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Status Anxiety Alain De Botton Analysis

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Humor is the art of turning something serious, and sometimes even heartbreaking into something that makes people laugh until they can’t breathe. As well as being incredibly entertaining, the skill of making something funny can be used to change the world. In his book Status Anxiety, Alain de Botton correctly argues that the role of humorists as messengers of taboo or restricted topics is vital to society. When presented with a serious topic, many people shy away out of fear of being offensive, but humorists revel in the idea of not only talking about that offensive subject but making jokes about it as well. But why do they get away with it? Because it’s funny, of course. Without humor, many topics would be untouched, and untalked about. The importance of humorists as conveyors of information can be seen in TV shows like “Last Week Tonight”, the comedy film “The Interview” and Youtube videos. …show more content…

One week, when telling the story of tax fraud committed by a televangelists, Oliver satirizes the commercialism of the Christian faith by jokingly founding his own church called “Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption”. As the name implies, Oliver is poking fun at the tax exemptions many churches are unfairly given. While dressed as a Christian minister, with his dutiful ‘wife’ by his side, he preaches that the viewers should send him money to rectify their sins, much like many televangelists do. Without directly stating that this behavior is wrong, Oliver brings light to the situation by exaggerating the details, and characteristics of televangelists until it’s funny. If talked about directly, this topic could have been extremely offensive, but because it’s a joke, people don’t mind as much. Through satire, and funny skits, Oliver is forgiven for saying something so offensive, because it’s just so damn

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