Jeff—Saturday
I know it’s hard to believe that today truly is April Fools’
Day. But that’s understandable, folks, what
with our world caught up in a Groundhog
Day loop of endless irrationality that has us wondering when we’ll hear shouts
of “April Fool,” and all will be right with our planet.
Here’s the bad news: as much as I‘d like to work Easter into
my little holiday analogy, I’m sad to say that the Crucifixion in process has
no Resurrection in sight.
Last year at this time, I made reference to April Fools’ Day
as a non-public holiday celebrated in many parts of the world dedicated to
playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes, and joked that during the US
Presidential campaign “every day seems filled with fools—albeit replacing
practical jokes with dirty tricks and hoaxes with outright lies.”
Not sure there’s anything left to joke about at the moment. And
not just in the US. Greece is on the
ropes (still), Brexit is punching itself out of its constricting EU paper bag
(into suffocating plastic?), China is dancing (to its own tune), North Korea is
looming (when not booming), Russia is taping and raping (not tapping and napping),
and the Middle East is…well…just the Middle East.
Sorry if I missed your part of the world, but in these days
of 140-character foreign policy, I’m trying to adapt.
By the way, for those of you who don’t already know, playing
pranks on a set day goes back to ancient Roman, Indian, and Medieval
times. Many credit the “Nun’s Priest’s
Tale” in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1392) for singling out April 1st. Some, though, suggest that the US Congress
should be credited with having established the ultimate “fool us all” day, as
the Tuesday following the first Monday in November in a year divisible by four.
As for what is considered the greatest April Fools’ Day hoax
of all time, I’m sure we all have our favorites, and here’s a site listing the
“Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All
Time,”
Instead of picking my favorite, I think I’ll just post a few
political cartoons with an April Fools’ bent...and drift off into thoughts of
Hawaii and….
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| This cartoon has found new life. |
 |
| This cartoon has folks humming. |
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| This cartoon is just Fawkesing with us. |
—Jeff
Posts
Fooling around is only fun when the fool is funny (or, in your case, punny). What do we do when the stand-up comedians can't keep-up with reality?
ReplyDeleteElect them.
DeleteI'm for the stand-up comedians who do political humor to be the ones in office. They would do a lot better than the current House of Horrors.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could wake up and find out that all of it is an April Fools' joke. However, that won't happen.
Yep, but neither is going to happen. I suspect Rip Van Winkle is getting a lot of attention these days as a potential coping mechanism for getting through the next few years. But I think we'd all better stay wide awake.
Delete