Wisecracker Absurdity and the Practical Joke

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on. Havelock Ellis

Yeah. Right.

Just ask Chester the Jester.

In classical tradition the mingling of the tragic and the comic was not allowed.

However. The comic relief lies somewhere in “there” and serves a purpose. It allows us as the tragic hero of our own stories a moment of levity and escape. As a break from the dark and heavy content. A release so to speak. From the momentary and sometimes monetary madness.

Before we become straight-jacketed in the back of a vehicle on our way to the looney bin, wherein a prescription of the magic pills await our consumption.

Stand on your head.

Spin on your back.

Pop it like its hot.

Drop it like it’s hot too.

Flip flop.

Juggle.

Mime in time.

All moments of distractionable options for sure. Ha ha funny, or ha ha looney. Ha, ha is this for real, or ha ha, my God, I hope this is not for real. Really real.

Just passing through? Plan to stay?……..

Any intinerant who entertains us wee common folk deserves a place in the queue, a place at the table. Yes? No..? First. See my flip flop and my cool pointy shoes🤣 Can I sit down now—-at your table—promise to not embarrass you—too much. Although, that will remain to be seen on the scale of 1-10. One being not belly aching laughable and 10 being I exploded in the laugh filled rage of the dark comedy of it all.

Have you ever laughed so hard it hurt?

Well. No, not if the circumstance and situation is not funny. Not comical. And shows no relief in sight. Even if and when these so chester-like-jesters continue to parade in and through and around and about. Entertainment for us at fairs, town markets and our local grocer with samples.🍪🍞

Becomes far from comical, it becomes tragic. So where is the relief?

Enter the fool.

Huh?

The absurdity.

Say what?

The wisecracker.

Nooooo.

The fun hater of all fun haters.

When used, and they were used in psychological warfare.

Ugh.

And. There it is.

So. Not funny.

Fandom, Schmandom.

The proof lies in the pudding of the disintegration of the whole value system. We are all in the audience. The fandom audience. Somewhere we sit in the audience of

The new guys.

The old guys.

The short guys.

The tall guys.

The male guys.

The female guys.

The fools.

The foolish.

The hot.

The cold.

And we wait. And we wait. Until someone picks us. Ugh. Then we regret wanting to be picked. Picked up. Gives the Bumble a whole new meaning. Anyone can be photo shopped. And some better than others……

What ever happened to the good ole’ days.

We are all targeted. One way or another. Every day. And we had best have a sliver of a sense of humor before being the next to don the straight jacket.

Influencers abound, ready to pounce. Like a cat. To influence an audience and their value system, belief system, emotions, motives, reasoning or behavior. A belly ache laugh may not be the prescription of the day……..survival is. Photoshop this, then photoshop that. Thank you.

Why take it all so seriously?

Because if you don’t someone else will. Or might. Or may.

Maybe we should just read a good book. Communication to the masses of us wee folk is becoming more difficult by the click.

Weakening the morale of the opponent is the name of the game.

History lesson:

Wartime tactic: In the Battle of Pelusium (525 BC) between the Persian Empire and ancient Egypt, the Persian forces used cats and other animals as a psychological tactic against the Egyptians, who avoided harming cats due to religious belief and spells.(wk)

Wartime tactic: Cats. Curry. And currying favor. Alexander the Great was not above dancing with the cats. In an effort to encourage locals of a town he recently conquered in order to introduce Greek culture, his soldiers were paid “dowries” to marry locals in an effort to encourage assimilation. Love. True Love. Puppy Love. Love Alexander style. 😳

Weakening the morale of the opponent is the name of the game.

Genghis Khan used less subtle wartime techniques.Defeating the will of the enemy before having to attack and reaching a consented settlement was preferable to facing his wrath.(wk)

What is comically relieveable or “funny ‘bout that?

That Genghis Khan was a real jokester for sure. Not so practical. Additional wartime tactics he used to make numbers seem greater than they actually were, during night operations he ordered each soldier to light three torches at dusk to give the illusion of an overwhelming army and deceive and intimidate enemy scouts. Tying objects to the tails of his horses, so that riding in an open and dry field raised a cloud of dust gave the enemy the impression of great numbers.🐴🐴🐴🐴

Ugh.

Comic strip or propaganda. Sometimes it is darn hard to tell the difference. Or. You just gotta commit. To favor of one or the other. Fictional orders versus real and serious orders make a difference. How to keep ‘em guessing is the answer.

Lead.

Mislead.

Or get out of the way.

Deceptions abound. Deceptions around. Eye on eye. Ear on ear. Touch on touch. Stomp on Stomp. Monsters under the bed.😳 In the world of social media fandom, one who assumes, may be the one left holding the bag. Of demoralization. The information superhighway is currently in a traffic jam of epically mumbo jumbo information gumbo.

Easy, too easy, going down. Difficult, impossible to regurgitate. The price to pay a heavy cost. Believing in Chester Jester may result in you eating a heavy diet of humble pie. A lot. Too sweet.

Modern wartime tactics: Always keep your words soft and sweet just in case you have to eat them. Never telling a falsehood unless the truth was painful and unnecessary, or a lie was necessary to save others. Never manipulating the truth to serve only yourself.

Funny thing about this wartime tactic is it is founded on the not funny. The falsely joined fandom of the fan club dissolves away. The up side— a few good and honest souls remain. Worth more than their weight in gold.

Phew.

Conflict remains in realm of the practical jokesters.

Absurdity may indeed be entertaining.

When in doubt, leave it out.

Just ask the Wisecrackers who have collectively lost their crackers.