Mockery

Sembra che la questione -insieme morfologica e tematica -affrontata nelle tre dense giornate napoletane di Compalit 2015, e ripresa in questo fascicolo di Between, abbia tre teste: un po' come quel famoso dipinto di Tiziano in cui sopra un fondo scuro sono rappresentati tre volti di età diverse, cioè un giovane che legge un foglio su cui sono vergate due righe di un pentagramma, un adulto alla sua sinistra che indica lo spartito e infine un vecchio che guarda l'osservatore. Idealmente, la satira, forma primigenia, luogo di flussi e di mormorazioni, potrebbe essere incarnata dal primo; la parodia, forma "ulteriore" e reattiva, che lascia sempre intravedere la traccia di riferimento, corrisponderebbe al secondo; l'umorismo, forma (auto)riflessiva per eccellenza, che si nutre di umori saturnini e scorge in lontananza la fine del tutto (sia essa morte o catastrofe) troverebbe il suo emblema nel vecchio. Ma l'uomo al * Questo saggio deve considerarsi frutto d'un lavoro comune; in ogni caso, i paragrafi Il prisma dello humour, Yes we can can e Infinite Jest sono stati redatti da Francesco de Cristofaro; il paragrafo La parola bassa da Giovanni Maffei; il paragrafo Il (leggero) peso di Dio da Elisabetta Abignente; il paragrafo Tristram Shandy & altri homunculi da Ugo M. Olivieri; il paragrafo La lumaca sul fuoco da Francesco Cattani. Insieme agli autori del presente contributo e al direttivo di Compalit (), hanno collaborato al convegno Chi ride ultimo. Parodia satira umorismi, tenutosi all'Università di Napoli Federico II dal 16 al 18 dicembre 2015, alcuni componenti dell'Opificio napoletano: in modo particolare, Carmen Gallo e Marco Viscardi.

The Mistaʿarvim are Jewish undercover agents who masquerade as Arabs in order to infiltrate Palestinian and other Arab societies in the service of the Israeli military. The first Mistaʿarvim unit, which served in the pre-1948 Palmach Zionist militia, was based on Jews of Arab origin. Arabs in appearance and in speech, these undercover Jewish agents masqueraded as Arabs to blend into Arab communities without raising suspicion. They successfully executed their operations only by transforming their Arab selves into a performative imitation of ‘Arabs’ as Others. Complying with the Zionist binary separation between ‘Arabs’ and ‘Jews’ as two different identities, they broke their originally hyphenated Jewish-Arab identity, and in return they gained heroic acceptance into the exclusively Jewish nation in Israel. In this article, we examine how the military-oriented tactic of histaʿarvut (the infinitive form of acting as Mistaʿarvim) sheds light on performative acts in the field of popular music, whereby a Jewish Israeli identity is asserted through a ‘masked’ performance of Arabs. As an act of self-imitation, ‘cultural histaʿarvut’ includes symbolic borrowing of visual, linguistic, or musical elements from Arab and Palestinian cultures in order to stage a masked performance that ‘crosses’ the cultural lines to ridicule or demean Arabs and their culture, as a means of Jewish Israeli entertainment. Drawing on this, we introduce the term ‘sonic masquerading’ to elaborate on the specific performative uses of the Arabic accent and musical features as an example of cultural histaʿarvut in the work of the Israeli musicians Shefita, Daniel Saʿadon, and Tuna.

The unfolding of emotions in medieval and modern Europe took place against the political and social backdrop which assigned them profoundly different meanings depending on social structures like kinship, community, confraternity and the sacrosanct relation with the supernatural world and the dead. To approach this complex subject matter, it is indispensable to grasp the cultural dimension the emotional sphere originated in, developed and reached its outcome in the light of the political and social context in which the protagonists who brought it into being moved. Along these lines, the analysis is most effective using the case study method where general problems are studied in the context of single events and specific locations. The event examined in this paper unfolded in 1618 in Roč (Croatia). It was a blatant ritual of humiliation and degradation with a large group of priests as its main protagonists, though it unfolded within that very community. Honour, shame and social respect were the defining elements of this ritual of humiliation.

