“In a utopian world, free of hate, racism, sexism (all of the prejudiced ‘-isms’ and forms of offence one can fathom), what would people joke about?”
Dear Arjun Sambhi, thank you for this complex question.
First off: What wouldn’t we joke about? In fact, we’d probably be able to joke and laugh about much more than we ever could now, as what’s hilarious in funny situations wouldn’t be overshadowed by oppression and systemic injustice. Hate, racism, sexism, prejudice make the world less fun, after all – let’s be very clear about that. Losing the “jokes” connected to them would be no loss at all, as punching down and repeating harmful stereotypes is only funny to the dumb and the bad. Just ask yourself: Which properly funny jokes (or movies or shows) really rest on hate, racism and sexism?
As for “forms of offence”, we ought to differentiate. The absence of offence in the sense of breaches of the law might lose us a few jokes. But again, how funny are tax fraud or murder? Regarding offence in the sense of feelings of annoyance based on a perceived insult, I’d say that’d still be very much around. Being offended is fundamentally different from being a victim of hate, racism, sexism; even in a utopian world, I’d be quite able to be a touchy douchebag. Then again, why would I, given that I’m living in Utopia?
Which brings us to the first philosophical core problem: What do you take a utopian world to be like? The absence of hatred, systemic oppression, and prejudice appear to be features. Let’s add basic securities and a sustainable lifestyle for both us and the rest of nature. I’ll even throw in an education and social environment which not only equips us with critical thinking capacities and a deep understanding of everything, but also enables us to live a fulfilling life of mental and physical well-being. Sound boring?
Not at all. For what’s fundamentally funny would remain firmly in place. As even in a utopian world, life would still be generally absurd, and we’d still be mostly idiots.
This concerns the second core problem: What do we joke about anyway (and why)? Jokes as a means of oppression and aggression are gone in a utopian world, but jokes as a means to deal with absurdity or failure would continue to be needed; the absence of injustice and oppression wouldn’t turn us into perfect beings, after all. Even in Utopia, Brian would not be the Messiah, but a very naughty boy. We’d still be thoroughly finite, prone to over-estimating ourselves and under-estimating the rest of the world. We’d still understand very little and misunderstand much. Coincidence would still be a thing; chance would still evade us. We’d still be fallible, and we’d still fail at many, many things and in very funny ways. Only we wouldn’t be racists or victims while doing so.
Also, farts.
What do you think? Would a utopian world still be a funny? Let us know in the comments.
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I received my PhD in philosophy in 2017; my dissertation was called “Plato's Bastard” (published as “Phenomenology as Platonism” [Phänomenologie als Platonismus]). My areas of interest are phenomenology, metaphysics and their overlap; but I dabble in whatever field I feel like – and with whoever's up for it. Philosophy to me means questioning our presuppositions, which fascinates me because it is something we can do whenever anyone says anything about anything and it never gets boring or old; it's also something that's painfully absent from public discourse, but easily learned. Enter: public philosophy!
In a utopia Life of Brian would be meaningless – there would be nothing to satirise.
“I think that comedy is the quintessential human reaction to the fear of death.” —Umberto Eco