Nov 10, 2023·edited Nov 10, 2023Liked by Gen Dread
I get it! I think humor really makes the medicine goes down but there's also a subttle frontier when humor is used a way to go away from the deep emotions inside us and I think we should be aware of it. I think humor is an excellent tool but we need to know how and when to use it. I also feel uncomfortable when climate denials friends use the humor to avoid get into the matter. I know they are just using humor as a protective shell but it really makes me feel nervous. Maybe I need more humor too!
I feel you on this, can be a double edged sword that advances the interests of denial and emotional immaturity depending on how it's played. But it can, with intention, be used as a Boyd-style shock absorber that supports a less austere and earnest kind of environmental mood
As someone who’s neurodivergent (high functioning autism), climate change has completely broken me as a human being. It honestly feels like I’m living in Hell, because people keep demanding I take action to single-handedly save the world, but my neurodivergence gets in the way. (Don’t want to go into the gory details, as I don’t want to divulge too much of my medical history here.)
It often feels like I’m a burden, a parasite, in more ways than one. I believe that’s why I find it so hard to cope, using humor or any other method. My brain literally just can’t comprehend how to cope at all, let alone coping with humor.
This has inspired me to write this comment because I want to suggest that maybe there’s work that can be done to help the neurodivergent people (like myself) not only cope, but fight back. There’s still a stigma surrounding autism (and other neurodivergent conditions) and climate change isn’t helping that at all. I know climate change affects everyone of all identities, but it feels like neurodivergent people have been forgotten in the chaos.
Thanks for sharing Phil. We're going to take this seriously and look for opportunities to explore how neurodivergence shows up in the topics we cover, hopefully in constructive and supportive ways.
I enjoyed this piece about the role of humour in understanding and living with our predicament. I’m looking forward to reading Andrew’s book.
Most days I generally feel that I’m “on the other side of grief” as Ro Randall has spoken about, so humour feels supportive and is working to keep me engaged at this point in my climate journey. I can’t recall how I felt about it when I was in climate shock earlier in my journey. Perhaps when the grief, distress, etc. is intense humour can feel like disavowal and can be disengaging. So in general, I suppose different things will work for different people at different times.
I’m reminded of how I’ve learned important things about colonialism, truth and reconciliation, etc. through Indigenous humour, such as the work of author and humourist Drew Hayden Taylor.
I’m a lover of new climate vocabulary. I recently learned a new word and a new expression so I put them together in a recent graphic with the emphatic statement “Paltering by Big Oil is So Holocene!” I think the “so yesterday” notion in that is kinda funny.
This evening I watched “I Want A Better Catastrophe: A Night of Stand-up Tragedy with Andrew Boyd” on YouTube. I appreciated his interactive presentation and he ends with a funny twist on a climate chant. He had a climate clock at his presentation and a cool big chart on the wall that is both really informative but also showcases some of his humour. The chart is in the book and I will use it as a resource myself.
I get it! I think humor really makes the medicine goes down but there's also a subttle frontier when humor is used a way to go away from the deep emotions inside us and I think we should be aware of it. I think humor is an excellent tool but we need to know how and when to use it. I also feel uncomfortable when climate denials friends use the humor to avoid get into the matter. I know they are just using humor as a protective shell but it really makes me feel nervous. Maybe I need more humor too!
I feel you on this, can be a double edged sword that advances the interests of denial and emotional immaturity depending on how it's played. But it can, with intention, be used as a Boyd-style shock absorber that supports a less austere and earnest kind of environmental mood
As someone who’s neurodivergent (high functioning autism), climate change has completely broken me as a human being. It honestly feels like I’m living in Hell, because people keep demanding I take action to single-handedly save the world, but my neurodivergence gets in the way. (Don’t want to go into the gory details, as I don’t want to divulge too much of my medical history here.)
It often feels like I’m a burden, a parasite, in more ways than one. I believe that’s why I find it so hard to cope, using humor or any other method. My brain literally just can’t comprehend how to cope at all, let alone coping with humor.
This has inspired me to write this comment because I want to suggest that maybe there’s work that can be done to help the neurodivergent people (like myself) not only cope, but fight back. There’s still a stigma surrounding autism (and other neurodivergent conditions) and climate change isn’t helping that at all. I know climate change affects everyone of all identities, but it feels like neurodivergent people have been forgotten in the chaos.
Thanks for sharing Phil. We're going to take this seriously and look for opportunities to explore how neurodivergence shows up in the topics we cover, hopefully in constructive and supportive ways.
I enjoyed this piece about the role of humour in understanding and living with our predicament. I’m looking forward to reading Andrew’s book.
Most days I generally feel that I’m “on the other side of grief” as Ro Randall has spoken about, so humour feels supportive and is working to keep me engaged at this point in my climate journey. I can’t recall how I felt about it when I was in climate shock earlier in my journey. Perhaps when the grief, distress, etc. is intense humour can feel like disavowal and can be disengaging. So in general, I suppose different things will work for different people at different times.
I’m reminded of how I’ve learned important things about colonialism, truth and reconciliation, etc. through Indigenous humour, such as the work of author and humourist Drew Hayden Taylor.
I’m a lover of new climate vocabulary. I recently learned a new word and a new expression so I put them together in a recent graphic with the emphatic statement “Paltering by Big Oil is So Holocene!” I think the “so yesterday” notion in that is kinda funny.
Thanks again Gen Dread team!
This evening I watched “I Want A Better Catastrophe: A Night of Stand-up Tragedy with Andrew Boyd” on YouTube. I appreciated his interactive presentation and he ends with a funny twist on a climate chant. He had a climate clock at his presentation and a cool big chart on the wall that is both really informative but also showcases some of his humour. The chart is in the book and I will use it as a resource myself.
With the insanity humanity has created and is currently dealing with in real time - one must have a sense of humor or else go cra-cra!