Comments | gloriajn: Am I still "humor-impaired"?

gloriajn

Am I still "humor-impaired"?

Jul 25, 2006 15:11

For years, I identified as an "Aspie" (someone with Asperger Syndrome). One of the characteristics of an Aspie is that of taking things literally and being unable to detect irony or satire -- in other words, being "humor-impaired". I think my sense of humor has improved exponentially over the past few months.

So when I read Ken Jennings' blog ( Read more... )

news, humor, asperger

Comments 7

silenceleigh July 25 2006, 22:58:25 UTC

I read that and thought that Ken Jennings is really very fond of the show he's lambasting, and feels that the best way to show his love is to poke fun at it. I can see how people would think it was mean-spirited, but I didn't think it was ( ... )

gloriajn July 25 2006, 23:34:55 UTC

I think there are a lot of people who can't get past the surface mean-spiritedness of the words to get to the absurdities underneath. (Then again, there are still people in the world horrified when they read Swift's A Modest Proposal.)

I can't say I'm familiar with that book. I'm really interested in reading it now!

pixxelpuss July 26 2006, 01:07:06 UTC

http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html

This is it, but you should really read up on the historical context to get the satire. Otherwise it's just absurd. Here's a link to some historical info: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/modestproposal/context.html

Jonathan Swift gloriajn July 26 2006, 17:08:31 UTC

Wow, thanks so much for posting that! Having the context available really helped. I probably should've read the Spark Notes first so I would understand why he wrote what he did. Instead, I read the essay first and kept thinking to myself, "How is anyone supposed to know this is satire?" Yep, context is everything, isn't it? :)

(The comment has been removed)

gloriajn July 27 2006, 18:16:21 UTC

There is some degree of humor in it. The question that I always ask myself is, "Is he really serious, or not?" And of course with choice of a word like robot or descriptions of garish colors it is hard to take him seriously and see it more on the humorous side.

As I look at it more closely, it does look like Ken Jennings was trying to be funny. But, as what seemed to be the general consensus in the poll, he's not very skilled in writing humor. I'm sure that if I had tried to write satire, it probably would've come across the same way, where very few people would get it. I know, because that's happened to me many times. I mean, really -- can you see me writing satire? Never mind, better not answer that. :)

pixiecrinkle July 26 2006, 15:11:36 UTC

As a hardcore jeopardy lover, I thought this was hilarious. I thought it was pretty apparent that it was tongue in cheek and that it wasn't meant to be taken literally. To me, it sounded like satire, but satire out of legitimate nostalgia. It's gotta be weird for Ken Jennings not to be in the studio every day.

I don't think you avoid bringing stuff like this up anymore either, if it helps you to talk about it -- it's your lj after all. To me, humor is a very cultural/learned thing, especially satire. So if you don't "get" satire in general, it won't be funny.

I've been told my whole life to get a sense of humor too. Mostly by my parents/family/friends as a child. But really, I just think I have a weird sense of humor. I love absurdities that other people don't usually see, and by the time I explain them, they are no longer funny.

gloriajn July 27 2006, 18:29:11 UTC

As a hardcore jeopardy lover, I thought this was hilarious. I thought it was pretty apparent that it was tongue in cheek and that it wasn't meant to be taken literally. To me, it sounded like satire, but satire out of legitimate nostalgia. It's gotta be weird for Ken Jennings not to be in the studio every day.

And what's interesting is that Ken Jennings' sense of humor is similar to mine. By that, I mean is that my humor has been misunderstood many times, just like his. I'll usually be the only one laughing at something or the only one NOT laughing (though lately, it seems I've been starting to find the same things funny that other people do on LJ, for instance). And, like Ken Jennings, if I write a piece that I consider satire, I doubt it will come across as such, and I'm sure few people would get it or find it funny.

I don't think you avoid bringing stuff like this up anymore either, if it helps you to talk about it -- it's your lj after all. To me, humor is a very cultural/learned thing, especially satire. So if you don't "get ( ... )