Writes Jason Zinoman, in "Kamala Harris’s Laugh Is a Campaign Issue. Our Comedy Critic Weighs in. The Trump campaign sees Harris’s laugh as a vulnerability to exploit. But far from a liability, it is one of her most effective weapons" (NYT).
"What does a laugh say about a person? That he or she is human. In a divided country, it’s something we all do and enjoy. And as anyone who has hung out with friends late into the night knows, it’s contagious. That’s a powerful political tool. As the poet Ella Wilcox wrote, 'Laugh and the world laughs with you.'"
Ella Wilcox? She started that? Oh!
I am laughing at the surprise encounter with what looks like the childless cat lady J.D. Vance was talking about.
Here's the poem, "Solitude":
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;Ella Wilcox, née Ella Wheeler, was not about guffawing with abandon to win the support of millions. We're told she was traveling, in 1883, to Madison, Wisconsin, to attend the Governor's inaugural ball, and when she saw a young woman, dressed in black and crying...
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,—
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
Miss Wheeler sat next to her and sought to comfort her for the rest of the journey. When they arrived, the poet was so depressed that she could barely attend the scheduled festivities. As she looked at her own radiant face in the mirror, she suddenly recalled the sorrowful widow. It was at that moment that she wrote the opening lines of "Solitude"....
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71 comments:
"Genuine laughter is hard to fake"
Isn't this the point of the criticism, that they both are fake? So people can easily see through it. Even those who feel a need to defend them for their own political reasons.
genuine laughter
Not at ALL Sure, WHAT genuine laughter has to do with Either Hilary! or the Brat Kamela?
Kinda THE WHOLE POINT is that BOTH of their "laughter" is Evil and Contrived
The strategy seems to be to make criticism of any Kamala Harris vulnerability, a trope, dog whistle or otherwise inappropriate.
Laughing is a universal human response, so it is reasonable to talk about how or when someone laughs.
Tucker Carlson had an almost manic laugh when he was talking with Joe Rogan.
So, Hillary will be Kamela's choice for VP? We going to have an historic double-cunt ticket? Is there anything in the WaPo or NYT about NOT about race, sex, and age in politics? Anything about economic or international policy positions?
Doesn't Kamala laugh at the weirdest times, when nothing is funny? It's a nervous gesture. I don't know, she always looks drunk or "not that smart" to me, maybe the laugh is related to that.
There was a suggestion that it made her seem inauthentic, which was a bizarre point, since genuine laughter is, if not involuntary, then very hard to fake.
Umm…isn’t that exactly the point? Clinton’s laughter sounds fake.
It’s a shame that he undermined his argument with this idiotic opening because I think he’s right about Harris. Her laugh does seem authentic. She seems like somebody who likes to laugh.
What about nervous laughter, like when someone exposes a negative quality about you or asks you a question that you really don't want to answer?
It isn't how they laugh, HIllary or Kamala, it's when. In the words of the Prophet (King Solomon or Pete Seeger, take your pick), there is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to dance.
Simile and the world similes with you. Metaphor and you metaphor alone.
Kamala's cackle is a nervous laugh, covering the space where an answer ought to have been instead.
Women are morons, structurewise.
RH - the lonely cat man.
Stuff and nonsense. Of course you can fake laughter. I used to date a wannabe comic in Vegas who made a point to laugh it up at meh comedians.
The guys would be so grateful they'd come over and schmooze on the break. Especially if the crowd was sparse or dead.
And some people just laugh nervously out of habit when they don't know what to say. It's even considered polite sometimes.
I like Nigel Farage but he overdoes it too. He's an underdog though.
That stupid cackle is why Willie Brown did what he did.
Tucker Carlson definitely dialed the stupid laugh back with Vladimir Putin. And yet trying to play stupid laughs up as an asset, like they are doing for Kamala Harris, will only increase the effectiveness of President Trump mocking it. "He's the only one telling it like it is," etc.
