Humor as Salve & Survival
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Assigned Due
Based on polls and research studies, a large majority of people across the globe tend to have a pessimistic view of humanities' present, and a dark view of its (our collective) future. One way to mitigate a completely doom and gloom perspective on life as we know it, is to imagine it differently, as you have been doing through your micro assignments and dream project speculation and analysis.
Another *salve for many humans in the face of abjection, degradation and nihilism is humor. There are countless books and articles on how humor has allowed people to preserve their dignity in inhumane situations and how comedy can be a survival mechanism for dealing with a hyper-mediated-attention economy-apathetically consumerist-narcissistic-unreflective-blame it all on the millenials and boomers-we-are-so-f**ked present reality.
*salve - a remedial or soothing influence or agency
This week discover, remix or create a humorous/satirical situation, anecdote, joke, or experience related to your field of inquiry for your dream project. Please be aware of the line between funny/uplifting and offensive/demoralizing. Keep in mind cultural sensitivities and the negative impact of derogatory humor that can denigrate an individual or group based on gender, race, ethnicity, class or sexual orientation. In the 21st century there has been a reappraisal of the positive effects of humor when it is aimed at making others feel good or used to gain intimacy or to help buffer stress. Humor activities and exercises can result in increased feelings of emotional well-being and optimism. (*Professor note: This will be updated with links to sources and specific studies).
Back to your assignment, please bring to class next week some documentation of comedy and humor related to your interests/research. It can be yourself performing in VR Chat, it can be a link to an article or video, it can be a joke you tell. You can work as a team on this project if your Dream Project is a collaborative effort.
Be prepared to speak for a maximum of 7 minutes about the work you are sharing. This means you need to have your thoughts formulated, so that you can speak clearly and concisely about your thought experiment. COPY all of your materials for this assignment into your class google drive folder. This should be related to .