Status Anxiety By Alain De Botton

Humorists have been entertaining their audiences in different ways for years. Through comics, satire, and much more, they are able to comically introduce their ideas and messages that may not be able to be said in any other way. As Alain de Botton writes in his book, Status Anxiety, a humorist’s purpose is “to convey with impunity messages that might be dangerous or impossible to state directly”. This is proven through the way the importance of humor has been shown through satire and comics.

Through satire, a writer is able to do many things to convey change in society. A satire is the use of humor to show negatives in society, particularly politics or other controversial issues. One well known example of this is Mark Twain’s “The Adventures

of Huckleberry Finn”. In this satirical writing, Twain is able to take on a different persona by narrating as Huck Finn. Through this character and comical writing style, the author is able to tell a controversial tale and create a large impact on society about the way it functions and the way everyone lives. Satire is an important way of writing with humor to provoke change.
Another very popular way that humorists display their message is through cartoons. The first political cartoon published in the United States was by a very well known man, Benjamin Franklin. He was hoping to gain support of the people in his campaign. The cartoon was published in newspapers across the country and had a very large impact on the people of the nation. He was able to gain the support he needed with the help of his cartoon.
It is very clear that humorists are very influential on society, but some believe that what they say it all a joke and has no impact. Some people may find it hard to take a humorist seriously. Many ways humorist present their ideas is through jokes, and some may find it hard to respect that. Although this is understandable, it must be understood that the humor makes the ideas relatable. It does not make the things they are saying any less true. De Botton’s entire idea is that humorists use the humor to say things that may not be able to be said in any other way. By using comics, satire, and many other things, humorists very effectively influence people of society.