Gretcher Whitler, at least, can usually sound human. Not so Kamala. Uh oh.
"Genuine laughter is hard to fake."
Ya'll catch that?
And yet, that's exactly the sort of thing Hillary Clinton does. She' fakes genuine laughter and it's very, very easy to detect.
Harris’ laugh is a nervous laugh. It is a laugh that connotes an attempt to paper over other people’s less than adoring reactions. Drinking is a self-medication for social anxiety.
The democrats thought they would win on the Childless Cat Lady stuff.
JD Vance is coming back at them and is showing why they will not win. The mainstream media and childless cat ladies are the only place where this gets any play.
Everywhere else people are pointing out that women who chose to not have kids can do their thing but also that these women tend to be terrible people who should be no where near the levers of power in a society. They are in the same boat as deadbeat men who do not take care of their children. Men like Joe Biden who refuse to acknowledge Navy Biden are similarly deranged people.
These women will lead our country in a way that ends up at displays like what we saw at the Olympics. They are people who in general do not have the best for society in mind because they tend to be selfish and it is time to call them out.
Her laugh is not genuine, which is not difficult to notice and also makes it very annoying. It's like a person how laughs after everything they say, pretending it was funny. It's an attempt to hide their own insecurity.
No criticism of Kamala is legitimate. Or allowed…
Next Sunday: NYT think piece on why cock sucking empressing your way to The White House is what the founding fathers had in mind all along…
>"Hillary Clinton’s laugh was criticized, and also called weird... which was a bizarre point, since genuine laughter is, if not involuntary, then very hard to fake.<
A challenge that Hillary handily met and conquered.
No one is suggesting that Harris' cackling laugh is inauthentic - it is, on the contrary, plainly genuine. The problem with it, of course, is that the ninny emits it so frequently and inappropriately. It appears that the Kamala apologists are going to pretend that this annoying habit of hers is something normal, even good, just as they have been busily doing with her other glaring flaws. "Happy warrior" perhaps?
I've noticed when she first approaches the mic after being introduced at an event, she typically (not always) waves and yells something like "Hiii!" then breaks into that horse laugh/cackle of hers.
And it IS similar to Hillary's nervous, overexaggerated laugh. People can't help but notice it. It flatters neither, and is off-putting.
I've also noticed that Trump rarely laughs or smiles in public, similar to most standup comedians during their act.
We are all made up of the thousands of things we do and say. But also those things we involuntarily show. Twitches. Little quirks. Cracking knuckles. Scratching at the arms. Tapping a foot, or feet when sitting. I tend to clasp my hands in the back of my head when in a debate or serious discussion, as if I'm trying to keep what's left of my brains from oozing out at an inopportune moment. I don't think about doing it, but when I catch myself doing it, I pull the hands down.
Kamala's laugh seems like a nervous laugh. I suspect it began that way when she was younger. Not a child, but a young professional. It seems to be a filler for...not knowing something, perhaps not being able to, or not wanting to get into any further depth on a topic. Or...she's nervous about winning over the audience in front of her. Or she simply just doesn't have much more to say other than the word mix she just laid on you and so...HAHAHAHAHAH, cackle. And many of her audience members just smile or chuckle, as you do when you're in a room and someone else is laughing.
I could see this charming little quirk in a restaurant hostess. Maybe in a junior salesperson. As a Senator? No. A Vice President. No, no. A President? Are you serious?
We are judged by these quirks of ours, whether consciously or subconsciously. They are a part of what makes us. And the whole of us is judged, sometimes more than we like, on those little things that stick out.
There's no running from it for Kamala. It is who she is now. It is how we see her.
Think for a minute about what we're NOT seeing:
Kamala Harris press conferences.
Kamala Harris campaign rallies.
Kamala Harris interviews with major media.
Kamala Harris hagiography on 60 Minutes.
