Certain ever-lasting trends in society worry me. While there is less smiling and degradation in terms of affectionate social patterns, anywhere you turn you see excessive compulsive laughter (often in public places over the telephone) as well as fake, polite laughs. [that's my genuine laugh on the right, circa 1984] Fake laughter has become a fundamental asset to girls who flirt. A man might say the darnest thing and some girls would still voluntarily giggle. Guys likewise, but as a straight man, I have no evidence. Either way, this fabricated temperament is becoming a norm.

It is also possible to see this wave of fake laughter in today’s sit-coms with a live studio audience. I don’t know about the old TV series , but the new batch of Hollywood Squares (with Whoopie), for example, bothered me quite a bit. Involved are 9 celebrities who memorise one-liners off paper, 2 contestants saying “true” or “false”, and an audience that hysterically laughs at jokes written by comedians prior to the show. In America, you would sometimes spot a guy with a large banner facing the audience and encouraging them to laugh or applaud. I used to watch such shows when there was nothing else on TV. Maturity has taught me the low educational value contained within them. We have to realise that if a joke is not forcibly laughed at, it does not imply that we have failed to understand it. One who does not laugh is not necessarily a boor.

To sum up, my bottom line would be that staged behaviour on TV hit our lives too. Most of us are living behind masks, hiding our real feelings and manipulating natural emotion to achieve our goals or adhere to norms. I am hoping for greater openness in society one day. Fake laughter is relatively benign, if not beneficial, commonplace behaviour. The new wave of utter disrespect, distance and cold, emotionless attitude is a far greater danger as manners and flattery are still the glue of society.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 20th, 2005 at 5:46 am and is filed under General, Humour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.