Why Pain Makes Us Laugh


	Why Pain Makes Us Laugh

wiccantexan

11-25-2008 10:38 PM

240 views

tags:

laughter, comedy, social

1 Comment |

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11-27-2008 8:23 AM

Khestra

You know I'm a pretty easy-going kinda gal, but for some reason that Darwin Awards site has me slightly appalled.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/5bd97b62-0229-4b69-857c-603f96186c85/94F9EAF4-B165-4426-99BE-E16805FBA349/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=6325491&page=1" href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=6325491&page=1" style="font-size: 11px;">abcnews.go.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=6325491&page=1"><P>
It's a simple idea we learn from our early childhood: We laugh when we're happy and cry when we're sad.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=6325491&page=1">But sometimes it's not that simple. What happens when you laugh at a video of someone falling off a ladder, or find yourself straining to avoid hysterics when a home video shows a son hitting a line drive into his father's groin?
</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=6325491&page=1"><P>
All of this points to a simple conclusion: Pain makes us laugh.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=6325491&page=1"><P>
She points to theories from ancient Greece and Hobbes to explain why some find pain funny -- because it can make the person laughing feel greater than the object of his or her derision.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=6325491&page=1"><P>
Mahony explained the mindset as, "I laugh in triumph and superiority at the foibles and stupidity of other people."
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=6325491&page=1"><P>
One example of this is the Darwin Awards, a Web site that recounts the exploits of people (a few of the stories are real) who, through poor decision-making or a seeming lack of common sense, remove themselves from the gene pool.
</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/94F9EAF4-B165-4426-99BE-E16805FBA349/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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