{"id":44119,"date":"2025-09-22T13:50:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=44119"},"modified":"2025-09-22T13:50:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:50:28","slug":"can-comedy-help-conquer-fascism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/09\/22\/can-comedy-help-conquer-fascism\/","title":{"rendered":"CAN COMEDY HELP CONQUER FASCISM?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Loudly mocking Trump now may help us avoid \u201cwhisper jokes\u201d later<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Mark<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>MARK JACOB<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEP 22, 2025 (stopthepresses.news)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s happening in this country right now isn\u2019t funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump regime is putting troops on the streets of American cities<\/a>, ordering extrajudicial killings<\/a>, engaging in rampant corruption<\/a>, and denying due process<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why are people joking about it?Subscribed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, because if we lose our sense of humor, we\u2019ll lose our minds. And because comedy is a great way to get people to pay attention to what\u2019s happening, even if they\u2019re determined to ignore the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump and Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr obviously see comedy as a threat to their abuses of power because they pressured ABC and its parent Disney to pull late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel off the air last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think comedy has a unique power to persuade people, and that makes it a valuable weapon in the war against fascism. My wife doesn\u2019t agree. She thinks the process of turning right-wing cruelty and corruption into entertainment trivializes what\u2019s happening to our country. She thinks it creates a culture of acceptance when we need the opposite \u2013 a culture that is appalled by what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get another view, I contacted my friend Rex Huppke, whose USA Today column<\/a> often uses humor to highlight the threat of Trumpism. I was one of Rex\u2019s editors when he wrote for the Chicago Tribune, where he penned one of my all-time favorite columns, his 2012 obituary for \u201cFacts.\u201d<\/a> This column was ahead of its time, coming years before Trump ran for president and launched his all-out assault on the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Rex, is comedy really a good way to confront authoritarianism?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m admittedly biased, as I use satire regularly in my columns, but I think it\u2019s a very effective way to push back on the bizarre and often scary things we\u2019ve seen happen since Trump returned to office,\u201d Rex said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo much of what he says and does is absurd,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhether it\u2019s claiming one crowd is bigger than another when we can clearly see it\u2019s not or, far more seriously, claiming he\u2019s a free-speech champion then saying he\u2019ll pull the licenses of networks that criticize him. Lampooning him \u2013 basically matching his absurdity \u2013 can vividly highlight his hypocrisy and force people to recognize that something\u2019s not right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would add that comedy is often an act of rebellion, and we desperately need people to confront and mock authority when it\u2019s behaving the way it is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But my wife has valid concerns, too. If humor makes people think Trump\u2019s abuses are just another show that will eventually go away, it is counterproductive. So it\u2019s important for comedy about Trump to be truth-telling \u2013 to avoid depicting him as an amusing cartoon character and instead expose him as a toxic force in our world. Spreading public dissatisfaction about the convicted felon in the White House is a necessary act of resistance right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while comedy may serve as an escape valve for us, there\u2019s a lot that we must remain dead serious about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we don\u2019t find a way to stop the Trump regime, the only jokes we\u2019ll be able to tell in the future will be what people in Nazi Germany called Fl\u00fcsterwitze \u2013 <\/em>\u201cwhisper jokes.\u201d Those were jokes you dared not say in public if you didn\u2019t want to end up in a concentration camp, or worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Berlin munitions worker was executed<\/a> in 1944 when she was overheard telling this joke: \u201cHitler and Goering are standing on top of Berlin\u2019s radio tower. Hitler says he wants to cheer up the German people. Goering says, \u2018Why don\u2019t you just jump?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another whisper joke was: \u201cGoering has attached an arrow to the row of medals on his tunic. It reads, \u2018Continued on the back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jews shared jokes as they were persecuted by the Nazis. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo Jews are about to be shot. Suddenly the order comes to hang them instead. One says to the other, \u2018You see \u2013 they\u2019re running out of bullets.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whisper jokes happen in other dictatorships, too. After Vladimir Putin took power in Russia, the government got rid of a TV show called \u201cKukly\u201d<\/a> that made fun of politicians, including Putin. But Russians continued to joke more discreetly. An example<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStalin appears to Putin in a dream and says: \u2018I have two bits of advice for you: Kill off all your opponents and paint the Kremlin blue.\u2019 Putin asks, \u2018Why blue?\u2019 Stalin responds: \u2018I knew you would not object to the first one.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jokes like that are a rejection of the groupthink that autocrats seek to impose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend Rex says humor about the Trump regime accomplishes two things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst, it comforts those who feel overwhelmed, those continuously asking themselves, \u2018Am I the only one who sees how nuts this is?\u2019 It lets them know they\u2019re not alone. Second, it drives people like Trump bananas. Clearly he hates criticism of any sort, but mockery cuts deeper. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve seen the late-night hosts become targets. I\u2019m all for comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. As a journalist, it\u2019s part of the job description.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MAGA fascists have the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court. We have people power\u2026 and jokes. I still think we can win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in case Trump prevails, here\u2019s a \u201cwhisper joke\u201d for you: \u201cA Russian spy, a sexual predator and a billionaire walk into a bar. The bartender says, \u2018What can I get you, Mr. President?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loudly mocking Trump now may help us avoid \u201cwhisper jokes\u201d later MARK JACOB SEP 22, 2025 (stopthepresses.news) What\u2019s happening in this country right now isn\u2019t funny. The Trump regime is putting troops on the streets of American cities, ordering extrajudicial killings, engaging in rampant corruption, and denying due process. So why are people joking… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44120,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44119\/revisions\/44120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}