Repressive Desublumation Nation, paging Dr. Zizek

[lapsedmodernist]

Holy Weltschmertz Batman! or Our Brave Boys and Girls Went to Iraq and Afgha-ha-ha--nistan LOL LOL LOLZ.

Yesterday was a nice day, and I was in desperate need of relaxation, so I drove along the shoreline to Marblehead, to go see the harbor and take some pictures. Blue skies + white boats + my unironic enjoyment of quaint New Englandia (as opposed to my ironic enjoyment of quaint Californiscape and my self-consciously mythologically-conditioned enjoyment of the quaint Midwest) and adequate zen was achieved.

So I was on my way back to Lynn, listening to NPR, Alito nomination blah blah, antibiotic resistance blah blah. I was completely unprepared for the Horror.

I am going to try and reproduce this verbatum, as I remeber the segment unfolding, with substantiating links, so now theophile, who proclaimed that I made the whole thing up when I got home, will have to believe me. I was scribbling frantic notes at the red light so that I would Nevah Forgit.

Announcer: We are going to talk abou Laugh Therapy, but you should know it has nothing to do with jokes or anything funny. But it works so well that Pentagon is taking an interest. This woman, Mary, was depressed, as her husband was about to be deployed to Iraq, so they participated in a family workshop for people whose loved ones are about to be called up, for Laugh Therapy, run by Colonel Scotty Scott, also known around the Pentagon as "The Laughing Colonel." He is like Patch Adams crossed with General Patton. What you should know about Nancy it that she was once a sceptic.

Mary: So we get together and do things like say ha-ha-ha, and we have these greetings, that go, like, Alo-ha-ha-ha, and we make motions like we are putting ley garlands over each others' heads. Alo-ha-ha-ha. And the first time I went to this workshop I was sceptical, but then [Scotty Scott] runs in, with a big red nose on his face, ha-ha-ha

[The Internet sez: "It's just, wow, powerful! When you laugh you can't think of other things," says Army Reserve Col. James "Scotty" Scott. He's director of the Defense Department's Individual and Family Support Policy in Washington D.C., which assists reservists and their loved ones. It may be hard to believe, but the Pentagon sent Scott, at his urging, to be trained by Steve Wilson as a "Certified Laughter Leader." Wilson is a self-proclaimed "joyologist" and Cheerman of the Bored of World Laughter Tour, an Ohio-based laughter club umbrella group..."I'm known as the Laughing Colonel from the Pentagon," Scott says]

Announcer: So if Colonel Scotty Scott is the Luke Skywalker of Laughter, Steve Wilson, the Certified Laughter Leader, is most definitely Yoda.

Steve Wilson

Steve Wilson: so, at our institute in Ohio, it's the atmosphere, you know, we have magicians and clowns running around

Announcer: What about mimes, do you have mimes?

Steve Wilson: I am sure there are mimes [long pause] in there...somewhere.

Announcer: [some segue to prompt SW to talk, like, methodology]

Steve Wilson: well, there are two kinds of laughter, duchane (sp?) and nonduchane (sp? redux), that is to say, forced or unforced. [I tried to find the spelling/definition of the word, but the closest thing dictionary.com had to offer was
Duchenne:
Main Entry: Du·chenne
Pronunciation: dü-'shen, d&-
Variant: also Du·chenne's /-'shenz/
Function: adjective
: relating to or being Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Du·chenne /d[UE]-shen/, Guillaume–Benjamin–Amand (1806–1875), French neurologist. Duchenne is widely recognized as the founder of electrotherapy. Dedicating his career to the study of disorders associated with nerves and muscles, he used, as early as 1830, faradic currents in treating patients. He built his own machine for electrical stimulation of nerves and muscles. In 1855 he published a volume concerning the electrophysiology of the muscular system. He is also known for his classic descriptions of a number of medical disorders involving atrophy of muscles or paralysis.]

Announcer: can you give me an example of the first kind?

Steve Wilson, (channeling the killer clown corporealized by the abused boy's coma nightmare in season 1 Buffy episode "Nightmares"): Ha-ha-ha, Whhoa-ha-ha. heee-haha-hee-hee-hee

Announcer: congratulations, that is the most terrifying thing I have ever heard. Now can you give me an example of the other kind?

