If you don't laugh at this then you are a DIMWIT!

Some say that humor is the ability to recognize relationships, incongruities and irony. Our ability to laugh originates in our ability to recognize the absurd and to know when something is out of sync with the world around us.

We laugh at the absurdity of a situation or at a sudden, unexpected surprise because it goes against our usual expectations of what "should" take place in our ordinary lives.

Wit

Aristotle noticed that man is the being who laughs, animal risibile. He is likewise the being who is by nature a political animal. These two latter designations have a direct relation to man’s rational faculty. He is the being who speaks, yes, the being who tells funny stories. Things are only amusing, however, if one can see relationships, incongruities, unexpected disproportions, and ironies.

Laughter is a sign of reason, indeed of elevated reason. It is witness to our ability to see relationships, to see what belongs together and what does not. Wit is a sign of high intelligence. Wit is in fact so powerful that Aristotle, in the Fourth Book of The Ethics, devoted a special discussion to its proper use. He saw its rule to be a moral virtue.

The older meaning of the English word, “wit,” is intelligence, but it now also carries the connotation of bemused cleverness and humor. The old phrase, “half-wit,” still bemusedly refers to a certain intellectual dimness.

The Catholic Thing


Some equate a lack of humor with an inability to recognize those relationships and the inability to appreciate irony. Many who lack a sense of humor try to portray themselves as being more serious and thoughtful than their peers.

Are they right; do they perceive the world in a more serious light than their peers, or are they "half wits" who just don't get it and cannot understand proper relationships and the humor that should be found in incongruities in the real world when those proper relationships fail to meet our expectations?

reply to post by FortAnthem

Our ability to laugh originates in our ability to recognize the absurd and to know when something is out of sync with the world around us.

I disagree with this. A large part of humor comes from being able to relate to the source of that humor. In other words, something can be funny ESPECIALLY when it's in sync with the world we have experienced.

Originally posted by AfterInfinity

I disagree with this. A large part of humor comes from being able to relate to the source of that humor. In other words, something can be funny ESPECIALLY when it's in sync with the world we have experienced.

That is true but in order for that truth to be funny, it has to be expressed in some exaggerated manner in order to call our attention to that truth.

In fact, sometimes the truth is found to be funny simply because it is so out of sync with what we expected to be the reality, our old beliefs and expectactions appear humorous as a result of finding out how un-enlightened we really were.

In fact, sometimes the truth is found to be funny simply because it is so out of sync with what we expected to be the reality, our old beliefs and expectactions appear humorous as a result of finding out how un-enlightened we really were.

Like a cat wearing headphones or a dog wearing sunglasses

Laugh?! At that? Pffft. That poor stone had it's rights violated. It had absolutely NO say so in being used to propagate an unfunny political message. That's defacement, debasement, and will take many years of psycho-pun-alogical effacement to correct.

I had to remove my pet rock from the table here so as to mitigate the psychological damage from the stone-cold horror of seeing that. There should have been a warning on this thread.

actually it's absolutely true..."nothing" is indeed written in that stone.

reply to post by FortAnthem


I love that image, not only is the message written in stone, but it is written with an absence of stone. So literally nothing is what is written into the stone since it is hollowed out in order to make the writing as opposed to being added to the stone in some way or covering it, with say a marker or paint. Whoever made that not only had a great sense of humor but they were also very clever.

reply to post by FortAnthem


The Gut's post was funny. I laughed at that.

Your carved brick was slightly amusing, but not enough to elicit a laugh from me.

reply to post by GrimReaper86


Or would be if it was not photo-shopped, which it is. And not very well at that.

But then I must be a dimwit as I did not laugh.

Originally posted by FortAnthem

This, imho, is by far funnier by many orders of magnitude, than that.



Although I included both of them in my thread called 2012: The Rise of Humor..!?!!! just in case yours is funnier than mine. Maybe it's true even that, as we approach the great turning point of the ages, if there ever is one (when will we finally immimentize the eschaton..?) that indeed "nothing is carved in stone". Who knows what might be possible once we apprehend or I should say comprehend and recognize the great joke at the end of time, namely that we're already sandwitched as it were in eternity. I don't know however if that's the truth that sets us free, or not..? Therefore the truth that sets us free in eternity, can ONLY be amuzing, don't ask me to tell you precisely why that is, but that's the way it is.

