A Governor, a Goose, and a Mob

            This story from the Tales of Juha is about a dishonest governor who forces a baker to give him the goose he is cooking for another owner. When the true owner comes to collect the goose, the baker says the goose flew away after being cooked. The rightful owner becomes outraged and starts quarreling with the baker. Becoming scared, the baker flees; as he is running from the owner, the baker punches a man in the mouth, kills a man by jumping on top of him, and causes an abortion in a pregnant lady walking down the street. In the end, the baker takes refuge with the corrupt governor who defends the baker by saying that the baker was in the right, and that the injured folks were to blame for crossing paths with the fleeing baker. In each situation, the blame is reversed upon the injured party, and it is determined that the injured party must inflict the same harm unto the baker. The injured party never chooses to follow through with the ruling of the governor and so is fined for wasting the court’s time.

            Although that was a rather long summary for a not-so-long-but-jam-packed story, the part I want to focus on is the ruling of the governor. In each instance, he decides that the injured party is to blame for crossing paths with the baker at that particular time. To allow the injured party to seek justice, he orders that each would have to do unto the baker as each had done unto him. This type of revenge is found in the Bible (and I presume is also in the Koran) and is termed “eye for an eye.”

            In actuality, the premise of this type of revenge is really dumb! In this story, the baker, while running wildly from the owner and the mob, punches a man and causes him to lose a tooth; therefore, the governor rules that the man who lost the tooth must punch the baker in such a way that he loses the same tooth. But all that this creates is two men each with a sore hand from the punch and a missing tooth. By taking revenge for the literal offense done in the first place, violence is just perpetuated and more people end up hurt. At least if the baker was fined or punished by some other means, the violence can end there and not continue to spiral out of hand.

            But isn’t this the way our military tends to work? We even take the extreme and not only do we seek literal revenge for action done against us, but we seem to go one step beyond that. Pearl Harbor was bombed; so we bombed Japan, but we used nuclear bombs. On 9/11, a couple people came into our country and caused a lot of harm to a lot of people. What did we do in response? We sent thousands of our troops into their country and a lot of harm has been caused there. But by causing this harm on others in order to seek revenge for what was done to us, we are always also hurting ourselves. I would assume (since I wasn’t alive nor do I know a ton of historical details) that we had American troops or at least P.O.W. in Japan when we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki; American troops have died in the Middle East through both military attacks and friendly fire. I am not denying that revenge and punishment should never be taken against those who wrong or harm us, but I do not think that the “eye for an eye” approach to revenge is ever a good idea; both sides end up hurt, and no one likes a toothless smile.

First lunch, final meeting, with Nasser

            After learning that Nasser actually has a meal plan and sometimes eats at the BLUU, we decided to eat lunch there today. But unfortunately by the time lunch came around, Nasser wasn’t feeling like eating because his breakfast wasn’t sitting too well. I went and got my food, and then we sat and talked.

            He asked me how my organic chemistry test went. Bad. That was all I could say. And then I quickly changed the subject. He said that he just realized he has three projects and a presentation by the end of the semester, one of which he has to give the day he flies back home to Saudi Arabia. Sounds like today was a little rough school-wise for both of us…

            Since we were eating lunch, I asked him what a typical lunch is like in Saudi Arabia. He said rice is very important, rice and meat. Lunch is the big meal in their culture as opposed to America where dinner is the main, heavy meal. Since he said meat (other than beef) is so important, I asked if there are many vegetarians. “Oh yes!” He said that are about 20 different types of vegetarians. I asked if they have typical American food. I was thinking more pizza, hamburgers, chicken, salads… I got another “Oh yes!” He said in Saudi Arabia there is Chilis, Fridays, KFC, McDonalds… They even have BigMac’s in their McDonalds. Why are Americans everywhere? Militaristically and commercially…

            He asked me if I have ever been to the musical performances on campus. I have only been to the theatre, not the music recitals. I asked if he has ever played an instrument; he said he tried to teach himself but he wasn’t very good. I have never played an instrument either. Gymnastics took the place of piano lessons for me.

            I asked him what he was going to do with the rest of his day, or what he normally does with his days. He said he loves to go to Starbucks and study; he goes there almost every day. The baristas not only know what he drinks (even after one visit and a two week break in between visits), but now when they see him getting out of his car, they start making his drink and have it ready by the time he gets to the counter. What service! I would love to be known in a Starbucks like that, except that I can’t afford to go to Starbucks that regularly, even when all I drink is a small, black coffee.

