"The Second Oldest Profession": Political Humor

Ronald Reagan supposedly once remarked, "It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first." The "first" oldest profession is generally understood to be prostitution and when compared to politics, at least from  a moral perspective, one might make the argument that this assertion amounts to an insult against prostitution rather than the inverse. The amount of subterfuge employed by politicians is legendary, and deception for political or personal gain seems the defining characteristic of even the most ostensibly well-motivated politicians.

Political humor is universal in so far as it concerns the polis (Greek for "city," or "state") of which all individuals within a given system in one way or another form a part. Political humor depicts the polis' paradoxical stake in and as well as powerlessness against the secret machinations of their respective political systems. Political humor's unique and frequently transgressive point of critique allows political parties, ruling elites, or even impenetrable bureaucracy to be attacked through a pithy turn of phrase, and this offensive might be waged from any end of the political spectrums. [N.B. I write "spectrums" here in reference to the Nolan Chart (https://www.nolanchart.com/survey-php) which features four axes: "Right" and "Left" but also "Authoritarian" and "Libertarian."] To revisit the Mel Brooks quote with which we began the semester, "Rhetoric does not get you anywhere, because 

Hitler and Mussolini are just as good at rhetoric. But if you can bring these people down with 

comedy, they stand no chance." If rhetoric is the art of spinning an untruth to appear veridical, 

perhaps comedy's power is the art of disguising the truth as an entertaining lie.



In the U.S. we are currently embroiled in an election year (and from my own perspective a very 

depressing one at that). The upside of the rather dismal political reality is that we are constantly 

bombarded with many hilarious examples of political humor. One bit that received a good deal of 

coverage was Larry David's masterful depiction of Bernie Sanders on Saturday Night 

Live in October of 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfmwGAd1L-o

From a political perspective, Saturday Night Live received some flack from the media as well as 

Bernie supporters for seemingly delegitimizing the Sanders' campaign through the skit's writing, 

while the majority of viewers simply found the bit to be an entertaining and accurate impression of 

the Democratic candidate. Memes have also been particularly perspicacious and witty this campaign 

season, including the following particularly scathing one that went viral on Facebook a few weeks 

ago (Confession: in my own anti-Trump fervor, I even shared this one on my Facebook 

wall): "Donald Dump"



This week, I would like you to post an example of political humor. It may be a joke, a meme, a bit, or anything else that may have caught your attention. What does it reveal about the broader but more understated political discourse with which it takes part?



Lastly, I offer a long list of succinct, often humorous but not always accurate illustrations of various political and economic systems using cows as an extended example of more traditional political "jokes" (these were all taken from Daniel Kurtzman at About.com http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/jokes/bljokecowspolitics.htm).  A CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. You keep one and give one to your neighbor. A SOCIALIST: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor. AN AMERICAN REPUBLICAN: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So what? AN AMERICAN DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. You vote people into office who tax your cows, forcing you to sell one to raise money to pay the tax. The people you voted for then take the tax money and buy a cow and give it to your neighbor. You feel righteous. A COMMUNIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk. A FASCIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and sells you the milk. You join the underground and start a campaign of sabotage. DEMOCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your government. CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows. BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, then pours the milk down the drain. AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when the cow drops dead. A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows. A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create clever cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and market them World-Wide. A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You reengineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves. A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. They are mad. They die. Pass the shepherd's pie, please. AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch. A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka. A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you. You charge others for storing them. A BRAZILIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You enter into a partnership with an American corporation. Soon you have 1000 cows and the American corporation declares bankruptcy. AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship both of them. A CHINESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported on them. AN ISRAELI CORPORATION: There are these two Jewish cows, right? They open a milk factory, an ice cream store, and then sell the movie rights. They send their calves to Harvard to become doctors. So, who needs people? AN ARKANSAS CORPORATION: You have two cows. That one on the left is kinda cute.