The Touro Communication Club Notes - #112 –April 14, 2010 Tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com

Five Quotes about Jokes

A joke is a very serious thing.
Winston Churchill, British prime minister during World War II, noted author and essayist,

A poet in history is divine, but a poet in the next room is a joke.

Max Eastman, 20^th century American writer

Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.

Will Rogers, 20^th century American humorist and cowboy performer

The aim of a joke is not to degrade the human being, but to remind him that he is already degraded.

George Orwell, 20^th century British writer

The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.

H.G. Wells, 20^th century British science fiction writer

The Touro Communication Club

2 pm - Wednesday, April 14, 2010– Room 223

“Jokefest”

In response to a member request to have more comedy, we will ask everyone to bring at least 3 jokes to try out on the audience. We’ll open with one joke after another. After several rounds, then we’ll stop our laughing and ask ourselves what have we heard, why did some jokes work and others did not, what have the jokes communicated, what kinds of jokes are offensive, etc. At least we should have a good time, yukking at ourselves.

Logical Fallacy of the Week #3: “Argumentum ad Populum”

Don’t be distracted by the Latin. It is likely that you experience this logical fallacy frequently. There are several manifestations of this “Argument to the People.” Politicians and advertisers are great consumers of this strategy because they want their audiences to buy their product.

One example would be the “Glittering Generality” – the use of language which has the most vague meaning – “The People,” “The Truth,” “”Loyalty,” etc. During a political campaign, opponents often try to outdo themselves by “draping themselves in the American flag.” Senator John McCain used his bus named “The Straight Talk Express” very effectively in several campaigns.

Another version of “Argumentum ad Populum” is the “Bandwagon” tactic. “Everybody’s doing it,” “Don’t be left out,” “More people buy product X than any other,” Car manufacturers often use the tactic to persuade an audience to buy as do sneaker manufacturers and Apple with its IPad.

A third version has been called the “Snob Appeal” where the audience wants to believe it is the only – or at least one of the few – people who are invited to buy the product or participate in the activity. This is a frequent tactic of upscale car makes and the U.S. Marines.

The speaker who uses this kind of fallacy is either totally insensitive to or disdainful of the intellectual capability of his/her audience. This speaker believes that the target audience can be manipulated to buying into the validity of the speaker’s goal – either a patriotic slogan or wants to appeal to the most generalized perceptions about an idea.

A Note to Communicators:

Why Jokes?

This week we focus on the joke, at the request of Anna Indelicato. She felt that the topics the club was discussing were getting boring. So let’s laugh.

But what are we laughing at? Jokes are simple. They are tightly developed formulas with a 3-part structure with a setup, brief development and punch line. There are variations on the structure but most follow this pattern.

Now that we have had our funny bone tickled, let’s look at the subject of most jokes. Since a joke is usually poking fun at people’s behavior. This is always funny until you are the target of the joke. In our age of political correctness, it is no longer acceptable to laugh jokes about sex, race, ethnicity, gender, gender preference, physical attributes and stereotypes of all kinds, among other off-limit topics.

The strategy of the joke is typically to show that one party is superior to the other. Some call this the “derision’ theory” – we make fun (read: put down).

Empathy (again: read political correctness) for our fellow human being has had the side effect of taking the humor out of many things.

What’s left to laugh at? These come to mind;

• People in high places (Presidents and celebrities frequent targets). They’re safe.
• Any public action that appears to be wrong in the eyes of the jokester
• Insults in choreographed “roasts” – the Alfred Smith Presidential Dinner in election years

We want to tear down people in high places to our level so we feel better about ourselves.

The humor in joke can be translated from words to physical humor – slapstick. Then we can easily move from physical humor like the pratfall to bodily humor – like flatulence or burps. This kind of humor is also not politically cored in “polite society.”

The irony of bathroom humor is that we still laugh despite an imposed pseudo-Victorian sensibility.

The odd thing about humor is that we have to understand the subject of the joke in order to laugh. Telling a joke successfully in a language you don’t know has a low success rate.

Not only must the audience understand the joke, the joke must be told with superb timing. If the jokester tells the joke poorly, everyone loses.

Finally, the humor of the joke sets up a distance between the jokester and his audience. We laugh AT the joke. We never laugh WITH the joke. By its very nature, humor creates a distance that can both be healthy or alienating.

So, the joke and humor are very serious business underneath the guffaw.

UPCOMING CONVERSATIONS:

April 21, 2010 - Introducing “The Critical Listening Institute”- We don’t practice our listening skills. For this first session, we will listen to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and discover how he constructs his message, the images he uses and how he uses repetition to make his point. (We’ll do Revel’s “Bolero” next)

April 28. 2010 - “Freedom”- We have grown up in America believing that freedom is precious. We believe we are not bound by the limits of other countries. The American Dream is to be able to achieve anything you want. Should everything be “laissez-faire”? Are there any limits on that freedom? Can we yell “Fire!” in a theatre? What kind of government should exist in a “free” society? We should have another enjoyable exchange this week!