            I needed to go work on a group project, but as I left I told him that we were done meeting for the required meetings, but that if he wanted to continue to meet we could. He said he would like to meet some more; he likes the practice. He wished me a Happy Thanksgiving and told him to enjoy being home in Saudi Arabia for winter break.

            Whether we meet again or not, I have thoroughly enjoyed taking the time to sit and talk with someone not only from another country and culture, but specifically someone of the Islamic faith who enjoys talking about religion. My favorite discussions were those where we talked about our beliefs, never shooting each other down, but always comparing and contrasting beliefs, asking questions, and breaking down stereotypes. I think that has been the most beneficial part of this aspect of the class: breaking down those generalizations and stereotypes that Americans hold true about the Middle East and Muslims.

Meeting with Nasser #7

             I am beginning to understand how time means different things to different cultures. We learned in speech that America is a monochromic culture where time is viewed as a scarce resource which must be rationed and controlled by schedules and appointments, whereas polychromic cultures view good relationships as the important thing so the use of time needs to be flexible in order to please everybody; the west is traditionally monochromic and the east is polychromic. In my meetings with Nasser, I can definitely see this difference between our cultures’ view of time. Nevertheless, we managed to meet for about 20 minutes today.

            Nasser went and saw the play put on by TCU three times this weekend. He originally thought he was going to see a person play piano, but it turned out to be the play. After watching it, he loved it so much that he bought tickets to see it two more times. I’m not positive this is what he was saying, but he said that even after seeing it once and then twice, he was not sure if there was going to be a second half; I would assume the play is performed the same way every time, so maybe Nasser is just not used to American plays?

            We talked a little bit about the weather and Thanksgiving. I asked if he has finals and if he takes different classes or if his English intensive program is one class. He is in four different classes (I think these were all the classes he told me): reading, writing, speaking, and listening; he has a final in each one. But after finals, he is going home to Saudi Arabia for a month! He hasn’t been home in over a year, so he is really excited to be home, but not at all excited for the journey home. He said it takes 20-24 hours to get back, and this time he has a five hour layover in London. Then I shared my awful travel experience of when I went to Moscow for a gymnastics competition.

            At that, we set up out next meeting for tomorrow. I had told him that not only do I have a really important and crazy hard organic chemistry test tomorrow, but I also have a Spanish quiz and a Spanish group presentation. When he heard that, he wanted me to go study; he felt guilty for being late for a third time and didn’t want to take anymore of my time from my homework. That was very sweet of him. When we meet tomorrow, the o-chem test will be behind me!

Tales of Juha: Arabic Commentary on the Human Condition

             I found Tales of Juha to be the most benign, yet truthful, humorous piece we have read so far because mankind and the human condition are the targets of each of the stories. One particular group is not targeted; the stories are not far-fetched, imaginary situations created purely to evoke a “belly-laugh;” the humor is not physical or dirty; rather, these stories poke fun at the general stupidity of humans. Often times, this is done through wit on the part of Juha, who continually out-smarts, through seemingly stupid actions, another character in the story. I consider this humor to be intellectual; it focuses on words and double meanings, and is not as blunt as American humor can often be.

            This style of humor ties in very closely with Arabic society and the freedoms that exist in the Middle East. Freedom of speech is not all inclusive like in America, which controls a lot of what is considered funny. The government cannot be joked about publicly; in addition, personal lives, marriage, sex, religion, and cuss words are not allowed. These conditions eliminate most of what Americans use for entertainment. But all of these restrictions raise entertainment to a higher caliber; just like Arabic music is based off of well-known poetry set to beautiful lyrics, so too is their humor of a more intellectual and sophisticated nature. Without specific aspects of society to target such as the government or religion, Universal topics such as mankind and the human condition become the punch line. And seriously, who can’t laugh at that? Humans just really are not that bright…

Coffee with Nasser #6

            Nasser and I met for the sixth time today to get coffee at the bookstore. Our meeting was the third cup of coffee I have had today (and by third cup I mean what Americans consider a cup of coffee, not what a portion of coffee is); needless to say, I was a little chatty.

