“We’re not like Fox News”

     Here it is, my final funny post of the semester. By far, I believe I’ve saved the best for last:

     Finals week can be a real downer. We all know this. It’s nothing new. One of my classmates, Austin, has even posted about finals week and how, in order to get through it, we need to laugh. I completely agree with him. We all need to take a break during finals, and yesterday, I got the perfect break.

     I had just gotten out of my Spanish final, and I was really stressed. I went to my friend Jena’s room to chill out and vent (because everybody needs that time after a tough exam), and she showed me the video linked above to cheer me up. This video is a sneak peek from Gabriel Iglesias’s upcoming Comedy Central special.

      Gabriel is one of my favorite comedians, so I was really excited to watch this video. Yes, it is 20 minutes long, but it’s worth it. (Seriously, take the time to watch it if you haven’t.) This video really put things into perspective for me. I obviously laughed because it’s Gabriel Iglesias and he’s hilarious to me, but after watching this video, I specifically thought about this course and how Gabriel’s story outlines what Dr. Williams has been trying to show us all semester.

     Laughter brings people together. It really does. As long as we have laughter in our lives, we have a way to connect with people. People make each other laugh. It’s just what we do. We may not intend to do it sometimes, but we do it nonetheless. Gabriel proved this on his trip to Saudi Arabia, and I’m glad he’s sharing his story with the rest of us.

     Gabriel’s story proves that everybody has a sense of humor, and, in my opinion, that there’s still hope in the world. As long as we can laugh at ourselves, I think everything is going to be okay. The fact that Jeff Dunham is the number one comedian in Saudi Arabia is impressive to me, and the fact that Gabriel’s driver quoted Achmed floored me even more. The Saudi Arabians can laugh at themselves, or at least at the stereotype they’ve been given (since we know that they aren’t all terrorists).

     I think this video should be shown to students in this class in the future, should Dr. Williams continue to follow a humor theme for this Lit and Civ course. It shows the diversity and humor around the world, and, most importantly, reminds us that everyone is different. “We’re not all like Fox News.” If everybody believed every stereotype the media portrays, where would we be as individuals living in a diverse world? We need to learn to think for ourselves and remind ourselves to keep laughing.

     Since this assignment requires that I state why this video was funny to me, I have to make note of that. This video was funny because it largely provided comic relief to me in a time of extreme stress. It’s full of cognitive shifts I would’ve found funny even if I wasn’t stressed out.

     I wanted to share this video with you all because it is funny. But more than that, I wanted to show this video to you all because I think it’s important. It reminds us all that we’re only human and that it’s okay to laugh, both at ourselves and at others.