Kamala Harris interviews with the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal
Kamala Harris campaign platform
The Democrats know they don't need to do any of that stuff. Because our elections are as staged and fake as her laughter. She knows that if she's caught what is going to happen to her. I'm sure she's seen the photo of the Ceaușescu family's end. That's nervous laughter, folks. Not genuine.
It's nervous laughter.
Kamala Harris is amazing in every single way! All of her faults are actually strengths. America has been pining for a communist woman of color and just like that, we have Kamala! Now we can all hope to end up in the same place - that’s equity for you!
I've heard the expression a thousand times, but this is the first time I've ever actually read the poem. The poem is terrific and deserves to be more widely known. Lots of catchy internal rhymes and poignant phrases and no mystifying imagery. By God, back then they really knew how to write poetry.
Some people just have weird or annoying laughs (Tucker Carlson is a great example!). I don't know whether Harris's laugh is genuine or not - I just know that when I've seen her laughing in clips (because, again, I generally avoid videos, which means I don't usually watch news or opinion shows - this past few weeks has been monumentally irritating to me because I've been watching so many of them), the laughter seems tone-deaf. It seems to be either at the wrong things or at nothing at all - a bridge while she figures out what to say.
But laughter isn't a good bridge in most of the situations in which a politician might find herself, ISTM. You're usually being asked about something important at least to the interrogator, and laughter implies dismissal or disbelief.
I think she ought to be working with someone about her vocal fry. Fry is annoying enough when it's stable; hers sounds as if she just can't get enough air over her larynx. Like RFKJr's unfortunate speaking disability, it makes me, at least, focus on how grating I find the voice instead of what she's saying.
Not that she's got a shot at my vote. She was an integral part of the Great Biden Cover-up - and not just about his senility - and she did f-all about those "root causes" of mass migration over our southern border, no doubt because the biggest one was her and her boss's setting in place policies that would encourage people to "surge to the border," as Biden said during his occasional 2020 morning-hours campaign. I would rather vote for Jill Stein than Harris (at least that way my vote wouldn't do any harm), and I would rather eat a cockroach than vote for Jill Stein.
Pretty sure those are the original lyrics for "Puff the Magic Dragon." Sing it and let me know what you think.
The rhythm of the poem reminds me of Kipling, but I like Kipling's imagery a lot better.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
Well, up in Canada Justin Trudeau is proposing to help elderly people die. It’s cheaper than helping them live
Kamala doesn't have an engaging personality. That's not my judgement. That was the judgement of Democratic voters back when she ran in the primaries. She polled in the single digits.... The Democrats liked the idea of having a woman and, moreover, a woman of color as Vice-President. The actual person whom they choose to embody that ideal inspired far less enthusiasm. As time went by, her support among Democrats did not grow.. It's only just now that we're learning what an all-around terrific person she is.
Democrats were shitting themselves. Kamala is political Imodium.
Studio audiences everywhere, hardest hit. Harris' laugh is both poorly timed and out of synch with the gravitas of her office, and it's too frequently used to punctuate poor thinking or word salads. No wonder she's being criticized for it: It's inappropriate to the circumstances, and so frequently as to make it noteworthy. It's socially inept. Tucker Carlson's braying is criticized for similar reasons, and rightly so. But he's not running for President and can afford to be unserious.
Why is the ubiquitous Progressive Legacy Media making such hay, jumping on JD Vance over this particular comment? J.D. Vance said this: "...the government is being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made… It’s just a basic fact—you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC—the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”
..which he then followed up with (on Me-Again Kelly): "Obviously it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats. ... People are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance … and the substance of what I said, Megyn — I’m sorry, it is true."
Well.... at least, it's not without evidence. As far as I can tell, it's the old full-court press and finger-pointing on 'what they say the Mean Man said' rather than a refutation of what was actually said. It's an old anti-Trump tactic - a deluge of articles intentionally misinterpreting sarcastic wit as a mean-spirited attack, and then proceeding directly to the pearl-clutching.
Soon we can expect a NYT article describing why Kamala's stupidity is actually one of her strengths.