We started off talking about family sizes. Nasser has what Americans consider a large family; I think he said that both his father and mother are one of eight children, and Nasser has three brothers and four sisters. My mom is one of two and my dad is one of three; I only have seven first cousins. He understands why the average number of children is much lower in America; specifically, he mentioned the cost of putting one’s children through college. In Saudi Arabia, the universities pay people to attend. I then proceeded to explain the cost differences between public and private universities, and the general education system in America. He didn’t understand why one still has to pay to attend a public university; for that, I didn’t have an answer (or at least a good one), but I did explain that all public education up until college is free (well, it comes from tax dollars) and that made him feel a little better about the cost of our schools.

In relation to school, Nasser does not understand why Americans study English in school, more specifically in college, because we know how to speak it. I had to explain that our English classes are not focused on grammar like his classes, but instead on reading the massive volume of published works and learning to analyze, critique, and respond to it.

Next, Nasser asked for my email; he found some good Arabic jokes and had tried to send them to me, but couldn’t find my email address in his address book. I mentioned that today I read tales about Juha, and he became so excited! He was surprised to learn that our whole class is reading them, and he was ashamed that he forgot to mention Juha earlier when he told me about Arabic humor. He also asked what I had learned from my research on Arabic humor. As previously mentioned, I want people to pay attention to our presentation, so I will not discuss most of the specifics.

One aspect of Arabic humor that we spent a lot of time talking about is how cussing is off limits in their humor. This filled a lot of time because I had to explain what a cuss word is. I used a few words to explain that a cuss word is a word that once had an everyday, benign definition, but which has since been converted into something used in a derogatory way. I also described cuss words as “bad” words that should not be said. For this, I used the n-word as an example. After I finished explaining why it is so off-limits, he thanked me. He didn’t know that it was a bad word or the derogatory meaning behind it, but he said he has heard it many times. I found that very heartbreaking; a word as derogatory as that should not be used in conversation, yet he has been in America for a year and has heard it many times, never knowing that it is a bad word.

We also talked about the media, and how the Middle East is always portrayed in such a negative light: burning flags, burning buildings, and violent rioting, but that that only represents a couple thousand out of the billion or so Muslims in the world. He said that in the Middle East, in general, there are two groups of people: those who peacefully protest by just standing on the street holding signs or by boycotting products; then there are those who do not want to publicly respond because they recognize the way that the rest of the world sees the Middle East, and they do not want to further that stereotype. I understand that news is news and that it needs to be public knowledge, but why does news always have to be the bad stuff? Can’t people find good stuff informative and worth sharing? What is it about human nature that so attracts our curiosity? From this, we discussed the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that were printed in a Danish newspaper, but I will tell y’all more about that on Wednesday.

2008 and 2012

“According to the racial zodiac, 2000 is the official Year of the Mulatto. Pure breeds (at least the black ones) are out and hybridity is in. America loves us in all of our half-caste glory” (429).

 

“The Mulatto Millennium” was written in 1998, so it is understandable how 2000 is addressed as the Year of the Mulatto (a “mulatto” is an individual that is half white, half black, or more generally of mixed race); more accurately, I believe that 2008 and 2012 can better be classified in this way. Last night, America re-elected its first “black” president.

Socially, “hydridity” is acceptable in today’s culture; couples of mixed-race are married all the time, whether it is whites and blacks, asians and blacks, or even people with a little bit here and a little bit there. Hybridity has become common place, but I don’t think people of mixed-race are loved. Before, and even after, the election of President Barak Obama in 2008, people who were opposed to him winning the presidency decided to lash out; with no political stance on which to base their attacks, he was instead attacked personally. People attacked his race, his citizenship, and his religion.

In this election, his race, citizenship, and religion were not the factors that determined “yea” or “nay” votes from Americans, but instead, it was his policies and practices over the last four years. Whether people like him or not as the President no longer comes from whether or not they like the color of his skin. That is why 2008 and 2012 can better be classified as the “Year of the Mulatto”: in 2008, we elected our first “black” president, and in 2012, it did not matter that he was “black.”

I think we are moving in the right direction socially; we are moving from tolerating the actions of others by allowing mixed-marriages to accepting the diversity of people. Standardized forms have not caught up with the current social times so that there is a “check here” box for every “new” race created through mixed marriages, but about as often as you see a “pure” marriage (and a marriage that isn’t broken), you see a mixed-race marriage with beautiful mixed children. Although I am purely white (and pretty pasty at that), technically I am a hybrid, not in the color of my skin, but in my culture; my mom is American, and my dad is British (and now American because he became a citizen). Is there anything wrong with me, or anyone else that is mixed, because parents come from two different places on the earth, pronounce words differently, and have different historical backgrounds? Absolutely not! God made us all beautiful, just the way we are!

