It has become a point of confusion for me as to why, after attempting to make a joke about politics, I am not met with the laughter I had hoped for, but instead the discomfort I hoped to avoid. How could someone not understand that I was not just telling a joke to them, but for them? Evoking discomfort was not the intention. I instead hoped to evoke a sense of joy, perhaps paving the way for humor to break strong walls of division. Given these rather unfortunate circumstances, I want to explore why humor is used in uncomfortable situations. More specifically, is it at all helpful in the emotional minefield that comes with this season of political socialization?

This past summer, I was thrust into a time of stress and lament. I experienced a death in my family. Despite the emotional weight that an experience like this carries, my family found time to laugh throughout it. This is what we needed to carry on. Instead of solely mourning, we wondered why funeral homes don’t have snacks for people, why it was necessary to wear suits in 90-degree heat to the graveside, and what the best way to stand at the wake was so that my introverted sister didn’t have to awkwardly hug anyone. Acknowledging our fretting about truly surface level things like snacks, heat, and overly-physically-affectionate great-aunts enabled us to obtain the type of emotional relief we needed to continue. 

Despite not being as personal as a family loss, politics can be extremely tense. In a place where the exchange of ideas is constant and often very spirited, November 5th is a date that continues to race towards us whether we acknowledge it or not. The stress is already here, and a lot of us could certainly use some cheering up about it, so why don’t we like to laugh about it? 

It is certainly true that not all people process pain with humor, and that should be respected.  The belief that humor is a moral justifier that makes any topic available to insensitive jabs is a misconception, which causes people to depart from what humor could and should be, particularly in politics. Even if someone makes a joke about a current political situation (in good faith, that is), it can still make people uncomfortable. Must that always be the case?  I argue not.

 Many people can take themselves very seriously, even too seriously, surrounding weighty and serious issues that certainly command discernment and honest contemplation. I am of the conviction that there is a time to laugh, but also a time to cry (Ecclesiastes 3:4 NIV), and we must respect that there are many issues that must be addressed with the utmost care, and that the process won’t always be pleasant or happy. 

That being said, I am also strongly of the conviction that “a joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22 ESV). Why do we allow our bones to be dried by the stress of politics? Perhaps we may feel like we are being disrespectful or that we’re cheapening a topic or stance because we joke about it, and that can certainly be true. God tells us in Proverbs, “ if a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet” (Proverbs 29:9 ESV). If we bring an air of pure humor to hard and stressful conversations about our world, we would certainly be fools. If we do not grant respect to the people attempting to engage us on topics in a wise and intelligent way, we risk being plunged into a world of mockery and useless self-important chatter. However, after those conversations, or, in election season during those ongoing conversations, we must rejuvenate our hearts. It’s too easy to become depressed and short-fused. Even after discernment, why do we reject joyful rejuvenation out of a sense that our misery is somehow a sign of respect? 

Engaging in this restorative joy and alleviation of misery is not only valuable for reasons related to the self, but also for how we affect others. Being on edge or constantly depleted is no way to walk into an important conversation with another human being; it isn’t kind, helpful, or Christlike. I’ve noticed that when I don’t allow myself the humility that can come from humor, I forget the kindness and respect that a fellow image-bearer deserves to be treated with. Even more worrisome is what can happen when this lack of kindness and respect goes untreated; it can turn into that previously-discussed crushed spirit that leaves us with little hope of engaging with others at all. 

As a political science major whose mind is constantly on politics, there was a large stretch of this past year where I lost the necessary bandwidth to have conversations about politics with those around me. I felt a burden to provide a well-formed, educated response to questions I had been asking myself incessantly for what seemed like ages, and I was just too drained to engage. As more and more friends and family began to ask the usually outspoken poli-sci major what he thought about the goings on of Capitol Hill and beyond, I wasn’t able to give them much of anything. The relief came when I was confronted by this beautiful, liberating truth: I’m a 19-year-old sophomore. Who was expecting me to be a sage from whom they received only the finest political wisdom and guidance? When I realized this, I laughed. I laughed at how seriously I took myself, I laughed at the absurd standard that I held myself to, and I laughed that it took me this long to realize it. In short, I was freed through humility. Only after being taken off of the pedestal of our own self-importance are we freed to be earnest and humble about our collective plea for truth and discernment and, at least for me, humor has been how that process happens. 

Let’s allow ourselves to use laughter as one of the many tools that can turn the magnifying glass towards ourselves and point out our own self-importance, but in a pleasant and joyful way– with humor. Humor is not just a distraction or a means of pacification, although it can be. When humor is used in a discerning and mature way, it allows us to see the truth about ourselves and provides us with the rejuvenation necessary to persevere through the onslaught of deliberation and debate that we face leading up to election day.