So there I am rereading Thackery’s Vanity Fair when I come upon this paragraph:
“Otherwise you might fancy it was I who was sneering at the practice of devotion, which Miss Sharp finds so ridiculous; that it was I who laughed good-humouredly at the reeling old Silenus of a baronet—whereas the laughter comes from one who has no reverence except for prosperity, and no eye for anything beyond success. Such people there are living and flourishing in the world—Faithless, Hopeless, Charityless: let us have at them, dear friends, with might and main. Some there are, and very successful too, mere quacks and fools: and it was to combat and expose such as those, no doubt, that Laughter was made.”
So maybe Orange Pile of Melted Creamsickle Goo is not a new phenomenon but one as ageless as the emergence of the human race from the primordial morass. That Thackery could write these words over 150 years ago proves that. It also proves that people like Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah and Jimmy Fallon and all the rest of the comics out there are, in fact, one of our greatest bulwarks against him.
No matter how angry we might get, laughing while pointing a finger at a man’s crotch and tiny hands and feet is still the best way to destroy him in seconds.