American Political Humor: Touchables and Taboos

Abstract

The historical view of political humor in America maintains that the humor adheres to democratic theory and practice, viz., its dimension boundless, its character egalitarian, its substance encompassing and its expression open. In short, the position embraced both by the popular and academic cultures is that the humor is unrestricted and removed from taboos. A perusal of its content, however, suggests the contrary. Political humor reflects the nexus of power relationships and is sharply bounded by an ideology on the one hand and by corporate structure on the other. The primary focus is rather on the political official as the flaw in the system while the system itself and its underlying theory remain unexamined within the culture of humor.