Under communism in East Germany, making a joke regarding state ideology was illegal and extremely risky. The state regarded every political joke as a form of protest and a potential threat. The Stasi collected thousands of documents detailing these jokes, so that the jokers could be brought to ‘justice’. Ironically, there is even a joke about this exact process:
There are people who tell jokes. And there are people who collect jokes and tell jokes. And then there are people who collect people who tell jokes.
Thankfully communism has now receded to a large degree and in places where political jokes were once forbidden, they can now run free. However, all is not good news, as a new ideology has sprung up and taken the ‘lack of humour’ mantel.
Ayatollah Khomeini was not known to crack a good joke. I am sure, if he was still alive, this humourless reputation would have made him very happy, considering this is what he had to say about Islam and humour:
Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humour in Islam. There is no fun in Islam.
This is pretty serious stuff. If I wasn’t aware of all the people who were being punished for making jokes about Islam, I would find this repetitive quip about the lack of humour rather funny. Yet, it is perfectly natural that Islam cannot tolerate being the butt of a joke. As with all totalitarian ideologies, they must be perceived to be flawless.
Satire
Satire in a way is the marriage of humour and criticism, and thus, is a form of humour that is routinely attacked for its’ perceived insensitivity towards Islam. This plays right into the hands of Khomeini and his desire for everyone to treat Islam with complete seriousness and reverence. And unfortunately these views are also taking a root in the West, where people shy away from making jokes at the expense of Islam, for fear of violent reprisal. This reprisal was most clearly illustrated by the Danish cartoons incident and this fearfulness can be seen by South Parks refusal to air Muhammed. In the aftermath of the slaughter at Charlie Hebdo, people questioned whether the murdered journalists should have avoided satirizing Islam. That perhaps, the journalists were slightly to blame for their untimely demise.
Jokes as a form of Criticism
For as the Stasi understood, humour (especially satire) also doubles up as a light and accessible form of criticism. It changes a world-view from sacrosanct to earthly, which opens it up for scrutiny. It is important that no world-view becomes so sacred that it is free from critical jokes. For it makes the world-view and its’ people fragile, prone to violence, and extremely self-righteous.