Kamal Ghorui
A government with a sense of humour gets our vote
Free speech is a good thing. You can see that in Iran, where many people are joking about
Trump, using memes and funny posts online. These jokes won’t help them win a war, but they
do make people around the world notice them and even support them. It’s a bit ironic. Iran’s
rulers don’t allow full freedom of speech, yet people there are using the freedom of social media
created in democratic countries. One just hopes they’re joking by choice, not because they’re
forced to.
In fact, humour and strict rulers don’t usually go together. During Stalin’s rule in the Soviet
Union, comedy was used to mock enemies and gently correct supporters. But people also made
secret jokes about Stalin himself. One famous joke tells of a peasant saving Stalin from
drowning, then begging him, “Please don’t tell anyone I saved you.” Even if it didn’t change
politics, humour helped ordinary people cope. As Gorbachev later said, “The jokes always
saved us.” And it’s likely that people in places like Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran still joke
about their leaders.
But what about real democracies? Do they use humour? They should. Government messages
are often very dry, like boring civics lessons in school. Most people ignore them, so the
message doesn’t really reach the public. But humour can make a big difference.
During World War II, the US asked Dr Seuss to write a fun pamphlet teaching soldiers how to
prevent malaria. In Britain, food minister Lord Woolton used humour even more cleverly. His
line, “One for you, one for me, and none for the pot,” helped people save tea during shortages.
He also wrote a rhyme about potatoes:
“Those who have the will to win,
Cook potatoes in their skin,
Knowing that the sight of peelings
Deeply hurts Lord Woolton’s feelings.”
Funny messages like these worked. Maybe we could use a few rhymes today about saving
cooking gas or petrol too.
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