Outside a closed coffee shop with Nasser #5

            So after almost two weeks of no responses to my texts, I sit down to write my professor an email explaining the situation and lo and behold, a text from Nasser! So we met today outside of the TCU bookstore like normal. One unfortunate thing was that the bookstore was closed today for inventory purposes so Nasser was not able to get coffee; apparently 3pm on a Sunday is a little too early for him.

While to trying to catch up from the last two to three weeks since we last met, a car rolled down University blaring music. We then discussed the differences between American music and Saudi Arabian music. He said Saudi Arabian music does not have genres like American, but is all of the same style, most of which is composed and performed by three very famous Egyptians artists. He said that if you were to walk up to anyone on the street and ask if they know [insert name in Arabic of famous Egyptian composer], they will say yes. He describes his music as more sophisticated because the lyrics are the words to well known poems; beautiful poetry is set to a tune and that is the music they listen to. For this reason, I have to agree that their music is more sophisticated; it is about much more mentally engaging material than drugs, sex, girls, and booze.

Then I asked him about humor because the Middle East is the region of choice for my Humor Around the World presentation next Wednesday. I do not wish to give away some of the answers he gave because otherwise ya’ll would be less inclined to listen in class (I say that because I assume that everyone that reads this is from this class), but we talked about general categories of jokes, political jokes, the ability of puns in the Arabic language, and like always religion. He said that he would try to find some good jokes (or at least jokes that are still good once translated) on the internet and send them to me.

One thing I did learn is that Saudi Arabia does not have absolute freedom of speech as compared to how Nasser views freedom of speech in America. I did explain that our speech is not absolute: we cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theatre because it can cause harm, but in Saudi Arabia emotional harm is considered worse than physical harm and so speech is more restricted. People do not say things that attack a person based on physical appearance or dislike for that person. He explained that this restriction comes from personal conviction due to religious beliefs, as is the case with many of the laws in his country, whereas in America the law determines the behavior of many citizens.

Finally, we came to one of my least favorite subjects: politics. I asked if there were any sort of elections held in Saudi Arabia; there are not because the government system in place is a monarchy, but he isn’t quite sure how long that will last because most of the other Arabic nations in the area all hold elections. Yet again he made me feel guilty and like a bad American (I will say that I am not the most politically informed, patriotic American out there, but honestly medicine and science is so much more interesting that politics); he watched all of the presidential debates and he cannot even vote, whereas I did not watch any of the presidential debates and I am voting on Tuesday. However, he did inform me who he would vote for based on personality, demeanor, and plans from the debates. But at least we ended on a common belief: America likes to be, but shouldn’t be, the police of the world.

“Have the time of your lives living the life of your times…”

            Langston Hughes uses this line in his short story “Adventure” in an advertisement by Southern blacks for Northern whites to come experience the socially unequal South and the fighting that occurs.  This line is both incongruous and sarcastic. The context of this line is a knowledgeable (at least from firsthand experience) black man addressing the ignorant white man of the North who is blind to the depths of the social inequality that runs rampant in the south.  The incongruity is evident because rarely during this period of history are blacks portrayed as knowledgeable and whites portrayed as ignorant. The sarcasm is present in the way he describes a trip to the South as being “the time of your [life].” Though I was not alive in 1962, I can fairly confidently say that not too much about the South was enjoyable during that time.

What would be the modern day social or political problem that fits this sarcastic quote? What is something that is not at all enjoyable for a specific group of individuals but very prevalent in 2012 American society? Would it be political rallies, especially now with Election Day only two days away? Would it be border control in southern Texas against the masses of illegal immigrants that attempt to enter our country? Or how about fighting in the Middle East and the war on terrorism? At the very moment, the situation around Sandy is a perfect example. Because of the times we live in and the amount of technology we have, humans are dependent on our smart phones, cars, and other technological devices just to get through the day; many of us go through a sense of withdrawal when our phone is in another room, not to mention how we feel when it is dead and not usable. But because of the destruction caused by Sandy, many people are without electricity and so have no way to charge phones, computers, iPads, and other devices; fights are breaking out over gasoline shortages for vehicles. The life of our times is a life centered on technology, so in the Northeast where technology cannot be used at the moment, people are having the time of their lives.    

Though the situation in the Northeast is very different from the social inequality present in the South when the story “Adventure” was written, every society will always have one aspect which, because of the life of the times, will cause people to have “the time of their lives.”

