01 June 2009

Silly in religion

Driving yesterday, I saw a license plate that read "2CJESUS." My first reaction was: Whoopie! Another asshole Christian trying to ram salvation through my head.

But then the underlying humor hit me. That driver was right then and there going to see Jesus. I had a fair chuckle, and realized how much more I like Christians when they're making jokes instead of playing missionary. This in turn found loose connections with recurring thoughts of late, one of which is the mild sadness I feel from knowing that juvenile humor generally meets disdain. It's like some people have forgotten how to have an innocent laugh. I know my own world is a much happier place when I spend more of it enjoying humor at any level.

Recently, Griffin learned to blow raspberries with his lips... semi-funny in and of itself. Then one night, he made that sound almost immediately after releasing a real fart. I was so proud of my son's very first fart joke. Of course cynic that I am, soon came the thoughts regarding the lack of respect that fart jokes get any more. It's like you're an outcast for enjoying bodily humor (just one of the many arguments supporting ecofeminism's claim that the master consciousness has trained humans to consider the natural world inferior).

Well, I don't give a flying fish. The snobs of the world can kiss my ass, which is that funny-shaped set of lumps halfway down the backside of my body. My body, by the way, is my physical connection to the natural world; nowadays, some consider it "inferior" to the human mind and soul. In my religion, the body, mind, & soul deserve equal attention.

Having said everything I have written thus far, I declare that from this day forth, no human shall rightfully trespass upon my natural right to laugh about turds and their hilarious variety of shapes and exit sounds. I shall not find embarrassment in shifting my rational thought process into simpleton gear for an episode of South Park. (I recently saw the queef episode and just about choked on my own laughter.) Nor shall my soul suffer the narrow moralizing eye of the prideful elites who can't stand being anchored to reality by a crude vehicle that expels waste. Heaven forbid humans learn the powerful energy of recycling!

4 comments:

Team HA said...

We, too, recently learned that the fart noise (raspberries) are funny to the boys--they laugh every time. It's amazing that such basic bodily humor is funny from the beginning.

Xander and Alana (but mostly Alana) said...

I think some academic-type folks might argue that aversion to toilet/bodily issues and the associated humor is natural. Evolution and all that. Still, South Park wouldn't be so successful if so many of us didn't find it funny.

zimdog said...

Xander and Alana:
Your commentizzle really got me thinking about this more than I might ever have otherwise. I have been wanting to respond for days now, but where does one find time to process one's thoughts these days?

I can see how an academic-type might think it's natural to move beyond our primitive state, but that seems to me more like forgetting our foundation. I simply can't buy an evolution argument until humans stop pooping. In the most academic sense, evolution is a physical phenomenon of biology that takes place over great lengths of time. This doesn't mean the human mind hasn't evolved too, but the human brain did the evolving first. The physical adaptations allowed the mental. So when humans stop excreting waste from orifices, then I'll be fine with ignoring the things that used to come out of my body. Anything else seems disingenuous to me. And I see it as disingenuous for academics to do the same, since they do not generally base their observations on an ignorance of reality.

As for the humor in bodily function, its humorousness is a matter of opinion, to which everyone is entitled. Of course entitlement and what happens in reality are two different stories. I think the reason there's so much opinion against bodily humor is the same reason there's so much opposition to any non-sentient thing (i.e. guns, drugs, homosexuality). Moralists like Emily Post come along with systematic brainwashing (a.k.a "manners") and just tell everyone that something is "bad," which is ultimately just an opinion. But what these opinionists are doing is conditioning people to accept opinion as fact, and that's just not fair to the truth. There's nothing "bad" or "naughty" about pooping. Pooping just is.

So if someone chooses to loath or ignore a natural inevitability, who am I get in their way. But when those opinions become widespread enough that I feel accused of being morally corrupt, I'm going to speak up with my own opinion, and I'll topple any academic argument on the subject, because I've got the truth on my side (except for the part about toilet humor being funny; that's just my opinion, for which I have the Constitution on my side).

God, I love philosophical arguments about what most people consider insignificant.

zimdog said...

and to Team HA:

I may have just figured out why basic bodily humor is funny from the beginning. As I type, Emily is feeding Griffin, and she said he's definitely pooping. Going by the sense of satisfaction on his face, I concur. Thus, my conclusion is, bodily humor is funny because it feels so damn good to get that pressure out. It is, after all, waste that's causing that pressure.