clocked me at 70 miles per hour in a residential zone on that chilly Halloween night. Well, from where I was sitting, it felt more like I was going 120, and it was awesome. I felt as free and full of life as those kids in their Frankenstein costumes.
It was one of those moments where it's you and two open roads, and you don't know which one to take, so you just let it all happen. Sure, I ran a few stop signs and clipped a few mirrors, but what good is paying for all that insurance if you never use it? The police may have gotten all the facts right, but where was the heart?
After they administered my Breathalyzer, they determined that I was drunk. They didn't need a test for that. When they came up to my window and asked me if I had been drinking, I said "Yes!" and pounded the steering wheel while howling at the moon to show them how alive I felt. And I meant it!
There are some emotions no police report could ever capture.
Oh yeah, how about July 2004, when they said I "failed to maintain lane position and crossed the yellow line before skidding along the guardrail to a complete standstill." Well, sure, that's the sterile way of saying it. What they didn't mention was the jolt of adrenaline that rushes through you as you wake up and see two bright headlights coming at you and you move at just the right moment, straddling that knife's edge between here and the hereafter. They also fail to mention how much I was cracking up when they finally got to me.
Or from May 2005: The report makes such a big deal over how I refused to take a field sobriety test, you'd think that I was Public Enemy No. 1. But why waste taxpayer money on proving that a man who just a minute earlier was singing, "I am so fucking drunk, and I love it!" to the tune of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" is intoxicated? They had me recite the alphabet, and noted that I was unable to get beyond "G." Well, I didn't get to where I am today knowing what comes after G backwards. I got here by pounding three of anything over 60-proof and doing doughnuts in the state police headquarters parking lot.
They should have put down that the reason I was so mad was because they made me stop what was probably the best drive of my life. It was so invigorating! But instead they put it down as "attempted assault." No way. That police officer and I had a gentleman's disagreement over whether or not I would drive home. Nothing more. To insinuate otherwise is not only irresponsible, but fucking lame.
Report after report, it's all the same: "Subject was swerving this or striking oncoming that and was belligerent and uncooperative when pulled over." Taken together, all you get is a man who endangers people's lives and should have his license revoked. But even if you added up all seven to nine reports, you'd never get close to the sheer, unparalleled ecstasy of throwing MGD cans out the window of a speeding vehicle as the stars and police helicopters streak overhead. I hope the next time they pull me over, the police get it right, so I can actually remember the details of another fantastic ride, and, God willing, one day share them with my children.
Should I drive drunk again? No. Will I drive drunk again? Of course. When drunk driving gets in your blood, you just have to heed the call.


The Onion September 26, 2007
http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/no_police_report_can_truly

Upon opening The Onion this week my eyes were drawn to this opinion article praising drunk driving. Knowing the genre of writing that appears in The Onion, I wasn't surprised by the article, but still couldn't conceive how anyone could make light of drunk driving; however, Keith Pauls does just this.

Pauls began by stating that his life's purpose is the drive drunk. His mishaps with the law were mere instances within each of his drunken escapades and he has thoroughly enjoyed each and every moment of these escapades. Con you imagine someone enjoying drunk driving? That is what makes this such a great article because the idea is completely asinine.

The further I read the more and more I saw this piece as a parody of A Modest Proposal. Both authors tackled issues that one couldn't imagine in any type of positive light and attempted to convince their readers that their views weren't so abnormal after all.

As Swift discussed how to prepare a child to eat, Pauls described the rush he had while traveling uninhibited at 70 mph. Swift then goes one to mention the positive effects that eating children would have on Ireland's economy; while Pauls discussed the ability to utilize one's auto insurance to the fullest degree.

As is A Modest Proposal, I see this piece as another perfect example of Satire; showing the true nature of literature found in The Onion. And although I would never advocate drunk driving, Pauls does make an interesting argument or two.