I truly loathe April first

[Greybird]

Posted originally to the Atlantis mailing list, 1 April 2000

Begin non-sequitur impersonal rant:

I hate April first. It's the day when practical "jokes" are supposedly allowed by the mores of mature adults. Speculation, anguish, emotion, sometimes even earnest personal action to mitigate bad results, all are wasted on deceptions for the sake of the "joy" of deceptions.

It's a truly pathetic attempt to be "funny" not through wit, satirizing, lampooning, or even cheap verbal or physical pratfalls ... but by chopping away at others, through their reliance on our being routinely truthful.

As well as making cheap sport of those of us who are too productive to always keep an eye on the calendar. It undercuts, yes, for one full day, the basis of a rational civilization.

End non-sequitur impersonal rant.

Sorry, folks, but I had to get that off my chest. I've long suspected that Rand was the butt of such "jokes" on more than one occasion, in her early life, and that this may have contributed to her crabbed and inaccurate views of humor as such.

For a humorous take on the State's real April Fool joke, check out this essay.

Edited April 1, 2007 by Greybird

[Rodney]

Practical jokes are not a sin against honesty, but against simple human safety. They may create a danger in some unanticipated way.

[Greybird]

Be-boppity-bump!

[John Dailey]

~ For those who find this subject of time-kill pranks/Joke's-on-you/'April-Fool'/'Gotcha' or even mere benevolent-oriented 'SURPRISE's as being of so-very serious concern (regardless rare serious 'unintended consequences'), may I refer you to this 'think-twice' thought-provoking analysis...The Pointlessness of 'April Fool' jokes

LLAP

J:D

~ PS: Rand saw little 'point' in humor, granted; ntl, she didn't really denigrate its worth...beyond its being irrelevent to the 'important' things in life. Like, who really needs The 3 Stooges...or a cream-pie in the face? (Actually, there just might be a place for both...in (if one broadens the subject a bit)...'ART'...to include absurdity; you know, 'that to be contemplated for its own sake.'

Edited April 3, 2008 by John Dailey