Using Humor to Help the Mind

The introduction of the article “Communicating death with humor” by South, Elton, and Lietzenmayer talk about using humor in order to make the conversation about death easier. Naturally, I think this is good to help the psychological burden that death has on the mind, but this also reminded me of euthanasia. Now that there are more “psychological” outlets like “Let’s Get Together and Talk about Death,” I think it’s also important to talk about “morally right” ways to die, which could also help the mental burden of death just like humor. Even though euthanasia is incredibly controversial and illegal in almost all countries, I think it should be normalized more in some cases, such as terminally ill patients. Not only does this allow people to die peacefully, but it also allows them to die when they feel is right. If we have a right to life, shouldn’t we have a right to death as well?

I think Bob Griggs talks about an important aspect of humor that many people use voluntarily or involuntarily. He says that we should use humor with caution, and then he says that humor like “sarcasm” can inflict pain, and that hidden anger can also sneak out when using sarcasm. I think this is important to note because it shows that while humor can be a really good form of communication, it can also complicate communication if used with bad intentions.