09.25.09
What’s So Funny About the G-20??!!
Michelle Obama walks into a diner to eat pancakes for breakfast.
A Channel 4 reporter gets tear-gassed while reporting on the Summit.
Businesses board up their stores.
People are repelling from bridges in protest.
Iran isn’t listening to anyone.
Trina is watching the news instead of action movies.
The G-20 Summit is being held in my nearby Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. How can such a serious, important event be funny?
Because of the complete unpredictability of the week’s events. Everything is up in the air. Craziness. Protesters. Protesters of the protestors.
THAT’s what’s so funny about the G-20. It has all the classic elements of humor.
!. Humor requires us to suspend judgment. (Like my using the ! instead of 1.) All sides on the G-20 protest are judgmental. But we are viewers aren’t–we can’t be; we don’t know what exactly is going on!
2. Humor require us to embrace unpredictability. The same way the police have to do. They can’t fear or avoid the unpredictability of the crowds. They have to rush toward the unpredictable people and events.
3. Humor’s unpredicatablity breeds an openness. We are operating by new rules. Or no rules at all. There is a vague freedom in the air. We feel freer to try new things and to leap over our preconceived boundaries. Maybe we won’t rapell off a bridge, but we are more willing to test our courage.
How will YOU celebrate the G-20? Try something new: “Get Your SHINE Together!”