Coffee shop discussions #4

After a week off due to fall break, Nasser and I met again today after he showed up 30 minutes late because he overslept from his nap. After several apologies on his part and several assurances on my part that it really was ok, we talked about what each of us did during fall break.
I traveled back and forth between Plano and Fort Worth all weekend. I went home Friday, but then came back with my parents for the football game on Saturday. I was telling him about how cold it was outside (we both hate the cold, and fifty degrees is definitely cold!), and how we lost the game. At this news, he was quite surprised. He was not expecting to hear we lost a game. I told him that it was understandable because our quarterback had only had one day of practice. Then he asked why? It shouldn't have surprised me that he didn't stay up to date with our football team since it is exclusively an American sport, but it did. I asked him if he heard what happened to our other quarterback. He hadn't. I asked him if he knew what a quarterback was. He didn't. Thankfully, I know what a quarterback is because when it comes to football, I don't know a whole lot. To someone who doesn't know football, the easiest explanation I could give is that the quarterback is the main player on the field, the one that calls the plays and throws the ball. But then I had to explain what happened with Pachall... To that he was really surprised.
I also observed total knee replacement surgery over fall break. That grossed him out. I thought it was slightly boring; it is just sawing and malleting, just carpentry. That grosses people out even more.
Over fall break, Nasser said he went to the state fair. He was surprised at how much food there was! But really, what else is the state fair known for besides fried selections of many types of food and drink. He didn't go on any of the rides, just played games and ate the food; he doesn't like rides much beccause they scare him. I told him I desperately want to skydive, and he said I am crazy. (Maybe so, but that's fine with me.)
Then he asked me about Halloween, what the date of it is, what I usually do for Halloween, and what other people usually do for Halloween. Growing up, my family was never big into Halloween. My brothers and I still went trick-or-treating when we were little, but we didn't buy costumes. I was a competitive gymnast at the time and guess what I was for many Halloweens in a row. Yes, you guessed it, a gymnast. My parents just didn't see the point in spending money to celebrate a holiday where you dress up in costumes to get lots of candy which just ends up giving kids a sugar rush and a more expensive dental bill. Frankly, I don't blame them. And honestly, we teach children "stranger danger" and to never take candy from a stranger, but then once a year, we willingly take our children from house to house and allow strangers to give our children candy. How messed up is that? But then I explained what usually goes on: most children dress up, carry a pumpkin from door to door where the porch light is on, knock, and say trick-or-treat to get candy; most older kids dress up and go to parties. After this explanation, he got a bit excited; apparently, there is a holiday very similar to this Saudi Arabia. I thought it was a made up American holiday, but according to Wikipedia, it is observed around the world. I said that many people will decorate their houses with pumpkins, black cats, cobwebs, and spiders. Spiders... we are both terrified of spiders, me more so than him; he can kill the little ones that show up in his apartment, but I can't even look at a picture of a spider.
With that I need to leave, but when we scheduled our next meeting, we made it at 4pm so that he should hopefully be awake by then.  

Coffee shop discussions #3

Nasser and I had our third meeting today. On a cold, somewhat rainy day there is not a lot of better things to do than hot coffee in a coffee shop while talking with a very interesting person. We did not talk about religion this time, but instead mainly talked about food. The hardest part of the discussion: choosing my favorite restaurant in all of Fort Worth and describing American food.
I ended up choosing Yucatan Taco Stand as my favorite restaurant; I love food that comes from pretty much any place south of the Red River: tex-mex, mexican, latin american, etc... Nasser's favorite restaurant in Fort Worth is Texas de Brazil. That brought us to the topic of meat. We found out we both love fish, and we are both also a little picky when it comes to meat: I don't like the taste of most red meat or pork, and Nasser doesn't like any cold meat, even lunch meat. I learned that in Saudi Arabia, they cannot eat any animal that eats other animals. From that I taught him the words "carnivore" and "herbivore."
It is also interesting how simple things change in various parts of the world. In Saudi Arabia, lamb is one of the most common meats and beef is not eaten very much over there. It is the opposite here; he was surprised when I said I liked lamb and that my mom sometimes uses it in cooking.
Also, we both don't like spicy food, love Indian food, but nothing spicy.
How does one define American food? The stereotype is hamburgers, pizza, and fries, which yes I would consider American food, but in reality American food is a blend of everyone else's food. We are called the "melting pot" and our food definitely fits the name. Nasser asked what my mom normally cooks at home; pasta, casseroles (that needed a definition), meat, other american food? It is just so hard to summarize...

