@Aamra Grove: Is humor important?

I spoke at the 2nd annual Aamra Grove retreat last weekend, an event that brings influential Indians around the world together - from business, the public sector, and the arts. It was an overwhelming honor to speak in front of personal heros like Mira Nair, Shashi Tharoor, Aasif Mandvi, Ram Shriram, and Anand Mahindra.

Unfortunately, the video won’t be made public, but I’ll summarize a bit of my talk, on the importance of humor.

One of the many reasons I think that the Republican Party is currently losing this race badly is their sense of humor.  Or actually, their sense of our sense of humor.  They seem to have an inability to understand when most of us think they’re being ironic.  Much of  John McCain’s rhetoric makes him sound like he is running for President in 1980, rather than 2 decades later.

When you don’t realize that millions of Americans think its funny, or worse, disrespectful, to be referred to as Joe Sixpack, Joe the Plumber, or Joe Mama, you’re going to lose a couple swing states.

It seems that our sense of humor has moved beyond the Republican Party.  I guess it’s time to start a new thinktank.

I believe that brilliant satire has helped us to make this transition.  Big ups to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.  They remind us that we don’t need to take jokers seriously.

Speaking of jokers, the current president of India is Pratibha Patil.  During her run for office, she claimed to have a “divine experience” that lead her to run for office and that she “converses with spirits”.  Not to mention, her legal scandals would make Wasillians blush.

Sound familiar?  My hope is that in India’s future, people like Pratibha Patil have dopplegangers with Tina Fey’s talent and ability to reach millions of viewers.