Dark Humor in the Dark Ages (2014) | Hacker News Reader

Dark Humor in the Dark Ages (2014)

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41 pointsdiodorus13 comments

Monty Python is the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the title.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python

I also love the phrase gallows humor:

Robert-François Damiens, a French man who attempted to assassinate king Louis XV, was sentenced on March 26, 1757 to be executed in a gruesome and painstakingly detailed manner. He would first be led to the gallows, holding a torch with 2 lbs of burning wax. Pliers would then be used to tear his skin at the breast, arms and legs. Then his right arm, which held the knife he had used for his crime, would be burned with sulfur. The aforementioned areas with ripped skin would then be poured upon with molten lead, boiling oil, burning pitch, wax and sulfur. His body would then be dismembered by four horses, the members and trunk consumed in fire, and the ashes would be spread in the wind. After hearing the sentence, Damiens is reported to have replied: “Well, it's going to be a tough day.”

During the French Revolution, Georges-Jacques Danton, who had facial scars from smallpox, when he was about to be beheaded with a guillotine on April 5, 1794, is reported to have said to the executioner: “Don't forget to show my head to the people, it's well worth it!”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_comedy

Edit: After reading the author references Monty Python

Speaking of gallows humor, via the Brothers Grimm. . .

'when they had walked a little farther to where they could see the gallows, the man said to him, "Look, there is the tree where seven men got married to the rope maker's daughter, and are now learning how to fly..."'

https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm004.html

Whether that idiom's origin is old enough to qualify as Dark Ages isn't known, but it's certainly Dark Humor.

Bonus points for the sexual subtext of the noose.

Remindes me of one of François Villon's prison poems from 1462 (in modern spelling):

  Je suis François, dont il me poise,
  Né de Paris emprès Pontoise,
  Et de la corde d'une toise
  Saura mon col que mon cul poise.

For the various attempts to translate this into English see: "Getting the Hang of it" at https://www.loquence.com/eblog/?p=114

Did they succeed in pulling him apart with horses? I thought the French government only tried this twice, once successfully and then a second time where the horses weren't strong enough and the guy just moaned and screamed and the public lost their taste for it after that.

This really puts the guillotine into context.

A friend of mine wrote this paper, 'A Wicked Sense of Humor'. [0] From the abstract:

"It [research] therefore proposes that many of the sayings of Jesus, which have traditionally been taken "seriously" might be better understood as humorous subversions of oppressive discourses by a Galilean peasant with a wicked sense of humor."

Discovering this particular take was a joy to me... people who are humorless about their beliefs deserve not to be taken seriously.

[0] PDF! https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/2032...

> people who are humorless about their beliefs deserve not to be taken seriously

Sadly this wasn't the case for Matt Stone and Trey Parker when they had to retract one particular South Park episode. Neither was it for the Charlie Hebdo massacre victims.

As much as I agree with this statement, the threat is real.

Along similar lines, St. Lawrence is the patron saint of barbecues for the reason that while he was in the process of being executed over a fire, he supposedly said something akin to "Flip me over, this side is done!"

Quoting from memory from "A Distant Mirror" by Barbara Tuchman

"People of Mons purchased a criminal from a nearby town so that they could publicly quarter him"

One of my favorite books! Do you know any more like it?

"Like it" is quite open ended but I think that "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by Shirer is excellent.

Can't help but think that the relationship to death and violence then was beyond the comprehension our post-industrial domestication. Let us not even get started on the Romans.

There’s a Norwegian show on Netflix called “Norsemen” that you might enjoy. Much of the dark humor revolves around looking at the most barbaric Viking practices with our modern sensibilities. It’s hysterical. Apparently they filmed every scene twice - once in Norwegian and once in English.

The trailer for season 1: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HpMvIZRUPf4

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