memes

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/amy-klobuchar-comedy.html

Shortly before Ms. Klobuchar declared her own presidential bid earlier this year, Abigail Bessler, her 24-year-old daughter, an amateur stand-up comic herself, somewhat sheepishly reminded her mother about the senior thesis Ms. Bessler wrote at Yale. The topic: the use of humor in presidential politics and the “Path to Power Through One-Liners, Talk Shows and Tweets.”

“Should an orator want to stir up laughter?” Ms. Bessler asked in her thesis. “The answer is a fairly resounding yes.”

Additional gems from the paper, written to complete a degree in political science, include:

“Humor can be used as a political weapon: to attack opponents, inoculate oneself from criticism, establish one’s good humor and more. Through comedy and wit, a politician can reduce audience scrutiny of arguments by appealing to their emotions and allowing them to discount any messages they might disagree with as ‘just a joke.’