There was a tell in the LA Times front page story on Ms. Harris today. The line goes that "Democrats say". Where is the trope "experts say"? In any case the story says that Kamala has won over her allies in the Democrat Party. But she hasn't yet won over the voters.
It's a long way to November. And while she may have convinced the Dim party elders, she probably won't convince the actual voters. But as Stalin said, who is counting the votes? The Dims will tell/persuade their base--and then there's vote and ballot harvesting.
So we will see whether the Kackler gets swept into office by 95 million votes or thereabouts.
The gaslighting just isn't working anymore on the people it's supposed to be for. Kamala simply isn't presidential material, and it's no good pretending she is. Take any random selection of 4-5 past U.S. presidents and ask yourself if Kamala matches them in terms of intellect, vision, ability to lead, executive experience, proven accomplishments, discipline, character, and maturity. She just doesn't have what it takes.
Jason Zinoman's maudlin whingeing will persuade exactly no one.
Anxiety laughter may be a symptom of mental illness (that's why they call a hospital for such unfortunates a laughing academy) and given the rumors of Mrs. Harris's beastly treatment of her staff, the giggles point to bipolar paranoia. The draconian punishments for street-level drug dealers she sought as a prosecutor point in the same direction. Kamala's laughter is purely compulsive and has nothing to do with humor or goodwill. It's like Captain Queeg and the ball bearings.
I'm trying to think of a woman with a good laugh.
A good laugh from a women is either sexy, sweet, or fun.
Kamala and Hillary cackle-out the evil depths within their being.
I bet Ann Althouse has a nice laugh.
Kate Bush has a bird-like laugh.
@ 2:35 mark
Aerial
Jamie,
"I would rather vote for Jill Stein than Harris (at least that way my vote wouldn't do any harm)"
Au contraire: when there's another candidate in the race whose policies are closer to what you would prefer, and who has, if not a good track record of actually carrying them out, at least of doing better in that regard than most other politicians... then it certainly is harmful.
Kamala's fundamental problem is that she is completely empty. There is nothing there.
Tulsi Gabbard has a nice, throaty chuckle. She never overdoes it.
I think she is trying to hide her Resting Bitch Face. I mean I get it.
Is America ready for presidential RBF?
Mark Twain wrote about this and I can’t find the Joe Rogan clip with Dave Smith discussing it. Something to the effect that it looks pathetic.
Has SNL completely avoided the target rich environment these days? Asking for a fiend.
It is almost impossible for a person to fake a laugh that isn't obviously fake to pretty much everyone else. I know I can't do it, so I never try to. Harris and Clinton apparently think they can (they can't). The problem with both women is they do it all the time, but I suspect it has different motives- Clinton is being deliberately dishonest while I think Harris does the fake laugh because, deep down, she knows she is a fraud way in over her head.
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...
I'm trying to think of a woman with a good laugh.
A good laugh from a women is either sexy, sweet, or fun.
Kamala and Hillary cackle-out the evil depths within their being.
The issue comes down to why you are laughing. There is very little genuine happiness behind laughter. Some very high percentage of laughter is laughing at someone else's pain and suffering.
Even videos of Tulsi laughing are generally her laughing at stupid people like AOC. Even if it is an "attractive" laugh the sentiment behind it makes it less so.
When men laugh at other men who are in pain this is socially acceptable. Women can laugh at men who are in pain too.
When anyone laughs at a woman there is a connotation that they are mean. Women tend to laugh at other women more often.
I think the specific problem with Hillary and Kamala was that they used laughter to cover up for stupidity and venal lies.
Someone else who has a terrible fake laugh and uses it too much- Tucker Carlson. In his case, however, it might be that he has created a kind of trademark- I find it extremely annoying and it makes listening to him hard for me even though I agree with him 95% of the time.
Blogger Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...
“RH - the lonely cat man.”
I think RH is more of a dog man—a Doberman to be specific.
I live alone w/o pets. My houseplants are my pets.
