All Joking Aside? Nuh-uh (and Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck)

Yesterday on the Dennis Prager Show, Mark Steyn lamented that while he used to think cracking jokes could chip away at the world's lunacy, he has now concluded that his being funny won't make a scrap of difference. Today Kathy Shaidle, in a wry listing of things she wishes she had known when she was a leftist (this one's #4), writes

I wish I’d known sooner that more than humor was needed to fight a lot of evils, political correctness being one of them, radical Islam being another. That’s because our opponents are humorless and are therefore impervious to ridicule. Our jokes are simply more evidence of our decadence and ignorance, as far as they are concerned.

When two of the funniest writers around appear to reject the fun stuff, is it time to turn in your whoppee cushion?

I say, "No way, Josie!"

For while it's true that yucks alone won't stop the evil (viz Chaplain's The Great Dictator, a movie that made fun of Hitler but did not--could not--thwart him), humour can keep you sane and help boost your spirits during the lengthy, seemingly hopeless fight (viz Winston Churchill's "some chicken, some neck" speech).

Works for me, anyway.

Update: Sing it, Donald!