But in the end, assuming I got the description/translation correct: Nasser loves Jello and really wanted to know why it is not served in restaurants. I just didn't have an answer for that.

Coffee with Nasser #2

I met with Nasser again today at the bookstore coffee shop (this time we actually got coffee). The coffee led to some discussion about cultural differences such as the typical hours of waking, dining, and sleeping. Saudi Arabia, according to Nasser, has many similarities with the culture of South America; meals are consumed closer to 9:00pm and typical lights out time is midnight. In America, it is considered rude to call a home past 9:00pm because daily life is winding down by that point and some people, especially with kids, are beginning to turn in for the night.It is a good thing I live in America because my circadian rhythm follows America's daily routine much closer; I would pick a bedtime of 9:30pm over a bedtime of 12-1am any day of the week.

Later he made the bold, but true, statement that Americans are arrogant, or maybe more accurately put, that we like to be different. We were specifically talking about running distances and then the weather, each time running into problems as I always mentioned measurements in the English system and he would mention measurements in the metric system. Why the heck do we use the English system anyway? It makes no sense. 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard... Everything in the metric system is a multiple of ten. Being a science major, everything I do in science is in terms of a metric measurement, yet things such as distances and speed limits I only understand in terms of miles and mph. Switching would be so much more convenient in the end, but the process of switching systems seems like too much of an imposition.

Then we got to my favorite part: religion! I don't know how we always end up there, but we both love talking about the similarities, the differences, and the general beliefs of each other's religions. We talked about Israel; Nasser knows the history of how it became a country and the various claims to the land. We both agree that it is a land claimed by Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, and that it should be for Christians, Muslims, and Jews. We talked about the Koran and the Bible. I am ashamed to say that I got showed up: I have never read through the whole Bible; Nasser has not only read through the Koran 20-30 times, but he has also read the whole Bible and the Torah and has 10-20% of the Koran memorized. Nasser was amazed that I had not read the Bible, and I explained that Christianity does not place as much of an emphasis on the ritualistic practices such as prayer and reading like Islam does. And that made me wonder if it is because of American culture. America emphasizes freedom of religion, but I believe we have shifted more to a mindset of freedom from religion. We are so concerned with being politically correct that we don't mention religions or talk about beliefs for fear of offending people. Instead, we remain ingnorant, and I believe that is what leads to stereotypes and racism.

We then talked about the similarities between our religions, mainly in what stories are contained in our holy books. Both the Bible and the Koran contain the following stories: Noah and the flood, Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea, Jonah and the whale, Abraham, King David, Soloman, and even Jesus, and those are the just the stories I could think of quickly off the top of my head. When two religions share so much of the same history, stories, and believe in the same God, how can there be so much hatred and violence between believers of the two? Lastly, we talked about judgement day, Heaven and Hell, and our respective religion's beliefs of the two.

I have never before had such freedom to openly discuss and question the beliefs of Islam or any religion, but it is so enlightening. This is one situation where ignorance is not bliss, but, instead, causes the hatred that plagues our nations and world today. Why can't everyone be a little more open minded and open hearted?

“Clinton Deploys Vowels to Bosnia” and America is hated for it

The 50 Funniest American Writers according to Andy Borowitz includes a news article from The Onion announcing the U.S. deployment of “…more than 75,000 vowels to the war-torn region of Bosnia” (Borowitz 335) to help aid in the spelling of words such as “…Sjlbvdnzv and Grznc…” (336). This is enough to put a smile on the faces of most. The illustrated situation is absurd; can’t you just picture paper letters raining down from C-130s over a babbling, incoherent crowd of Bosnians? We laugh because these things don’t, and shouldn’t go together; therefore, this parable falls under the Incongruity Theory of humor as explained in Morreall’s Comic Relief. The incongruity theory says that we laugh or find a situation humorous when we perceive two things to be incongruous. Incongruity, in most modern theories, is defined as “…some thing or event we perceive or think about [which] violates our normal mental patterns and normal expectations” (Morreall 11). We usually associate deployments with bombs, not A’s, E’s, I’s, O’s, and U’s; the U.S. often generously gives supplies, not vowels, to war-torn countries around the world. But as bizarre and amusing as this fictional situation is, it is being used to make a very bold statement. Though war and vowels are incongruous, the U.S.’s position in this fictional situation is all too true and not absurd at all. Too often, the U.S. has to stick its nose in other people’s business. Even given this absurd example, why do we think we have the right to change the language of a nation because we have trouble pronouncing the words? How self-centered and pompous are we? We are a wealthy nation with a lot of resources and often times we like to extend a helping hand to struggling nations. What we really do in these situations is help these nations to be more like us. In times of war as well, America likes to be the police of the world, sending troops to support a side or keep the peace. Why is that our job? No one appointed us to that position, and most of the world doesn’t like it either. Even Americans do not like the decisions like this that our government makes. So as ridiculous (and humorous) as littering the sky with vowels may seem, it is being used to point out how ridiculous it is that America, though usually through good intentions, attempts to help and convert every nation in the world to our way of existence. To America, it is our way or the highway (or in this case, the incoherent way).

