It matters not what you believe about 9/11/2001. That is an unfortunate opening, isn’t it? The fact that I have to lead with a statement like that instead of knowing the fully disclosed truth? Maybe we do know, and I (or we) have been swindled by a group of assholes. Perhaps we were not lied to about 9/11; however, it is an objective fact that governments across the World have lied to their people before, including the United States, and if they have done it before, they would do it again. There is a line of thinking that suggests “it could never happen to us,” which, in my opinion, encapsulates American naivety. Of course, it can happen here; it already has. Evil exists in our backyard, and a refusal to acknowledge said evil can only mean one thing – that the “dragon” will continue to grow until it becomes an insurmountable task to defeat. After acknowledging such evil, the question becomes what to do to combat it, which leads me to the following question that I will attempt to get to the bottom of: Is laughing in the face of evil 1) okay to do and 2) a productive method in fending it off?
Let me make one thing clear: The images of individuals being forced to leap out of the burning towers are funny in no way, shape, or form. I am not submitting that the events of September 11th, 2001, in and of themselves, were comical, but the memes? Those that say 9/11 memes are “plane wrong?” Those are hysterical. How about the one with Buzz and Woody flying through the New York sky with the tagline, “we’re not aiming for the truck!” Infinite laugh emojis. It isn’t as if I find myself laughing without knowing that I shouldn’t be laughing. Recently, a meme came out that depicted Magic Johnson donating blood. If you don’t laugh at that, there is something wrong with you. Now, is AIDS funny? No, but an idea that shocking or taboo certainly is. Why? Well, probably because life is fucking tragic a lot of the time, and what exactly are we supposed to do about that? Continuously cry and grieve over it? I suppose you could choose to take life that seriously, but people die every day, tragedies happen every day, and disaster strikes every day. There would be no time to stop grieving. Laughing in the face of sheer evil provides us a way to diminish its severity and serves as a reminder that whether we go by way of jumping out of a burning building or quietly in our sleep, the end result is just the same. Fade to black – for each and every one of us. That’s my take on it now anyway..
Where do we start? What is the evilest thing or most evil person one could think of? How about none other than Lucifer himself? The first place I went to was the Bible to see what the Word had to say about laughing or mocking him. All I could find was that, essentially, we would be playing a dangerous game if we were to mock the devil himself. He is a powerful entity, more powerful than we are alone. Jude 1:9 says, “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” It appears that in this case, Michael did not step outside of his boundaries, letting God be the One who deals with the devil. Could one possibly declare that their faith structure is so secure that they feel comfortable “chirping” Satan? I’ll tell you one thing – you better be sure. However, what the Bible did say was that we can feel free to mock evil “ways.” Here is an excerpt from “patheos.com:” “Not once did Jesus say that the devil was silly, a pathetic joke, a cosmic failure, simple, a fool, monumentally stupid, etc. Remember St. Peter said that Satan goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And in Ephesians is listed against whom we fight on a daily basis which is why we wear the armor of God. Please do not see the devil as a joke.” While it seems that the devil is nobody to be played with, it also seems that evil modes of being are fair game. Lying, cheating, stealing, and other sins look to be on the table for us to belittle, but what about things on a larger scale? What about when two planes fly into a building, and they collapse?
Obviously, a lot of time has passed since 9/11, and as the adage goes, “time heals all.” You would be hard-pressed to find anybody bursting out in laughter as soon as they saw an explosion. Nothing tragic is ever funny as it is happening. For example, Vietnam was no laughing matter in the 1960s. Fast forward multiple decades later, and Family Guy almost had me in tears. Remember that scene where the two Americans were crying at the Vietnam Memorial, and the Vietnamese man rubbed it in their face? “SCOREBOAAARDDD,” he said. Absolute comedy. Here is a question in response to the original question: Isn’t laughing at evil not only okay but necessary? How are we even supposed to process an evil of the magnitude of September 11th? If it’s my money, there is no choice, for taking the World’s sin as seriously as it needs to be taken would only drive one to quit. Why wouldn’t one? Why partake in a society capable of such wickedness? The alternative is to laugh. One of my favorite myths of Gautama Siddhartha (by now, this is well documented) is when he recognized Mara was attempting to get to him, and instead of resisting him, he invited him in for tea. This must be the way we approach evil. “I see you, and I see what you are doing. Your wrongful ways are foolish, and they shall not infringe upon my peace.” Something like that.
Good wins in the end, anyway. Depending on what you believe, we know the finish to the story of life. Even if you don’t “believe,” there is enough evidence, I feel, that good does indeed win in the end. There is no such thing as one who does evil but does not suffer – immensely, more than “we” suffer. Externally, perhaps we may never see it, but we do not see the personal hell a wicked man may go through when they lay their head to rest at night. Keep fighting the good fight. Mock evil when you recognize it, for it deserves to be mocked. Now, we shall finish this piece with all of my favorite 9/11 memes:
Just kidding. Don’t want to get banned. 9/11 Memes: Shall We Laugh in the Face of Evil?
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