Il dispiegarsi delle emozioni nell’Europa medievale e moderna si svolgeva nell’ambito di contesti politici e sociali che assegnavano loro significati profondamente diversi e declinati all’insegna di strutture sociali come la parentela, la comunità, la confraternita e l’irrinunciabile relazione con il mondo soprannaturale e dei defunti.  Per avvicinarsi a questa complessità è necessario ovviamente cogliere la dimensione culturale in cui la sfera emotiva trovava origine, per poi svilupparsi e raggiungere i suoi esiti alla luce del contesto politico e sociale in cui si muovevano i protagonisti che la ponevano in essere. In tale direzione l’analisi risulta quanto più efficace se viene condotta tramite cases study, nei quali problemi di carattere generale sono esaminati nell’ambito di singole vicende e di luoghi specifici.
La vicenda che è qui esaminata si svolse nel 1618 a Rozzo (Croazia) e si caratterizzò come un plateale rito di umiliazione e di degradazione che ebbe come protagonisti principali un folto gruppo di giovani chierici e sacerdoti, ma si svolse nell’ambito della stessa comunità. Onore, vergogna e rispetto sociale furono elementi determinanti nel caratterizzare il rito di umiliazione.

Humour is peculiar to human beings and an essential characteristic of human life. When it is applied in English teaching, it enhances students’ learning ability. If the teachers start adding element of humour in their teaching method it could definitely improve students’ English learning ability. Therefore, humour is considered an important element to reduce the anxiety factor and boredom in an English language class. However, its uses make English language class more effective and interesting. It creates a learning environment in such a way in a language class that helps the students to perform even better. Mostly the teachers follow the same old traditional method of English teaching and avoid cracking jokes in the class in order to maintain discipline and class control. That is why students do not take much interest in their classes. However, the negative kind of humour such as to make fun of the students, to hit their families, sarcasm, hit ethnicity and insult should be avoided as it badly damages the students’ personality as well as it ruins the sacred environment and discipline of the class. The negative impact of humour makes the student offensive and can bring negative results in the classroom.

Keywords:  Pedagogical Humour, Students’ Learning, Mimicry, Mockery

"The word paternoster has been applied in a variety of senses. In the Middle Ages paternoster became a synonym for lovemaking. An early instance of this usage appears in the anonymous medieval Latin Prisciano regula. Later it occurs in Rutebeuf's Old French De frere Denise and the Middle English Secunda Pastorum. Evidence that the medieval usage perhaps continued into the modern period is found in Thackeray's Vanity Fair and Hugo's Notre-Dame.

The erotic paternoster may have originated in a playful juxtaposition of a holy prayer and an unholy deed, in an awareness that people saying the paternoster often had their minds on their lovers, or in the proximity of the paternoster to the kiss of peace in the liturgy."

Das nicht mehr schöne Bildnis Druckgraphische Porträts als Medien der Diffamierung in der Frühen Neuzeit Die Erfindung der Druckgraphik, ihre gewerbsmäßige Produktion und ihr warenmäßiger Vertrieb bewirkten ab dem 16. Jahrhundert eine Ausbreitung und mehr noch eine "Aufdringlichkeit von Bildern", die der europäischen Kultur zuvor unbekannt war. 1 Auf den vom überregionalen Buchund Kunsthandel seit dem 15. Jahrhundert bereiteten Wegen erreichte die Druckgraphik in Form von Einzelblättern oder als Bestandteil von gedruckten Büchern zunehmend mehr Menschen und veränderte nachhaltig Bildund Wahrnehmungskulturen. 2 Überwogen zunächst religiöse Sujets, nahm die Zahl an profanen Bildgegenständen rasch zu, ebenso wie das Bewusstsein für Möglichkeiten der Funktionalisierung von gedruckten Bildern jenseits von Frömmigkeitsdidaktik und Erbauung. Bekanntlich trugen die im Zuge der Reformation entstehenden Konflikte intensiv dazu bei, dass die Möglichkeiten des Einsatzes von Druckgraphik zur Information, politischen und religiösen Agitation, Moraldidaktik und Sozialdisziplinierung und nicht zuletzt auch zur Unterhaltung erprobt und ausgebaut wurden. 3 Der Fokus der Forschung zur frühneuzeitlichen Bildpolitik lag lange Zeit auf polemisch-satirischen Flugblättern und-schriften und deren mitunter spektakulären Bildfindungen, weswegen häufig übersehen wurde, dass noch im 16. Jahrhundert das Porträt zur größten und mithin "aufdringlichsten" Gruppe der Druckgraphik geriet. 4

