Reading Josiah's most recent post on Islam and humor (v. good, IMO) reminded me of an insight by Christopher Hitchens in his 2002 Vanity Fair essay "Jewish Power, Jewish Peril."*
Irony has been an essential constituent of Jewish life ever since Maimonides wrote that, while the Messiah will one day come, "he may tarry." That shrug -- half hopeful and half pessimistic -- is present in Woody Allen and in Lenny Bruce.
Taking this a pace further, I think it fairly safe to say that humor can exist only in an environment that allows for for the ambiguities of doubt -- particularly self-doubt, but the cosmic variety is nearly as crucial. Humor is an admission not only that you may be wrong, but that you (and a good many other things) are very likely ridiculous. And the one thing no zealot of any religious or ideological stripe can countenance is the possibility of being ridiculous. So the Islamic world can find irony. But first it must accept a dash of unbelief.
*The only online locations where this essay can be found, sadly, are sites run by revisionist historians holed up in some Australian cave. No doubt they sought full reprint rights. To read the delectible whole, buy a copy of the Hitch's Love, Poverty and War.
Posted by mesh at February 7, 2006 05:13 PM | TrackBack