Michael on Humor
March 30, 2002Q. Information on the value of humor and why we find things funny.
A. There are any number [sic] of reasons why we find things funny, and they tend to be as diverse as the fragments and the cultures that spawn them. Oftentimes the study of the culture is most revealing when it is learned what makes them laugh, and of course Overleaves make a difference, as does Soul Age, but much humor is socially conditioned. However, ridicule, although described as humor, from our point of view is not, and many things are excused as humor that are in fact aggression. But with these particular distinctions, from our point of view humor is either absurdist or inappropriatability [sic], and in those guises may take a great many diverse forms.