Read David Mamet's Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'

David Mamet discovered he believed in a world infected with Original Sin. (See the next posting.) "And, I wondered, how could I have spent decades thinking that I thought everything was always wrong at the same time that I thought I thought that people were basically good at heart? Which was it? I began to question what I actually thought and found that I do not think that people are basically good at heart; indeed, that view of human nature has both prompted and informed my writing for the last 40 years. I think that people, in circumstances of stress, can behave like swine, and that this, indeed, is not only a fit subject, but the only subject, of drama." [Read the whole article in the Village Voice.]


Which induces me to propose Harris' First Law of Humor:

First Law: A belief (conscious or unconscious) in Original Sin is a necessary condition for satire
The Dual: A belief in Original Sin is grounded in a belief that man is made in the image and likeness of God
First Corollary: Satire is inherently a conservative art form
Second Corollary: Liberals' attempts at satire degenerate into snideness