Every mythology has its joker tradition. That clown with the sardonic laugh with no regard for convention and rules, master of impersonation, that comes to test the mettle of whatever is considered precious or sacrosanct in society.
In the Judeo Christian tradition, he is Satan the devil, it’s his laugh the beguiled hears in the background on escaping the body on its way to hell. In the Akan tradition, it is Ananse – the original spiderman, only no superhero, but more trickster demon, full of more mischief than evil. In the Youruba tradition, we have Elegba, in ancient Egypt it was Seth, and today we have George Carlin. A thorn by any other name is just as sharp.
What the Joker does in every tradition is turn society on his head. If only for a day, as was custom in the original Halloween, you put some poor half wit on the throne and the princes go begging for bread. In capsizing the social order, and overthrowing all custom and convention, the boundaries that are breached are then reinforced with greater enlightenment. As if an introduction to the dark side makes us appreciate more the light.
No untried, unexamined pearl is worthy of unqualified investment. That’s why along with Peons, Queens, Kings and Jacks, a joker or two comes with every pack – the original ‘trump’ card (whether or not pun was intended, you cant help but think it, can you?).
Well the Joker’s gift is to rid us of our BS and put a plain mirror to the face of reluctant realists loathe to admit their limitations. The ego is wired to take itself seriously and to mock what it can’t understand. Unfortunately, it is its own worst judge.
In 1973, The Journal Science published the study of a joker called David Rosenham, a brilliant and unconvinced psychology professor at Stanford of the claimed boundaries between sane and insane. He enlisted the aide of several co-conspirators to feign hallucinations in order to gain admission to 12 mental institutions across the United States. Once in, they all ceased feigning symptoms and acted normally, proceeding to take careful notes of the behaviors of staff and patients from the inside.
Interestingly, not one of the trained psychiatric practitioners could detect that they had been infiltrated although it seemed clear to a little over 20% of the mentally ill patients that these folk didn’t fit in and were cognizant enough to correctly surmise that the hospital was under investigation. None of the quite sane imposters were allowed to leave the hospital without signing an affidavit agreeing they were clinically insane and obliged to take medication as a condition of release.
The phenomenon we call ‘implicit bias’, the heart of the ego, which can only grow in an atmosphere of certainty (real or imagined), explains this shocking indictment of mental health conventions and all the unworthy state investment that establishes its authority and gives it importance. What appeared to one staffer as ‘pathological writing behaviour’ was obvious to a patient labelled mentally ill for what it was – investigative note-taking.
To compound the embarrassment, when Rosenham published his findings, a deeply offended hospital administration challenged him to repeat the experiment, having retooled staff and doctors to avoid cookie cutter diagnosis and treatment. When Rosenham agreed, after months of monitoring and assessment, the hospital identified almost half its patient population as potential pseudo-patient suspects, only to learn from Rosenham that he had opted not to send a single imposter – the perfect placebo.
Well the medical establishment hopefully is a little less self consumed and arrogant, and a tad more empathetic since Rosenham, and if not, then let a greater joker come along. Our barbaric civilization should be tired by now of eating raw meat ….. in Government, Religion, Law, Education, Science, Medicine and Media. Let’s have the fiery trials. We need our beef cooked.
Send in the clowns!
YeKengalé 