It's a joke so funny, that it will be calable of saving the world when it hits the omegapoint of the cosmogenesis of the noosphere. (I'm quite serious!) i think, or maybe I'm just joking and the jokes on you and if you don't get it you're in big trouble (just kidding).

reply to post by NewAgeMan




So THAT'S where I parked.


Now, if I could only remember where I left those keys...

Originally posted by FortAnthem
reply to post by NewAgeMan

 

So THAT'S where I parked.


Now, if I could only remember where I left those keys...

Glad you know where yours is but, dude, wheres my car?!

I only laughed because I didn't laugh. I'm a little weird.

reply to post by Domo1


Hi Domo1,

I agree I didn't LAUGH either Domo1, but LAUGHED at your comment. Cheers!

Hi OP,

The DIMWIT here.

Call that FUNNY?

Check out comedy104 radio and THEN...

YOU will LAUGH!

Although OP your latter post below (CATS) is COOL - you redeemed yourself - nice one

Originally posted by minettejo


Like a cat wearing headphones or a dog wearing sunglasses

Funny story about that. I like using animated cats for my avatar.


















I found the rockin' kitten a while ago but, thought all the other ones were much funnier and almost didn't use it.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/vw501b433e.gif[/atsimg]

Then, after changing to this one, I get a bunch of u2us from people saying this is the best one ever.


Makes me wonder if I, myself, may be somewhat of a dimwit.

reply to post by FortAnthem


I can't see what's so funny?

Although its a rather obvious fact, nothing is right there, at the top, written in stone, just like it says.

Originally posted by chr0naut
reply to post by FortAnthem

 

I can't see what's so funny?

Although its a rather obvious fact, nothing is right there, at the top, written in stone, just like it says.

I'll admit, that isn't my funniest pic. I have a ton of much better ones in my photo album.





I chose that pic because it showed the sense of things being out of place and the irony mentioned in the article I quoted.

The purpose of this thread isn't to show off that funny pic; its to discuss whether humor is a sign of intelligence and whether people who lack a sense of humor aren't intelectually deficient in some manner.

reply to post by FortAnthem


I don't know, I think it's all relative.

I am fairly serious in that I have no interest in the things that the masses do. When confronted with these things (i.e. a text message of a disney character in a sexual scenario), I have nothing pleasant to say about or do with it. Really, vulgarity and stereotyping and crassness are just not humorous to me.

I laugh all the time, though. Because, the world is hilarious! Pretty much any situation has a bizarre quality to it, if one takes the time to think about it.

Sometimes, though, it seems like I'm the only one that notices this?

It's weird, people are so concerned with appearances that they don't realize that their appearances are utterly absurd.

Don't get me wrong, I laugh as much as the next guy (really, guy because a lot of girls pretend that they don't think bodily functions are funny - LAME) about fart jokes. But, I just can't seem to see what's funny about a lot of the other commonly "funny" things.

Though, the images you have posted are very similar to my innate humor - subtle and taking some thought to understand the multiple facets of the humor. I think they are funny because they are ironic and satirical and goofy at the same time.

Interesting thread, FortAnthem, you've given me some things to snicker quietly to myself about.

Label me a DIMWIT then - it wasn't hilarious at all. Yes, we all got it I'm sure - as did I; but, this just wasn't so super.

My 'humor' gets me in trouble with the mods here ... but, that was just too easy. No points

Eh, I don't buy it.

Some people with high intellect have zany humor, and some don't.

Pretty sure the zany humor is just cross-contextual processing, IE extraverted intuition from an MBTI standpoint.

Some people are highly intelligent, but lack this function in their core stack. They usually are introverted intuition dom/aux.

You not only have to see the connection, you have to experience joy and appreciation in the process to laugh.

So there's an emotional component, not just pure reasoning.

I can be uber zany sometimes, while at others I'm dead serious and humor seems like a complete waste considering the circumstances.

Humor has it's place. I think it's a double edged sword, and depends how we wield it. It can cause an expansion of consciousness, else keep us in the "bread and circuses" state of lala land.

The people who are ALWAYS zany tend to get categorized in my "complete and utter fools" category. I think they cause more harm than good.

Balance is best!~


Wanted to add: some humor is RETARDED!!! Stupid easy connections that I DO NOT appreciate AT ALL!!

So if you find someone not laughing at a joke, don't assume they aren't able to see the connection/incongruity. They could possibly see it so easily, that it doesn't spark appreciation, rather disgust that you actually believe what you're saying is witty.

It's not by my standards.

Sorry!