Everyone reading this article (or even just the title of the article) might be wondering about the unusual title. You all might have heard the adage “Laughter is the best medicine” and obviously used it at some point of time. Some might have used it as an explanation after their continuous giggling over a very small thing and some might have used it as an advice they give to people who always remain morose and have a lot of life issues (like me). But we all have used the phrase.
However, the title of the article is not about laughter being a medicine. It’s about laughter being a revolution. I too was confused when I heard the statement but later it all made sense. I was going through Reader’s Digest, which by the way I think everyone must read (don’t worry they don’t give me a single pie for their books promotion). It has a section called “Things to Ponder”where they have compiled the quotes by renowned people to motivate their readers. As they don’t pay me for the promotion I am not writing much about it.
In that section was a quote of a very famous comedian Roseanne Barr in which she talked about laughter being the best revolution. After reading it I wondered if it was really true. But after hours of thinking and analysing the phrase I came to a conclusion that perhaps it’s true.
Let’s take an instance, there’s a guy who is talking about anti-feminism(which btw I don’t support) with his friends. His friends listening to him might retaliate with varied arguments and examples but the guy is steadfast and assertive. In the end two things might happen:
- The guy might agree with his friends, or
- He might be a big jerk and would ignore his friends and believe his view point.
In this case, apply the phenomenon, rather than arguing with him the group of friends start laughing at him unanimously. At first he might not even understand what is happening. He can’t even retaliate or prove his point in front of his crazy friends because they are just laughing after hearing his statement. There might even come a point where he starts getting angry but there is nothing else that he could do except for saying nothing and walking away from there. Further, he would never dare to say that statement again in front of his friends because he knows what might happen if he did.
Isn’t it wonderful? It’s like a form of Gandhigiri where you don’t have to do anything but just laugh at whatever wrong the person thinks is right and not only in the above case but this can be applied in a lot of places with varied situations. Just laughing will change everything. The person, at whom, a group of people is laughing at, might even change his whole perception about the nuisance idea that he has put forth. So isn’t it the most powerful thing in the world? Think about it..
“As soon as a large group of people or citizens laugh at something, it’s never the same. That’s the most powerful thing in the world. They say Laughter is the best medicine, but it’s the best revolution too.” – Roseanne Barr
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