A large part of modern entertainment is comprised of the works of humorists. Alain de Botton, in his book Status Anxiety, argues that humorists can convey messages that would be hard to communicate directly with impunity. Although Botton does not consider how humorists are still restrained by moral bounds, he is mostly correct in his assertion that the impunity of humorist gives them an important role in society. Humorists are not exempt from punishment if they create content that is distasteful or morally questionable. When comedian Kathy Griffin posted a picture of her holding a mask of President Trump’s bloody face, she faced harsh criticism even though it was not meant to be taken so literally. Although she was simply trying to convey …show more content…
The satirical publishing organization, The Onion, for example, is allowed to publish fake news without fear of being sued. Since the purpose of their articles is satire, which is a form of comedy rather than news, they are protected under the First Amendment. With this privilege, the authors can effectively point out the absurdity and irony of diverse aspects of society. Humorous works also often have some degree of ambiguity to them, which prevents their true meaning from being truly known. For example, Galileo’s Two Chief Systems proved the heliocentric model and discredited the geocentric model, but was structured as a humorous conversation between two characters. However, the characters were each supposed to be interpreted as representing a model and the conversations were meant to prove the author’s underlying argument. With this, Galileo was able to put forth his theory, which would change how people viewed the world, without fear of punishment from the Catholic Church. This is because if his objectives were questioned, he could argue that his book had no intent of dissenting from the church and supporting the heliocentric model if he was