There is a strong relationship between a community's global character and its sense of humor. There is scarcely an aspect of the Global character to which humor is not related, few which in some sense it has not governed. It has moved into literature, not merely as an occasional touch or "add on", but as a force determining large patterns and intentions. It is a lawless element, full of surprises. It sustains its own appeal, yet its vigorous power invites absorption in that character of which it is a part.
We've gone from laughing at ourselves (life, birth, death) to laughing at our world (planets, stars, galaxies) to laughing at the very fabric of existence (time, space, and the nature of the underlying energie that manifests into particle bound entanglements) in search of where we "fall off" this proverbial landscape.
Living in an Internet Renaissance of sorts, we are redefining our world on a global scale, which notably affects our global culture, and thus, our global humor. More and more people seem to be searching for concepts that focus on change, not necessarily positive change or negative change, but rather change in general.
Ironically, though, when it comes to humorous reactions, people seem to laugh the hardest at simple or familiar concepts (like the Etch a Sketch).
We're a nostalgic culture sitting around the global campfire with our laptops and cell phones - united by Wifi - but bound by particle entanglement. The idea that we're in this together, facing all these challenges as a global community, it is evident in the humor we read, send out, and react to...
From our youngest members of society...
To our wisest...
Our search for humor indicates that we are a Global Community laughing at ourselves - rather than at each other. Until we can break the boundaries of space, time, and death, we're stuck with each other - for better or worse.
Global Community = Noospheric Marriage
(*Communal relationship to humor/concept adapted from Constance Rourke's seminal book, American Humor, 1939,9).
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