Steve Wilson: (laughs "normally"--sort of)--this is me laughing thinking of you being scared.

AND SCENE.

Comments

[theophile.livejournal.com]

here is the segment you were listening to.

I still maintain that you invented the whole thing, though. I'm just surprised at your industrious dishonesty in hacking into the NPR.org website to post this faux streaming article.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I couldn't begin to make something like this up. I bet this is from some Appendix # 2343252475439a to PNAC.

YOU'VE BEEN PNAC-ED! WHERE IS ASHTON KUTCHER?

[downward--dog.livejournal.com]

I bet this is from some Appendix # 2343252475439a to PNAC.

Ha-ha-ha, Whhoa-ha-ha. heee-haha-hee-hee-hee!!!

Oh man, The End is so totally nigh.

[bklyndispatch.livejournal.com]

this is too much for me to handle.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

uhuh.

try listening to it.

[pdanielson.livejournal.com]

"antibiotic resistance blah blah."

The increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a big deal! I wrote a paper on it last semester. Summary: thank you, agriculture industry, we're on the verge of being completely fucked.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

of course it's a big deal, and it's one of my soapboxes, I get really mad at people who use antibiotics just, like, whenever, and when they don't finish them after they feel better. Alito is a big deal, too, I was just being tongue-in-cheek.

[mycrust.livejournal.com]

This transcript is so surreal and upsetting that I can only read parts of it at a time.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

you can listen to it for yourself! theophile provided a link in his comment above.

[zleetle.livejournal.com]

"Duchenne de Boulogne (1962/1990) observed that authentic smiles are distinguished from posed smiles by contractions of the orbicularis oculi muscle which surrounds the eye. Hager and Ekman (1985) have subsequently reported that the ‘Duchenne smile’ is discriminated specifically by contractions at the outer corners of the eyes (‘crows feet’ wrinkles)."

from the brain dynamics centre, sydney

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

oooh so it was related!

thankyou!

[zleetle.livejournal.com]

np! I had a student do a project on different smiles last year... It was hard not to remember the ref after reading "duchenne", "non-duchenne", "duchenne vs non-duchenne" and "semi-duchenne" in almost every sentance of her report. I'm glad it helped you out, though - at least someone could benefit :D

[chitinous.livejournal.com]

I want to say something as a response, but I'm so flabbergasted with horror. Ha? Ha?

[isolt.livejournal.com]

You just totally summed up how I feel. So scared now.

[dingywhite.livejournal.com]

i wonder if this "treatment" has roots in or ties to the holy laughter movement (read: laughter as pathway to jesus) that's popping up in various pentecostal churches...

http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/lectures/Pentecost.html

Holy Laughter as the Fourth Blessing

"Toronto Blessing" -- Top tourist attraction of 1994

* High visibility of the phenomenon known as "holy laughter" dates to a revival meeting at the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church which began in early 1994.
* Within months, the Vineyard Church had become a spectacular international event. Groups chartered 474 airplanes from around the world to witness first hand and participate in this extraordinary expression of praise.
* Manifestations of uncontrolled laughter is the most distinguished feature of what has been labeled the "Toronto Blessing," "the Laughing Revival," and "Holy Laughter." But laughter is not the only manifestation. Some participants roll on the floor, shake, jerk, utter sounds of animals, behave as if intoxicated, etc.
* This expression of worship has spread to pentecostal congregations around the world. The Brownsville Assemblies of God Church in Pensacola, Florida is another location where thousands have made a pilgrimage to "get the blessing."
* Almost all new expressions of religion generate controversy, but this movement has set pentecostal against pentecostal. Many preachers with celebrity status are into the blessing, while others see this emotion outburst as nothng short of the work of Satan. Some have changed their mind to one side of the debate and then back to the other side.
* Toronto Life Magazine billed the "Toronto Blessing" as the top tourist attraction in 1994. For those who are not interesting in a journey to Toronto or Pensacola, and don't know where to find a local pentecostal church where "holy laughter" can be observed, a visit to web sites about the phenomenon can be informative or entertaining--depending upon one's disposition.

[protogeek.livejournal.com]

Holy crap. The woman on the left looks like my mom.