Just an April Fool (Jennifer R. Hubbard)

Our topic this month is “fools,” and I have a great opening here, because no post by me has appeared on YAOTL in two months. Where was my post in March? Did I flake out? Had I nothing to say about March's topic, the weather?

Well, I wrote that post, far in advance as I usually do. And scheduled it. It is a quirk of Blogger’s software that it sometimes takes “scheduled” posts and converts them to “draft” for no apparent reason. And at the end of March, when I realized I hadn’t seen my post come up, I checked the list of scheduled posts. Sure enough, there mine was, still unpublished and listed as “draft,” thanks to the Blogger gremlins.

Foiled by technology again!

Maybe the gremlins were playing an April Fool’s joke on me, a little early.

Incidentally, I loathe April Fool’s Day. For every truly clever joke I see, there are 99 others that just seem plain cruel. Don’t we have enough days on which we lie to and make fun of one another? Don’t we shame one another enough? Do we really need another day set aside for just that purpose? Maybe I’m extra sensitive to this because humiliation was a huge part of the bullying I endured growing up. Humiliating someone—pulling the rug out from under him or her—just isn’t funny to me.

I like this rule of humor: make fun of yourself, or make fun of the powerful. Humor directed at those with less power than you is just mean.

For me, humor is also about the absurd, the unexpected. If April Fool’s encouraged us just to be silly and playful, I’d be on board.

But I doubt my opinion will have much influence on the culture. Me, I’m just a fool defeated by the gremlins of Blogger!

Comments

  1. Ha! This is funny (the gremlins part, not the humiliating someone part) ! I've had issues with the scheduler thing too.

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    1. As long as these glitches keep occurring, I don't think computers are ready to take over the world!

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  2. You are exactly right, Jenn. Make fun of yourself. Make fun of the powerful.

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