humor

[Rodney Patterson]

For many of us who lived in Russia years ago, Dean Worth's comment --
  "I personally don't find it interesting, funny, or scary. But
then I come from a time when my best friend in Moscow was beaten to death by
the secret police. While you are chortling at these jokes, bear in mind that
this humor still drips blood." --

brings back a lot of sad memories that shouldn't be forgotten.  None of my
friends was beaten to death by the "authorities," but a number of very fine
people whom I had the privilege of knowing dreamed all their lives of
someday creating something worthwhile (like a work of literary scholarship,
for instance, or paintings, poetry, etc.), but went to their graves feeling
as though their lives were tragic absurdities, that they had been baffled by
people whose connections with civilization, if any, was difficult to detect.
  Meanwhile the "humor" of Americans who feel heroic after enduring a few
months (if that) in Russia continues to focus on such things as the
availability of toilet paper. Oh, well, perhaps that's progress, in a way.
About 25 years ago I had the impression that Americans living at the
Nacional' hotel (where I sometimes posted packages) were complaining that
there wasn't any DESIGNER toilet paper.

Rodney Patterson
State University of New York at Albany

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