STRONG & FUNNY: Sachs (R), cat on shoulder, says humour about one’s views shows courage
Because the American civil rights campaign was also influenced by the existentialist movement, especially in World War II France, i’m glad you used the word ‘existential’. Because it brilliantly confronted darkness, despair and dread about the world, their philosophy inspired many civil rights activists in the US.
Existential philosophy looked at reality in the face and said, ‘We need to remain dauntless and stay in the struggle. What is the core of your research? You say comedy matters in people’s attempts to mitigate climate change now — why? Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, two of the most formative existentialist thinkers, were part of the French Resistance as well. With climate activism, it’s a matter of treating the situation with some distance and perspective. There are legitimately funny aspects here.
One is how there was a lot of humour which helped sufferers cope through World War II and the Holocaust — some people find this shocking but often, those imprisoned in concentration camps organised little circuses and told each other jokes, to remind themselves of their shared humanity and get some distance from the horror around them. The first reason is the morale of people working in climate activism. The problem of environmental damage is so overwhelming that many can get demoralised — comedy can boost spirits. Secondly, as a historian who also looks at all sorts of cultural production, I’ve found comedy has a very long and interesting history. Dark comedy particularly has played a very powerful role in hard times — in my book ‘Stay Cool’, I describe many examples. Given the extremely serious data they are dealing with though, how could the environmental movement lighten up? My suggestion is for environmentalists to have a sense of humour about themselves. Research suggests some of the difficulty environmentalists have had over the years in getting their message out is how they come across as being self-righteous, if not grim — when you say ‘environmentalist’ to many Americans, the first words they associate have often been ‘doom and gloom’. I think it’s useful to make fun of yourself a bit, showing your own vulnerability, which helps get your message across.
Because the technology is a huge tool against climate change, i am alright with people making profits on, say, solar power. Yes. It is a risk — but there are always risks, no matter what. Many environmental approaches have already been co-opted — think of the category ‘green capitalism’, which, in some ways, makes very little sense. So, if some of the comedy people in the environmental movement use gets co-opted by the capitalist marketplace, that’s alright. It will only help to spread these messages more. This is an inherently risky tactic — but the most interesting strategies are. Of course, I’d add comedy must always be deployed sensitively. There are situations where it is too soon or inappropriate to make jokes. You cannot have humour over people suffering. we should not be daunted and stop making jokes about it — satire is a great weapon against people in power Although the Trump administration has been truly terrible on the progress America was making in climate mitigation.
And we need as many strategies as possible to build solidarity and common purpose today. That noted, for me, the dark political situation we face in the US today means it’s even more important to keep up our morale.