Half way through the play, Lear’s fool has been successful.
He has helped the king see more clearly.
Unfortunately, when Lear sees what he sees, realizes what he realizes, and finally knows what he knows, he’s sent into madness of grief and loss.
The fool has no time for Lear’s gravity and grief. He splits.
The role of jesters and fools has always been to speak truth to power.
A fools job is to remove the power from totalitarians.
A fools job is to disrupt the certainty and shatter the world of despots and annihilate the egos of autocrats.
Fools typically can only exist with the blessing of their overlords. They need to walk a line between being too critical and not speaking up at all.
Because of this fools are dangerous
Fools and comics are the bravest people in the world.
The know how to ‘kill’ an audience.
They know the humiliation of ‘dying’ on stage night after night.
Comics, fools and clowns are the bravest people in the world.
Because of this, to the despot, there is no one worse than a fool.
Mockery for the autocrat is worse than death.
Given recent events, I will continue to align myself with the comedians, the comics and fools of the world who attempt the impossible and stand tall in the face of annihilation.
I’m cheering for the fool.
I think somewhere between George Carlin and Rick Mercer, I realized the power of the comedian to enact change by changing the perspective of the majority of people and by revealing government's clear vinyl suit. I use humour similarly, it is the loading of my weapon of choice, and God bless my younger offspring, if he is brave enough, he could make his living at it. You can't change people without getting their attention. Want to convince them to buy? Vote? Pick up their socks? Give up a vice? You need to get them to engage with you. And humour is the ultimate weapon of mass engagement.