On the framework of cognitive appraisal theory, the current research proposes a paracrisis development model that illustrates how the cognitive appraisal of social norms and visual mockery in the social media evokes negative affect and subsequent coping behaviors in terms of boycotts. To test the model, an online experiment was conducted simulating a real-world paracrisis situation in which a user's Facebook commentary regarding a company's billboard ad sparked a social media outcry. Results of the study showed that both social proof and visual mockery played a role in the negative climate of opinion and perception of a crisis. Social proof and visual mockery also aroused negative affect. Notably, visual mockery affected negative affect of self rather than others, while social proof had a greater impact on negative affect of others than self. The elicited negative affect not only increased boycott intentions but it also mediated the effect of visual mockery on boycott intentions. In conclusion, the paracrisis development model showed empirical evidence for the role of social media triggered events in forming a crisis perception and potentially leading to boycotts in the interplay of social proof and visual mockery.

Adnan Oktar (Harun Yahya)

n societies that are far from religion, some people spend a lot of time investigating other people's deficiencies and exposing their weaknesses, for they are excessively devoted to this life and desire to be superior to every one else. One of their techniques is to mock someone else's defects, weaknesses, and errors in the mistaken belief that they are thereby covering up their own faults. For this reason, people who do not adopt the Qur'an's morality frequently adopt this moral defect and mock others while simultaneously worrying about being mocked themselves. Therefore, they use their mockery to create an atmosphere of cruelty for each other.

However, this is just one facet of the character of those who mock others. In fact, they mock particularly those ideas that they do not want to accept.

The results of this activity can be seen in how the unbelievers behave toward religion. Throughout history, there have been some people who resisted following the true path to which Allah invited them through His prophets and His books. Instead, they have followed satan's path and have rejected both His revelation and belief in the Day of Judgment. Without any doubt, the source of this inexplicable behavior is the person's arrogance. As Allah tells us in the Qur'an:

Your god is One God. As for those who do not believe in the hereafter, their hearts are in denial and they are puffed up with pride. (Surat an-Nahl, 22)

This article focuses on the analysis of gossip that is done in a playful key, including laughter as a salient feature, drawing on extracts taken from two naturally occurring conversations among Galician female undergraduate students. The analysis indicates that gossip emerges as a form of indirect mockery in the data, which are commonly based on dramatized reported speech of the ‘victim’, including parodic stylization devices that are orientated to elicit laughter by making fun or through ridicule. The evaluation component also reveals important differences in relation to serious gossip, as it is not necessarily negative and is not always explicitly established or developed. For this reason, this component can be ambiguous in some cases. From a functional perspective, the article emphasizes that sociability and entertainment are not the only functions that playful and humorous gossip can play; at a fundamental level, this discourse practice has other benefits for the participants: as a way of constructing group identity and getting group comfort for a feeling of envy; of increasing self-esteem from the problems of another party; and of degrading other people’s success. The common element behind these underlying functions is a comparative competition of the gossipers with the person who is the subject of their talk. Thus, gossip as mockery is not free of maliciousness and competitiveness.

Our program participates in the initiative of Australia's Hellenic community, We speak Greek in March. Wednesday 30th of March is devoted to the term Anecdotes. Dr Andreas Serafim, from Cyprus Open University, elaborates on the term in this interview with Nicki Karakatsanis.

Link: http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/greek/en/content/we-speak-greek-march-anecdotes-dr-andreas-serafim

This article explores the function of mockery and laughter in the short novel “El celoso hasta la muerte” by Alonso de Castillo Solórzano. I interpret this text as a “novela de burlas” or comic novella, a specific type of narrative in which mockery is a central device. The analysis pays close attention to the mechanism of the “canned laughter” that reveals the function of ridicule and the role of both the victim as scapegoat and his victimizers. At the end, this short novel reflects the literary sensitivity of the aristocratic audience to whom it is addressed: a small group of noble families and friends that the author met during his stay in Valencia.