Can Laughter Make the World a Better Place?
- Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Published: 2022
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Publisher's Description
On one side is snide, arrogant, dismissive, sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, and otherwise abusive laughter. On the other side is laughter that is warm and supportive, compassionate and forgiving, encouraging, lifting, and healing. And there is so much in between. Such great differences in laughter lead to the question--can laughter make the world a better place? This book uses television shows like M*A*S*H and Malcolm in the Middle, movies like Zombieland and Life Is Beautiful, novels like A Confederacy of Dunces and The Sellout, insights by neuroscientists, philosophers, painters, social and political scientists, and an undocumented man and his daughter, as well as ideas from people like C. S. Lewis, Sigmund Freud, Brene Brown, Tiffany Haddish, and Hannah Gadsby to answer that question.
Endorsements (1)
“Can laughter make the world a better place? Spoiler alert: yes, it can. But not always, and often not in the ways we typically think. Shawn Tucker combines cultural criticism and personal experience in this astute, probing, and, yes, even funny essayistic exploration toward a nuanced understanding of the ways laughter can exert both positive and negative influences in our private and public lives.”
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