Believe Me, I’m Joking: The Dialectics of the Legend and the Dialectics of Humor

The American public is told that they can trust what the president says, except when he is joking. Jokers do not commit to the truth of what they are saying, but they do not commit to speaking untruth either. The joking frame discounts utterances, introducing not certainty, but endless ambiguity and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of American folklore 2018-10, Vol.131 (522), p.444-450
Main Author: Marsh, Moira
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AFS ETHNOGRAPHIC THESAURUS
Ambiguity
Anthropology
Clinton, Hillary Rodham
Criticism and interpretation
Dialectics
Discounts
Epistemology
Ethnic Studies
Ethnography
Folklore
Hegemony
Humor
Jokes
Legends
lies
Literary devices
Negative campaigning
Political aspects
Political campaigns
political humor
Political satire
Politics
Presidents
Press and politics
Press conferences
Speeches
Spicer, Sean
Trump, Donald J
Truth
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The American public is told that they can trust what the president says, except when he is joking. Jokers do not commit to the truth of what they are saying, but they do not commit to speaking untruth either. The joking frame discounts utterances, introducing not certainty, but endless ambiguity and argument. The White House’s invocation of the joking frame is one more element in the destabilizing of epistemology and in widening political, cultural, and social divisions.
ISSN:0021-8715
1535-1882
DOI:10.5406/jamerfolk.131.522.0444