To all,
Regarding collaboration and the use of humor. I am a bit puzzled as why in
today's soicety everyone has to share the same views regarding the human
experience and how it is assumed that a joke told about that human experience
is intended to be malicious or to separate people into adverserial groups.
Collaboration can move forward during times of disagreement and in fact,
conflict provides deeper understanding of relations and available supports.
Many famous collaborators have had horrible relations!
An attempt to explain humor is along the same lines of attempting to explain
faith in God. Some people share similar senses of humor and others have no
sense of humor. In Minnesota it is culturally appropriate to tell Ole and
Lena jokes (i.e. Garrison Keillor's Prarie Home Companion) which have evolved
from the differences Norwegians and Swedes felt regarding each other while
the two ethnic groups settled in their respective communities. I work with a
someone who is of Norwegian descent and he knows my origin is Swedish. The
jokes are not to degrade or belittle, they are to LAUGH. Laughing is fun,
laughing is healthy. Many times I have laughed because a comment was made
directly pertaining to my state of affairs. Self-degradation is the sign of
a mature and well adpated person. Those who cannot laugh at themselves are
missing out on a manner of reflection that is extremely effective for growth.
By the way, my purpose for posting this joke was to compare it to this false
notion of "community of practice". People can intellectulize about how
people interact and how growth occurs but just because an explanation is
offered does not mean all occurrences need to be explained by that theoretic
notion. I knew not all people would find the joke funny but it still remains
that jokes are a part of our natural discourse when people comunicate. As is
the case with communicating any ideas many times things are misinterpreted,
why is it that jokes have become fodder for political correctness when in
fact they are only a reflection of all communication practices.
This particular joke does not put women in the submissive role, it in fact
places them in the role of control in a marriage. It is NOT a joke about
women, it is a joke about married life.
Current temp is 48 with bright sun!
Eric
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Feb 11 2002 - 09:22:33 PST