[lit-ideas] Re: Laugh Tracks
- From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:39:51 -0700
It occurs to me that people are so led around in Bernays style
"Crystallizing Public Opinion" that people literally can't be trusted
even to figure out what's funny. They have to be cued to laugh with
laugh tracks. BTW, the term Kristallnacht comes in part because
Goebbels kept the book "Crystallizing Public Opinion" on his desk,
needless to say an irony (no doubt a delicious irony to Goebbels) in
addition to all the broken glass meaning of the word. (Source: Human
Smoke, Nicholson Baker)
There's really no reference to broken glass in the word 'Kristallnacht,'
which literally means 'crystal night.' And the other common English
name, 'night of [the] broken glass,' would have nothing to do with the
verb 'to crystalize,' used in the book Goebbels is said to have kept on
his desk. (Did Goebbels really spend much time in his office?) Here,
crystallization refers to giving a definite form or shape to, hence,
shaping, hence, figuratively bringing together or forming public
opinion. Nicholson Baker is trying to force a meaningful relation
between the title of Goebbel's book, and 'broken glass.' There is none.
On a more serious note, if people 'literally' can't be trusted (the
deceitful buggers) to recognize humor without the prompting of a laugh
track, why should they ever laugh at movies, plays, or books?
Robert Paul
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