Does Humor Make Us Human?

One of the most undeniable aspects of our humanity is our method of verbal communication.  Although many other animals use sounds to transmit information, as far as we know, we are alone in the complexity of our language.  Not only can we share information on tangibles like food or visible possessions, immediate sensation like pain or pleasure, we can also use our words to talk about things that are not present, predictions, or other abstract concepts.  Humor is certainly one of the most popular uses of language.

What is humor?  There are many varieties, but one of the features that is often used to help define it is surprise.  A joke is funny because we didn't expect the punchline.  A situation is humorous because it isn't what happens in our normal lives.  Although it doesn't always incorporate language, comics or images are amusing because they show us something different and absurd.

Why would this be a trait that we would end up cultivating as a species?  Well, it could have to do with stress relief, being a simple way to relieve tensions in people.  By laughing at something, we are saying, in a way, "This isn't very important, I don't have to take this seriously."  Even very serious situations involving health or safety may be dealt with using "black humor" as a way to cope with fear and/or stress.  We can't forget the way we laugh at absurd or surreal situations.  Calvin and Hobbes touch on this idea in one of Watterson's many fine comics, in which Hobbes theorizes that without humor and laughing at absurdity, people would not be able to react to many situations in their lives.  It also has a way of building relationships between people.  Humor tends to come out in relaxed situations (aside from the aforementioned black humor) and people who are relaxed tend to be friendly.  The atmosphere is welcoming, the humorists making a space for the audience to enjoy themselves, maybe even participate.  It aids in building a certain confidence in one's neighbors, in oneself, even in the future in general.  It seems there's nothing negative at all about humor.

Well, not so fast.  There is also the humor that depends on another's misfortune.  We giggle at somebody who trips in the street, cackle at the toilet paper dragging from someone else's shoe.  Slapstick comedies elicit gruffaws from the audience.  This type of comedy may be beneficial to us, as it reinforces our sense of superiority - that situation can't happen to us.  There's a division between laughing with and laughing at that comes into play, and we separate ourselves into an in-group and an out-group, if not several.  We can use humor to hold up social mores, denigrating the out-groups of a different race, religion, gender, whatever.  While ostracism seems to be performed in the non-human animal world as well, humans are especially adept and intent on adding humiliation through humor to the mix.

Another use of humor-as-weapon is when it's used against the authorities by the oppressed, downtrodden, or anyone with a beef about how society is being run.  There is an interesting double-mindedness here: on one hand, the authorities that take this humor seriously look like asses (no names mentioned); on the other hand, authorities that chuckle graciously or take no notice feel no threat from the humorous attack.  When people want to effect change, they do indeed want the authority to take the complaint seriously, and even feel the threat of change looming.  An authority that reacts with heavy-handed repression may show that it can crush any divergent thinking, but it also shows that it knows that thinking could become a call to replace it.

When discussing the question on Sunday, there was a confusion between sense of humor and sense of fun in at least one of the commenters.  He consistently equated being humorous with tickling, insisting that there had to be trust for tickling to happen.  While that particular idea is bizarre, the distinction between humor and fun could be worth examining.  When I say humor, I mean the intentional presentation of the absurd or exaggerated for comic effect.  I mean the conscious pointing out of the surprising and silly, or representation thereof.  The laughter of the tickled is merely a reflex, like kicking when the doctor taps your knee.  It is generally in the context of fun, playing a silly game with a baby or a loved one, but it is not humor.  Tickling is no representation of the world for our amusement.

The danger in wholeheartedly embracing this characteristic as necessary to be considered human is fairly obvious - there are many different types of humor.  It varies by age, by culture, by interest.  To say that somebody with a different sense of humor than your own is not human is not an impossible outcome, although highly regrettable.  I do, in fact, consider humor to be a necessary ingredient in the human being, but it is not the only one.  Humor without other aspects, such as curiosity or compassion, does not make a human.  It only makes a bad joke.