What about one of these topics?

“Rodney King: ‘Why Can’t We Get Along?”

“Repetition”

“Meaning”

“The Seven Heavenly Virtues”

“Why Does History Repeat Itself?”

“Heroism”

“Concentration”

“Coping with Adversity”

“Distraction”

Student Poetry showcase

“Empathy”

“Connecting the Dots”

Role play of cynical people

“Cold Calling in Sales”

“He’s Just Not That into You”

“Money”

And dozens of others!

Compare the notice of the session with what really happened!

What happened on Wednesday, April 7, 2010

““Current Events”

It takes some effort to keep your head buried in the sand with what’s going on in the world. Just this past week - two landmark events -“Obamacare” passed and Russia and the U.S. agreed on a nuclear arms reduction. President Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan. We can focus on Albany, Washington, Chile, Iran’s nuclear progress, the continuing Arab-Israeli difficulties, the latest celebrity scandal, the Health Care aftermath, the jobs picture and people in the news such as the return of Tiger Woods. The current 24/7 news cycle drives the media to fill the air. It creates a frenzied, breathless indiscriminate pseudo importance to everything. For example, the National Enquirer may be one of the nominees for a Pulitzer Prize in reporting for its on-going story of the John Edwards domestic disaster. And he was the Democratic nominee for VP in 2004!

Our group today was full of familiar faces. They included Chui Hing Yau, Richard Green, Charles Mason, Drani Gabu, Markus Vayndorf, Jean Missial, Carlisle Yearwood, Pamela Sheppard, Michael Mattocks and Hal Wicke.

Hal put the following chart of Current Events on the board.

International	National	Local	People	Topics
Afganistan – Karzai’s outburst	Health care passage by 7 votes	Indian Point – to close?	Tiger Woods	The Race card – Steele & Obama
Iraqi election –Alawyi, Malaki	Weather – RI disaster area	Albany budget cuts	Wingnuts - Beck, Limbaugh, Palin, Olberman	Supreme Court 5-4 Citizen’s United; Stevens’ retirement
China – world’s lender; Africa, South America	Govt expanded student loans	Soda sales tax & obesity	Obama’s reputation	Final Four Duke 61 Butler 59
Russia –Venezuela Subway bombing	Obama’s agenda – nuclear reduction; oil drilling			No Child left behind for colleges
Iran – nuclear bomb				Civility – Biden epithet
Arab Israeli negotiations				Media impact – TV - MTV
Chile earthquake				Climate change
Vatican scandal				Immigration
				IPad
				Tavis Smiley’s Black Summits
				Terrorist

The session opened with Richard Green’s asking about what is a terrorist. A variety of responses emerged.

· A terrorist is angry

· A terrorist seeks revenge

· A terrorist causes damage.

· Certain physical characteristics create a “terrorist” profile – fairly or unfairly

· Reaction to 9/11 created the terrorist profile.

· A terrorist has an ideology

· “Black Widows” of Chechnya

· KKK are terrorists

· CUNY Professor Jeffries’ “Ice People” and “Sun People”

The next topic meanders around President Obama and his reputation and Afghan President Karzai’s behavior toward the West.

· Karzai is biting the hand that feeds him

· Obama’s prestige rose briefly after the signing of the Health Care bill and then fell again.

· Drani’s anecdote about a 76-year-old friend who hated the health care bill until he had a kidney transplant recently.

Charles Mason wanted to know about people’s reaction to Tavis Smiley and his recent annual summit of black leaders.

· There were no legitimate leaders present with the possible except ion Cornel West.

· They all like to run their mouths.

What about the saggy pants? The passion about this topic carried until the end of the session

· Mason - The under-25 generation is a “lost generation.”

· This fashion statement started in prison

· People are bound by their language; language creates multiple realities.

· Like a Nazi uniform

· Glittering generalities – all emotionally based

· Saggy pants and leadership

· No symbiotic relationship between language and behavior

· Drani spoke about student organizations at Columbia where he now attends.

· What about a dress code?

· An assault on our value system.

· What about censorship?

The group broke up still emotionally attached to the saggy pants issue. Lots of heat but no light. I wonder if one should expect any level of enlightenment from these discussions.

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We always have a great time exploring these issues. So often our daily life never focuses on these Communication issues. If you have something you want us to discuss please let us know and we’ll add it to the list.

Next time bring a friend. The Communication Club is always an open discussion, limited only by time. Everyone gets a chance to speak. All opinions are welcome. Here is an opportunity for students to challenge professors’ views outside the class without any homework or assignments. You just have to show up and listen and talk if you want.

Hal Wicke