Before I acknowledged my humanist tendencies, I was a loser schmoozer boozer bit of a smart arse. That is to say, I like comedy and jokes. I like laughing – but even more I like making others laugh – and placed this above all other things. Any one who saw my end of term report card will attest.
One of the guys who has recently been helping me to do that is a guy called Bill Hicks
This is a photo and a quote from him – an American stand-up that sadly is no longer with us. If you have not heard any Bill Hicks material and you appreciate comedy, make it your business to hear his work. He was about 25% as famous as he should have been.
You’ll piss your pants.
His sets were not political in and of themselves – rather he would use comedy to expose cruel, greedy and selfish behaviour (non-humanist…. inhumane (?)) that most frequently would be perpetrated by government – or at very least encouraged by their policy.
One of the key themes I’d like to explore in this blog is how during the course of our lives & particularly careers, the government or the corporation often leads us to act in non humanist ways. Ways that benefit them and often to the detriment of those around us.
Anyone who has cringed at Ricky Gervais great work “The Office” and the behaviour of his character will have had it spelled out for them, in his adept parody of a middle manager who has learned all the buzz words, read the management handbook and listened to all the self-confidence tapes. Aside from his comic incompetence – the bits that make us laugh – we also cringe at the type of guy he is….or what type of human he is.
He has modified his behaviour to succeed in his Corporation at the expense of almost everything else. And we recognise the behaviour. And this indoctrination of humanity and corruption of humanitarian values is happy right under our noses.
I’d like to close this post with a couple of Bill Hicks’ non-comedy quotes and perhaps justify his position in a humanist blog:
” As long as I’m going to live in this world, I might as well make it the most enjoyable and fun and fair place I can make it. “
Bill Hicks