The three most important things in a whole lot of confusing…

In an attempt to explain humor/laughter, something so basic and animalistic, Morreall, the author of Comic Relief, takes many approaches in attempting to explain this broad and vague a topic. Though relatively short, the book contains a lot of material, a lot of confusing material, and a lot of repetitive material, but somewhere in there was some good material. The following are what I consider the three most important take-away messages concerning humor/laughter/amusement/comedy…

1.      Humor depends on a specific time. We all know the phrase, “laughter is universal,” but I think this is only true in the sense that everyone physically laughs. What is deemed funny does not span across generations and across time, but is time specific. Morreall goes into great depth analyzing which form of art is better, comedy or tragedy. In the end, he surmises that, “[h]owever valuable the attitudes fostered by tragedy were in past centuries, they are now largely obsolete, and some of them dangerous to the survival of the species. Comedy fosters a more rational, critical, creative attitude that is more adaptive” (Morreall 81). Our current uptight, highly stressed out, mentally rigid societies need comedy to remind us how to act like humans instead of fast paced machines. Similarly, where comedy was once viewed in a negative light because of the loss of self-control and disengagement that accompanies laughter, we now highly value laughter; not only does laughter allow us to avoid the “fight or flight” emotions in cognitive shifts, but even more basically, laughter is beneficial for one’s health by reducing anxiety, pain, and boosting the immune system (93).

2.      Amusement is more of a state of mind, not an emotion. Emotions are evolutionarily productive; fear and anger send us into “fight or flight mode,” thus contributing to Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection, otherwise known as survival of the fittest. “Emotions typically have four components: (1) Beliefs and desires cause (2) physiological changes, which together motivate (3) adaptive actions. The person’s (4) sensations of those physiological changes are the ‘feelings’ in emotions” (28). But in humor, do we really believe the situation of the joke? (Maybe those that see gullible written on the ceiling do). We do physiologically respond in laughter, but in the opposite way that fight or flight emotions cause us to act; emotions engage us and make us more alert, whereas laughter disengages us and renders us unable to act. And how can an inability to act be adaptive? Usually it is not. Because amusement possesses only two of the four characteristics of emotions, amusement is not considered an emotion. “Emotions involve cognitive and practical engagement with what is going on around us....Amusement, by contrast, involves cognitive and practical disengagement from what is going on around us” (32).  

3.      Humor is character building. Morreall spends a whole chapter explaining previous views which say that humor is negative because of the lack of action and disengagement that it causes. All of the negative views that he expands upon, and then refutes, are negative only in certain situations and are not true of humor itself. Then, he switches to discuss the positives of humor, where he focuses on intellectual and moral virtues. On an intellectual level, he says that humor promotes open-mindedness, divergent or creative thinking, and critical thinking (112-113). On a moral level, humor also contributes to self-transcendence, defined as the ability to “[rise] above personal concern to appreciate the interests of others” (115). Other important outcomes of humor are self-knowledge, integrity, mental health, patience, acceptance of people’s shortcomings, graciousness, perseverance, and courage. Don’t all of these virtues seem beneficial to possess? Aren’t they things that we as a society value? Yes, and all you have to do to acquire these character traits is laugh a little more. Attend a comedy show or two, learn how to drop a few puns in normal conversation, learn a few good jokes for certain occasions and you are on your way to possessing many highly desirable moral qualities.  

 Confusing and unstructured writing boiled down to three main points: can’t all literature be like this?

