A False Dichotomy

This week's quote, by the Scottish philosopher, David Hume, is an odd one, "Reason and genius evoke respect and esteem. Wit and humour inspire love and affection." And the illustration chosen to accompany it is weirder... a photo of Eastbourne pier... why??

However, I refuse to waste time and energy trying to work out why that image goes with that quote, when I have bigger fish to fry. Because I disagree with Hume, or at least with the apparent dichotomy he sets up. He seems to be saying that on the one hand, if you show reason and genius, you will "evoke" or call forth, respect and esteem. Which are worthy of evocation. On the other hand, (and this is the bit I disagree with), wit and humour will "inspire" love and affection.

Why can't reason and genius inspire love and affection? Why can't wit and humour evoke respect and esteem? Admittedly, these two sentences are quoted completely out of their context, and might make perfect sense in it. But on the face of it, I cannot agree with him. Reason and genius are not necessarily cold aspects of humankind, only able to evoke "respect and esteem". I can think of many occasions where they have inspired yes, respect, but also affection, in me.

Nor are wit and humour always benign. I can think of plenty of examples of wit being used cruelly, to tease, to scapegoat, to satirise.  I was teased badly as a child, made a butt of jokes, because of my patched glasses. And you only have to go back a few years to remember the Charlie Hebdo furore, when that French satirical magazine was attacked for mocking Muslim beliefs. I wrote about it here.

I believe that human beings are far more complex in their interactions than the quotation suggests. That which evokes respect and esteem in one person, may leave another person cold. And our sense of humour is often unique to ourselves. Some examples of wit and humour will "tickle our funny bones", when others pass us by without cracking so much as a smile. And we are also capable of growth and change: some things we found funny in the past make us cringe now... I'm thinking of racist and sexist TV programmes of the sixties and seventies, which were popular then, but really dreadful in retrospect.

So may we all be free to respond to outside stimuli in whatever way makes sense to us (so long as it doesn't lead us into cruelty or hatred or indifference).