Structuring Humor, Part 2

Copyright 2019 by Gary L. Pullman

In describing Old School icons, the authors suggest that it's their personal traits and behavior that makes them Old School alumni. John Wayne is Old School because of his moral code of conduct, patriotism, his championing of democracy, his belief in “self-reliance,” and his knowledge that one creates one's “own opportunities” for “success” (11-13).

Billy Joel is an Old School graduate because of his perseverance, his belief “in himself,” his hard work, his acceptance of responsibility for his own actions, and his desire to “please his audience” (13-15).

 Tina Turner is an Old School scholar because of her persistence in following her dreams, her hard work, her “will and determination,” and her ability and practice of thinking “for herself” (15-18).

Chris Kyle is an Old School grad because of his military service, his support for veterans, his patriotism, his courage, and his willingness to do what was required of him to protect his fellow soldiers and to defend his country (18-20).

The next chapter, “Snowdrift” provides commentary and examples of the drift of U. S. society toward becoming a nation of “Snowflakes.” The anecdotes include a Little League player who stops running on his way to home plate and is tagged out, a Little League coach's coaching, Feirstein's son's objecting to his father's characterization of a boy's denigration of them as “bad people” because they live in an exclusive neighborhood, and various reports of the Snowflake culture's invasion of “our college campuses” (21-28).

The latter list includes some of the better-known names in higher education: Yale University, Emory University, Oberlin College, Brown University, and the University of Missouri, concerning students' anxiety or outrage about Halloween costumes, Trump's name in chalk on campus sidewalks, a cafeteria rice dish, a debate about “rape culture,” the Republican National Convention, and various words and phrases which featured “microaggressions.” (In the “rape culture” incident, Brown University provided students with a “safe space” containing “cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets, and a video of frolicking puppies” (27). 

Chapter 5, “Growing Up Old School” illustrates what it was like growing up in the 1960s for O'Reilly and Fierstein. It was during their childhood, the authors suggest, that they learned, primarily from their parents, schoolmates, and neighbors, the Old School values that, as Feirstein puts it, not only taught him “self-reliance” and work skills, but also how “to curse like an Old School sailor, with style, effect, and Olympic gold medal distinction” (33).

Chapter 5 also features “The Old School Guide to Modern Parenting,” a “comparison chart” that juxtaposes “Old School” and “Snowflake” answers to 16 basic questions as a means of helping the parents among their readers determine whether they are “in danger of bringing up a Snowflake” rather than “a child who can actually cope with the world” (36-37). This handy, dandy table is itself humorous enough to be worth the cost of the book. Several questions are linked: “Fourth birthday present?” (“Toys and stuffed animals” for Old Schoolers; “An iPhone” for Snowflakes) precedes the question “Child's greatest fear?” (“Getting a time out,'” Old Schoolers say; “Low batteries,” report Snowflakes).

The structure, so far, of Old School?

1. Introduction (“Greetings from 1973” and Chapter 1-2)
2. Case Studies (Chapter 3)
3. Snowflake Culture's Invasion of College Campuses (Chapter 4)
4. Growing Up Old School (Chapter 5)

Chapter 6, “Social,” examines the social lives of Old Schoolers back in the day. We'll save that for a later installment of “Structuring Humor.”