Have we lost our sense of humor?

• Author: Kreyche, Gerald F.
• Position: Column

Philosophers Claim that only humans are risible, meaning that we can laugh at a joke or a funny situation and appreciate the comical. In short, humor is a peculiarly human trait requiring insight and intelligence. Often, it gives us perspective and helps get us through crisis situations. Our tendency always is to get overly serious, and humor puts a helpful brake on this. It is a truism that the person who can laugh at himself has a firm grip on his world.

Seeming to acknowledge the importance of humor in our country, the U.S. Post Office put out a series of stamps honoring comedians such as Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Sid Caesar, and even ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's dummy, Charlie McCarthy. Talk show hosts such as Jay Leno and David Letterman try to keep up the tradition. However, all is not well with humor in America.

Actress-comedienne Whoopi Goldberg recently charged that the nation is losing its sense of humor, as she was criticized for a "blackface" skit she wrote for Ted Danson, former star of "Cheers" and her boyfriend at the time. The occasion was a roasting" of Goldberg at the Friars Club in New York. While it unquestionably was an example of poor taste, the resulting furor proved again that political correctness is making cowards of almost everyone.

People have become thin-skinned, touchy, overly sensitive - "underhumored," as one commentator put it. Foremost among those killing a sense of humor are the deadly serious feminists. The fact is that they just don't get it! Everyone is on edge today, ready to charge bias, a lack of respect, or harassment of some imagined type or another. Ethnic jokes used to abound, and the ethnic group itself enjoyed them more than anyone. Jews, for instance, delighted in telling jokes on and about themselves, usually connected with business, Jewish mothers, or one-upmanship. Now, anyone uttering a joke about Jews is deemed anti-Semitic.

For years, there have been a rash of so-called "Polish" jokes (in different parts of the country, other nationalities are the butt). For instance: Chicago is the largest Polish city outside of Warsaw. It seems that the Polish aldermen there were getting fed up with Polish jokes and decided to send an entourage to Washington to protest to Congress. They all got on a plane and landed in ... Seattle! Now how can one take umbrage at that? Everyone knows that Poland has a rich intellectual and musical heritage, producing a Copernicus, a Chopin, a Pope John Paul 11, and a...