"Genuine laughter is hard to fake." Ipso facto. Nervous laughter, as other here have observed is genuine, I suppose, but also a tell that one lacks confidence in whatever subject matter provoked it. Hence the inauthentic vibe. But such common sense is banished by the Narrative.
"I'm trying to think of a woman with a good laugh."
Phyllis Diller!
The laugh comes at inappropriate times. It may be nervous or it may be an old habit that stays with her. Either way, it is annoying.
As a person Hillary Clinton seemed inauthentic (“I ain’t no ways tarred”), and her fakey laugh reinforced this idea. Kamala’s problem is different. Her laugh — cackle — comes at inappropriate times and/ or in inappropriate situations. She comes across as unserious and not in command of the facts (which, in point of fact, she almost certainly isn’t).
Possibly the sexiest woman to have ever lived- laughing.
The poem is terrific and deserves to be more widely known. Lots of catchy internal rhymes and poignant phrases and no mystifying imagery. By God, back then they really knew how to write poetry.
I was thinking the same thing. I like to memorize poetry, and this kind of well structured meter and rhyme help a lot. That's why they were invented, probably back in the days of the cavemen.
Like everything else in the modern world, talentless fools and lazy hacks have spent the last century trying to convince us that the magnificent works crafted ever more finely by our ancestors are dross. All the cool cats are into free verse and abstract expressionism and Marxist economics now! Ditch the Bouguereau and Shakespearean sonnets and Federalist Papers, they're so square, man!
Interesting to note, also, that J.D. Vance's original 'cat lady' statement was made in 2021 - which makes juxtaposing it to all this criticism, over the past week, interesting. But: Rest assured, no 'memo' was sent.
Her laugh seems forced and fake, like a contrivance she inserts into a conversation when she has nothing to say… which is often.
Kamala flunking the bar exam is an asset.
Kamala having sex with a married man to advance her career is an asset.
Kamala cackling to cover her ignorance and fear is an asset.
Kamala driving away her staff because she’s a jagoff is an asset.
This vid is pretty funny. Comedienne has Harris down perfect
Kamala Harris impersonator teaches Tucker how to cackle
Har har har de har har.
Tulsi Gabbard ENDS Kamala Harris' Bid for President in 4 Minutes Flat
Also,in vid, Harris promises to" rebuild the Obama coalition".
Wilcox wasn't a "cat lady" despite the photo. She was married, had a child who died young, and was full of grief when her husband of many years died. She also fought for animial rights and entertained the troops in WW 1, although she was in her late 60s.
Wilcox was a published poet, and Kamala is unpublished one. Her poem "Claim you're a victim, and you'll have the world at your feet", is still being edited.
Laugh and the world laughs with you.
Cry and you cry alone.
Misery loves company.
But you laugh like a cartoon villain and only your henchmen join in.
You thought it was a joke
And so you laughed
You laughed when I said
That losing you would make me flip my lid
Right? You know you laughed
I heard you laugh. You laughed
You laughed and laughed and then you left
But now you know I'm utterly mad
And they're coming to take me away ha haaa
They're coming to take me away ho ho hee hee ha haaa
To the happy home with trees and flowers and chirping birds
And basket weavers who sit and smile and twiddle their thumbs and toes
And they're coming to take me away ha haaa
“Soon we can expect a NYT article describing why Kamala's stupidity is actually one of her strengths.”
We need a president as dumb as America!
The Conservative Case™ for Kamala's Cackle.
"Writes Jason Zinoman, in "Kamala Harris’s Laugh Is a Campaign Issue. Our Comedy Critic Weighs in. The Trump campaign sees Harris’s laugh as a vulnerability to exploit. But far from a liability, it is one of her most effective weapons" (NYT)."
If her laugh is a weapon, she's shooting herself in the foot.
The laughter of Harris seems to indicate a lack of understanding of the issue at hand. The laughter of Hillary seems to indicate a truly vile person. YMMV
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