Coffee shop discussions... #1

Today, I met with my conversation partner, Nasser Almousa, for the first time in the TCU bookstore coffee shop. It was, by far, the most enlightening converstaion I have had with someone in a long time. After introductions, I explained that my father is from England, which led to a conversation about accents and dialects. From this, he proceeded to ask me certain phrases and ways of pronouncing things in Texas; I proudly taught him how to say "y'all" and "fixin' to."

When he asked me to explain the Honors College here at TCU, this class came up. I explained that we are studying humor around the world and across cultures and that, coincidently, the topic for my Humor Around the World project is humor from the Middle East. Immediately, (well, between laughs and mental translations) he told me what the funniest thing is to him: Egyptians. At first I was a little puzzled by this, but I think what he was ultimately trying to get across (some of the stories he was telling me of his experiences in Cairo were too difficult to translate) was that Egyptians are generally wittier. Nonetheless, he provided a good basis for the start of our research.

We then started talking about stereotypes and, ultimately, religions. We got into a lengthy, and very enlightening discussion, about the beliefs of Islam. Here are some of the things I learned or common myths that were debunked:

Twenty-one nations speak Arabic.

Saudi Arabians (the citizens) consider Americans (the citizens) very intelligent. On the other hand, Saudis hate the American government. (but really, what country doesn't)

Saudi Arabia is not a theocracy run by its religious leaders, but a monarchy with a king.

Islam is a peaceful religion; to kill anyone, believer or not, is a huge sin. All people are considered part of a brotherhood.

Muslims do not consider Osama bin Laden a Muslim because of his actions eleven years ago today. That act of violence does not agree with the beliefs of Islam.

The Koran does not say that women have to wear a head covering; it is entirely a personal choice. Although the Saudi Arabian government tries to enforce this, they have no right to.

I stated that the stereotype of Muslims by Americans is that they are all terrorists. He laughed a little at its absurdity. I asked him what his country's stereotype of Americans is: we are all cowboys.

At the very end, he told me the most shocking and saddening thing: In his english intensive class, they are partnered up with people to talk and practice speaking english. The first things he was asked when he got with his partner were the following questions: "Did your mom teach you how to make a bomb? Were you taught how to kill someone?" What does this say about mankind?

Is fake humor as beneficial as real humor?

Can humor that has been mustered up, but not necessarily felt, have the same disengaging effects as true humor? Morreall has established that humor is a way for us to experience our environments in a less emotional way; instead of feeling the “fight or flight” emotions in a surprising or incongruous situation, humor is a mindset that allows us to assess our situations and respond rationally instead of emotionally. As he phrases it in Comic Relief, “Humor is an excellent way to disengage ourselves from negative emotions” (Morreall 67). But what if we do not find our particular situation amusing? What if we are hurting, angry, depressed, or forlorn? Do we have the ability to fake humor to the extent that we can achieve the disengaged state that accompanies it? In psychological terms, can humor, just like denial or rationalization, be a defense mechanism? I believe it can. In my experience, choosing fake humor is much easier than expressing suppressed emotions. Consider my recent/current situation: I have had five orthopedic surgeries in the last 4 years, each with a lengthy recovery and an even more extensive list of “do-not-do’s.” Being an active person, this one injury after another situation has been frustrating to say the least. But feeling anger and frustration is exhausting, so instead, I fake humor. I joke about the size of my file at the doctor’s office, and tell people things such as, “I am done hoping there are no more surgeries; I am just waiting until the next one comes along,” or “If I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.” I do not usually actually find my situation amusing or humorous, but by expressing this humorous attitude, I am able to continue to repress the negative emotions and disengage from them. Whether this artificial humor is the cause of the disengagement from negative emotions or whether it is the human instinct to avoid pain, I do not know. What I do know is this: humor, even if it is fake, is easier than feeling emotions.    

HAHA. LOL. ROFL.

What is it that makes us do these things? Laughter is something most of us do every day, but why? What do we find funny, or what is it that makes people laugh?

These are the things that make a few people laugh:

"Humor to me is anything that makes you laugh. I think of SAC and sarcasm; I really enjoy sarcasm."

"Sarcasm. Irony."

"I guess things that are a little ridiculous or out of the ordinary. But normally only if everyone involved in the situation is alright."

"I usually laugh at funny faces."

"SAT prep, friends getting hurt, Wilfred, puns, people that try too hard (for example, getting dressed up for school)."

Two too complicated questions...

What is Literature? What is Civilization? How do those two terms relate?
(how do we even answer those questions?...)