Why activists need a sense of humour
Activism can be draining, demoralising, or even a self-deluding experience in the very worst of circumstances. Standing up for a cause is a serious business, and activists often fight a two-prong battle of attempting to win public opinion while confronting corporate/state powers which easily out-finance or out-man them by factors of ten. In addition to great odds at raising awareness or achieving goals, activists and protesters often put themselves in harm's way more often than not. They face arrests, injuries, or even death when the oppressive security forces of the state rise up to flex their muscles. More commonly, activists face personal criticism from friends and family for routinely expressing strongly-held beliefs. They are constantly attacked in social media circles by ignorant and maligned strangers. Public ridicule is virtually guaranteed if they're doing their jobs effectively. At the end of the day, there's not much to laugh about. But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be.
Developing an activist sense of humour may seem like an unnecessary expenditure of energy to some, but it can be a useful tool for those steadfast purveyors of social justice wallowing knee-deep through the everyday drudgery of fighting uphill battles year in and year out. The ability to laugh is pure non-violence in action. And in the fields of direct action, provocative in its own right. Laughter can be cathartic and empowering. It is an expression of a truly free individual.
Mahatma Gandhi boldly claimed that if he possessed no sense of humour, he would have committed suicide. Maya Angelou included humour in a more comprehensive life motto package: "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style." A sense of humour may not be the sole ingredient for coping with adversity, but it's vital to the mental recipe of resistance.
Searching for the humour within you and within others is a good starting point. What makes you laugh? Who makes you laugh? Can you make someone else laugh who's feeling down? It's no surprise that we must work especially hard to develop the necessary skill sets (sometimes this means developing thick skins) to function within our mediums of dissent, but we also must mind our humanity so that it won't become lost or tarnished in the process. Humour can play a huge role here. "You have come to a stage where you almost have to work on yourself. You know, on finding some tranquillity with which to respond to these things, because I realise that the biggest risk that many of us run is beginning to get inured to the horrors," Arundhati Roy said.
Not becoming "inured to the horrors" is key. Few horrors match those of prisoners of war who suffered greatly at the hands of the enemy. A study published in 2008 entitled "Humour as a coping mechanism: Lessons from POWs" looked at several repatriated Vietnam prisoners of war. Subjects of the study were remarkable in that they suffered almost no mental illness as a result of their captivity, and that "the effective use of humour seems to be one of the reasons for their health," according to the opening line of the abstract. Clearly, there's room for humour as a survival tactic at one extreme, and as a coping mechanism at the other side of the spectrum.
Developing a sense of activist humour - and using it - for the sake of relief, or just for the hell of it, doesn't belittle one's cause or necessarily make light of it. Humour doesn't detract from any important message. We shouldn't shy away from it for such puerile reasons. But that doesn't mean we should force our comedic personas, either. Developing a sense of humour doesn't mean prepping fart jokes for a Fox reality show for stand-up comedians. It simply means that if we become adept at finding humour in unlikely places, we'll be in a vastly better states of mind to provide that all-important first shove to topple the false gods of state and industry.
"Humour distorts nothing, and only false gods are laughed off their earthly pedestals."
- Agnes Repplier