Humorists and Social Issues: Dr Seuss and Russell Peters

Humorists, in terms of Botton’s view, are the people that feed the world the, “true world” indirectly. Humorists are the ones that present the issues in a slightly more obscure manner, to bring awareness of the issue to the public. Through different styles and different media, humorists can bring social issues to the public through stories and comedy. One of the most famous humorists that every child knows is Dr. Seuss, the author of stories like Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs n’ Ham, and The Lorax.

The Lorax is a story about deforestation, an issue that was very prevalent during the time the book was published.

The Lorax, nature, is a creature in a forest, the, “Speaker for the Trees” Once-ler, the “human”, ignores the Lorax and cuts down all the trees of the forests for his business of theeds, leaving the forest in the barren environment as is shown at the beginning of the book. Along with the Lorax’s disappearance, since the forest and truffula trees have been cut down once, it is not able to grow back again due to the harsh soil now left in the ground.

This message contained in a children’s book left even the more mature adults reading this book. By using a very childish entertaining story while leaving an underlying “hidden” message, the book can easily bring entertainment as the story of the Lorax, or it can also be a way to introduce adolescents to a social issue early in the developmental stages of childhood.

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If not done in such a matter, there would be no viable way to expose children to such issues. Another less child-friendly humorist is Russell Peters, a comedian. He speaks about issues such as racism, tradition, diversity, cultural practices, etc. Although in a more blunt manner, he attracts many people due to his humorous jokes.

Although he can easily be viewed as just some racist comedian, it can also be said that he is raising awareness about racism. In one of Peters’s shows, he speaks about parents beating their children, which is not an issue people can address openly. Yet, through his comedic language, he showed the differences in discipline and the differences of respect among different cultures between parents who do discipline their children, and those who do not. The role of the humorists is to raise awareness through one’s unique styles and mediums to appeal to different audiences. Humorists are the urban enlighteners, those who see the social issues that surround our country and express those social issues to others in a manner that is acceptable to society. Whether through children’s books or adult comedy, humorists spread their influence to all that experience the humorist’s messages, their purpose being to raise awareness. Even those who do not notice the social values that have just been spoken to them, each person will still leave a little more aware of those issues than before encountering the humorist’s realm of enlightenment.